KEEP SCHOOLS CLOSED

Mexican TV / RADIO networks to provide home learning for students as schools stay shut

DON'T HAVE COMPUTER ACCESS FOR LEARNING LETS GO OLD SCHOOL 

WHEN I WAS IN SCHOOL WE LISTENED TO CKUA SCHOOL ON THE AIR RADIO PROGRAM (A PROGRAM ON THE AIR FROM THE FORTIES TILL RALPH KLEIN) 

AS WELL AS WATCHING EDUCATIONAL TV ON ACCESS TV NOW THE KNOWLEDGE NETWORK

Anthony Esposito

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican students will be educated in the next academic year through a home-learning program broadcast by major networks such as TV Azteca until a drop in coronavirus infections allows for schools to be reopened, the government said on Monday.

The decision to keep the nation’s schools closed after the Aug. 24 start of the academic year reflects stubbornly high infection rates and deaths in Latin America’s second-largest economy.

The plan was announced by the education minister, Esteban Moctezuma, who was flanked by top executives of Azteca, Televisa and other networks at President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s regular morning press conference.

When the 2020-2021 academic school year kicks off “it will begin as distance learning because the conditions don’t exist to do it in person,” Moctezuma said.

“We are obliged to look for alternatives, to look for answers so that girls, boys and youths continue to have access to education,” he said.


Before joining the government, Moctezuma was a senior executive at the charitable arm of the Azteca group.

Some 94% of Mexican households have a television, but in areas of the country without a television signal or internet access, students will be able to take classes over the radio, the education minister said.

Mexico has the third-highest coronavirus death toll in the world, with 47,746 deaths and 439,046 known cases.

“The pandemic represents one of the greatest challenges of our time,” Moctezuma said.

The government aims to restart in-person learning once the traffic-light system used to measure how widespread coronavirus is falls to the green light level, which is the lowest.


Reporting by Anthony Esposito; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel and Paul Simao

KEEPING THEM HONEST

Insurers face possible British action over calculation of pandemic payouts

LONDON (Reuters) - Insurers that do not treat customers fairly when calculating payouts for business interruption due to the coronavirus crisis will face action by Britain’s markets watchdog.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has taken eight insurers to court over business interruption policy wordings, which the insurers say do not cover the pandemic, with a ruling expected in mid-September.

But the case does not address how any resulting claims payments would be calculated, the FCA said on Monday.

“We may intervene and take further actions where firms do not appear to be meeting our expectations and treating their customers fairly,” the FCA said in a statement.


Some insurers were making deductions for government loans - which businesses had received as a result of the pandemic - when calculating payouts.

The FCA said this could be appropriate but insurers should not take a one-size-fits-all approach and make uniform deductions.

“Insurers are likely to need to consider individually the precise details of the policy, the claim and the use and application of the government support the policyholder received,” the FCA said.

Similar wordings to those in the test case were used by more than 60 insurers and could affect 370,000 policyholders, the FCA has said.

Insurers are already paying claims on some business interruption policies. The Association of British Insurers said its members expected to pay 900 million pounds in such claims this year due to the pandemic.

Analysts said a win for the FCA could take the size of those payments to billions of pounds.

The FDA has now banned more than 100 hand sanitizers that are potentially deadly



Passengers in an airport terminal wearing face masks. Image source: AP Photo/Joan Mateu

By Yoni Heisler @edibleapple

August 3rd, 2020

The FDA over the weekend expanded its list of hand sanitizer brands to avoid due to the presence of methanol, a substance that is toxic to humans when absorbed through the skin.
Methanol can cause a number of serious health issues, including blindness.
The FDA in recent weeks has identified more than 100 hand sanitizer products to be avoided.


The last thing anyone wants to worry about — especially in the middle of a global pandemic — is whether or not using a bottle of hand sanitizer might result in a trip to the hospital. It admittedly sounds bizarre, but the FDA in recent weeks has banned dozens of hand sanitizers due to the presence of methanol, otherwise known as wood alcohol.





Methanol is especially toxic when absorbed through the skin and has been found to cause a myriad of serious health issues. Some of the health problems identified by the FDA include permanent blindness, seizures, and vomiting. There have even been some tragic instances where children, who upon ingesting hand sanitizer with methanol, have died.



AMAZON'S TOP DEALSSave $60 on the greatest Instant Pot accessory ever made



The FDA adds:


Consumers who have been exposed to hand sanitizer containing methanol should seek immediate treatment, which is critical for potential reversal of toxic effects of methanol poisoning. Substantial methanol exposure can result in nausea, vomiting, headache, blurred vision, permanent blindness, seizures, coma, permanent damage to the nervous system or death. Although all persons using these products on their hands are at risk, young children who accidentally ingest these products and adolescents and adults who drink these products as an alcohol (ethanol) substitute, are most at risk for methanol poisoning.


The FDA notes that shoppers looking to pick up hand sanitizer should only purchase products that contain at least 60% ethyl alcohol. In turn, the FDA has expanded its list of offending hand sanitizer brands to include “subpotent” products with an insufficient amount of ethyl alcohol or isopropyl alcohol, the “active ingredients in hand sanitizer products.”


As a result, the FDA’s list of hand sanitizer brands to avoid has swelled and now encompasses more than 100 distinct products. Most of the offending brands are manufactured in Mexico which should ideally make them somewhat easy to identify on the off-chance you see any lingering on store shelves.


The most recent additions to the FDA’s list of hand sanitizers to avoid include:
NEXT Hand Sanitizer manufactured by Albek de Mexico SA de CV
TriCleanz Tritanium Labs Hand Sanitizer manufactured by Tritanium Labs USA LLC
Sayab Antisepctic Hand Sanitizer 100 manufactured by JG Atlas Comercios SA de CV (Mexico)
TriCleanz manufactured by Incredible Products SA de CV (Mexico)
GelBact Hand Sanitizer manufactured by Incredible Products SA de CV (Mexico)


Hand sanitizer products manufactured by Healthy Foods & Nutrition Lab de Mexico SE de CV were also found to contain an insufficient amount of ethanol alcohol.





Some additional hand sanitizer products that were added to the FDA’s banned list in July include:
Born Basic ANTI-BAC HAND SANITIZER
Scent Theory KEEP CLEAN Moisturizing Hand Sanitizer
Scent Theory KEEP IT CLEAN Moisturizing Hand Sanitizer
Lux Eoi Hand Sanitizing Gel to the consumer level
Grupo Insoma’s Hand Sanitizer Gel Unscented, 70% alcohol
Transliquid Technologies’ Mystic Shield Protection Hand Sanitizer
Soluciones Cosmeticas’ Bersih Hand Sanitizer Gel Fragrance Free
Soluciones Cosmeticas’ Antiseptic Alcohol 70% Topical Solution Hand Sanitizer
Tropicosmeticos’ Britz Hand Sanitizer Ethyl Alcohol 70%
All-Clean Hand Sanitizer
Esk Biochem Hand Sanitizer
CleanCare NoGerm Advanced Hand Sanitizer 75% Alcohol
Lavar 70 Gel Hand Sanitizer
The Good Gel Antibacterial Gel Hand Sanitizer
CleanCare NoGerm Advanced Hand Sanitizer 80% Alcohol
CleanCare NoGerm Advanced Hand Sanitizer 75% Alcohol
CleanCare NoGerm Advanced Hand Sanitizer 80% Alcohol
Saniderm Advanced Hand Sanitizer


The FDA notes that it’s also taking measures to help stop the aforementioned products from even making it into the United States in the first place. A full list of offending hand sanitizer products can be viewed here.

Kids might have up to 100x more coronavirus in their bodies than adults

UNTIL YOU HIRE MORE CLEANERS

KEEP SCHOOLS/DAYCARES CLOSED

 Izan, 3, has his temperature taken by his mother Ainara, as he arrives at Cobi kindergarten in Barcelona, Spain, Friday, June 26, 2020. Spain's cabinet will extend the furlough schemes adopted during the coronavirus lockdown that brought the economy to a standstill until the end of September. Image source: AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti

By Chris Smith @chris_writes

August 2nd, 2020 at 12:04 PM

A new study looking at potential coronavirus transmission risks in children found that kindergartners younger than 5 had 100 times more viral load in their upper respiratory tract than adults.

The study did not prove that the children were contagious, but the scientists suspect that young children can be a driver of COVID-19 infection.

The study also showed that older children had viral loads similar to adults, with the same caveat. It’s unclear how contagious the children are.

More research on the matter could help authorities make a more informed decision about opening schools in the fall.

The novel coronavirus pandemic ruined the school experience for both children and their parents. All age groups of students have had to study remotely via video conferencing apps in the past few months, as authorities grappled with the health crisis. The closing of schools may have prevented additional cases of COVID-19, as families and teachers isolated themselves during mandatory or voluntary lockdowns. The upcoming school year might be similarly compromised, at least part of it, and at least in certain regions, given the massive surge in cases in the US. There’s an ongoing debate about opening school safely, considering the risk of infection.

Children can be infected with the novel coronavirus. While it’s unclear how contagious they might be, there’s still a risk of them passing the disease to their educators and family members. A new study indicates that infected children can carry as much coronavirus load in their noses and throats as adults. The same research also delivers a more worrying conclusion about kindergarteners, as the scientists found that children younger than five may host up to 100 times as much virus in the upper respiratory tract as adults. The research doesn’t prove that the children are infectious, despite the virus replicating with such ease in their noses and throats.

“The school situation is so complicated — there are many nuances beyond just the scientific one,” Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago’ Dr. Taylor Heald-Sargent told The New York Times. The pediatric infectious disease expert led the study that was published in JAMA Pediatrics earlier this week. “But one takeaway from this is that we can’t assume that just because kids aren’t getting sick, or very sick, that they don’t have the virus.”

The study only looked for viral RNA from samples collected from children, not the live virus, and did not measure whether the virus could replicate. That should be the next step in similar research that could prove whether children can be infectious.

Coronavirus PCR testing amplifies the genetic material in cycles to perform a reading. The more virus is present on the swab that collected the swab, the fewer cycles are needed for a positive diagnosis. Heald-Sargent discovered that children’s tests were coming back with low “cycle thresholds” (CT), which means the samples had plenty of viral RNA. The researchers then analyzed previous test results.

The researchers looked at samples collected between March 23rd and April 28th at drive-through sites in Chicago. In total, they analyzed swabs from 145 people, including 46 children younger than 5, 51 children aged 5 to 17, and 48 adults aged 18 to 65. The research excluded children who needed oxygen support from the results, and most of the kids only reported fever or a cough.

The researchers only wanted patients who experienced mild to moderate symptoms, and who knew exactly when the first symptoms occurred.

They discovered that older children and adults had similar CT values, while children under the age of 5 had lower CT. “It definitely shows that kids do have levels of virus similar to and maybe even higher than adults,” Dr. Heald-Sargent said. “It wouldn’t be surprising if they were able to shed” or spread the virus to others. The assumption seems logical, but the study doesn’t prove that children are infectious.

While the study may lack the data necessary to prove that kindergartners are contagious, it did reveal similar results to research from Germany and France, per The Times. A study from Germany showed that children aged 1 to 11 had viral loads as high as adults without showing symptoms. The France research indicated that asymptomatic children had CT values similar to those of children, which indicates a similar viral load in their noses and throats.

All this research proves that children of all ages can be infected with the virus. That’s a concern even if they wouldn’t be contagious. It’s unlikely for all the children who get COVID-19 not to be contagious. And some of the younger patients did die of COVID-19 complications, even though children aren’t likely to experience a bad case of COVID-19. On top of that, there’s also the MIS-C syndrome in children, COVID-19 complications observed by pediatricians in several countries in patients who were previously infected with the novel coronavirus.

With all that in mind, the science should absolutely stand in the way of opening schools this fall, if it turns out that the risk outweighs the benefits.

“Young children can potentially be important drivers of SARS-CoV-2 spread in the general population, as has been demonstrated with the respiratory syncytial virus, where children with high viral loads are more likely to transmit,” the scientists wrote. “Behavioral habits of young children and close quarters in school and daycare settings raise concern for SARS-CoV-2 amplification in this population as public health restrictions are eased.” “In addition to public health implications, this population will be important for targeting immunization efforts as SARS-CoV-2 vaccines become available.”

Chris Smith started writing about gadgets as a hobby, and before he knew it he was sharing his views on tech stuff with readers around the world. Whenever he's not writing about gadgets he miserably fails to stay away from them, although he desperately tries. But that's not necessarily a bad thing.

https://bgr.com/2020/08/02/coronavirus-transmission-children-viral-load-study-age-5-vs-adults/

Reporter tests positive for coronavirus one day after being in close proximity to Trump

AHA I SUSPECTED THIS ALL ALONG
TRUMP MAY GET TESTED BUT HE IS THE BIGGEST ASYMPTOMATIC CORONAVIRUS SPREADER IN THE USA 

August 3, 2020 By Sky Palma

A reporter who traveled with President Trump on his recent trip to Tampa Bay, Florida, has tested positive for coronavirus, the Tampa Bay Times reports.

Zeke Miller of the Associated Press told the White House Correspondents Association about the unidentified reporter’s diagnosis in a letter.

“We’ve already reached out to those who were in the pools with this individual, and the White House Medical Unit is conducting additional contact tracing and providing follow-on tests for those in the pools and potentially exposed,” Miller’s message read.

An old submerged town reappears during a drought in the Philippines
Aug 03 2020

NEWSFLARE / AP
A 300-year-old town that was submerged to build a dam in the 1970s was visible again this week after drought caused the water to recede.

A 300-year-old town in the Philippines that was submerged to build a dam in the 1970s is visible again after drought caused the water to recede.

The once-bustling Old Pantabangan town in Nueva Ecija province has not been seen for almost half-a-century.

However, a chronic lack of rain across parts of Southeast Asia has caused water levels in the reservoir to plunge.

Former residents and tourists are now returning to the ruins, while Catholic devotees organised a mass in the old Augustinian Church.
READ MORE:
* Sunken Buddhist temple re-emerges in Thailand
* Haunting remains of flooded Australian town emerge due to drought


NEWSFLARE/AP
Old Pantabangan town has not been seen since the 1970s.

Some superstitious residents believe that the emergence of the town is a sign of hope amid the coronavirus pandemic currently ravaging the country - one of the worst-hit in Asia.

Alexander Agustin recorded the video while attending mass with his family and neighbours.

He said: "I grew up in that place. Before it was sunken by the dam, we were forced to evacuate and find another place to live. I am happy to be able to go back there and remember how my life was before the town disappeared below the water.''

Joergen Cruz Mandilag recorded a drone video on July 28. He said people are now starting to flock the old town but everyone has proper permits and are following social distancing during the tour.

Mandilag said: "We usually visited here to take sunrise photographs for years. We are aware about the history of that old sunken town, but we never had a chance to see it before.

"So when the news came that the sunken town was now visible, we decided to see it for ourselves. The opportunity to see a large portion of the old town is very rare. The locals there also said that it may be many years for us to be able to see it again."

The sunken old town is under the picturesque Pantabangan Dam. In the 1970s, the people of this municipality sacrificed their properties to give way to the construction of one of the biggest dams in Southeast Asia.

The old town was submerged but it has irrigated vast tracts of land enabling Nueva Ecija province to prosper and become the biggest producer of rice in the country.

VIDEO

https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/destinations/asia/122326146/an-old-submerged-town-reappears-during-a-drought-in-the-philippines

The City in the Sea

Poem by Edgar Allan Poe

Description

Description

"The City in the Sea" is a poem by Edgar Allan Poe. The final version was published in 1845, but an earlier version was published as "The Doomed City" in 1831 and, later, as "The City of Sin". The poem tells the story of a city ruled by a personification of Death using common elements from Gothic fiction. Wikipedia

Author: Edgar Allan Poe

The City in the Sea

by Edgar Allan Poe
(published 1831)

  

Lo! Death has reared himself a throne
In a strange city lying alone
Far down within the dim West,
Where the good and the bad and the worst and the best
Have gone to their eternal rest.
There shrines and palaces and towers
(Time-eaten towers that tremble not!)
Resemble nothing that is ours.
Around, by lifting winds forgot,
Resignedly beneath the sky
The melancholy waters lie.
No rays from the holy heaven come down
On the long night-time of that town;
But light from out the lurid sea
Streams up the turrets silently-
Gleams up the pinnacles far and free-
Up domes- up spires- up kingly halls-
Up fanes- up Babylon-like walls-
Up shadowy long-forgotten bowers
Of sculptured ivy and stone flowers-
Up many and many a marvellous shrine
Whose wreathed friezes intertwine
The viol, the violet, and the vine.
Resignedly beneath the sky
The melancholy waters lie.
So blend the turrets and shadows there
That all seem pendulous in air,
While from a proud tower in the town
Death looks gigantically down.

There open fanes and gaping graves
Yawn level with the luminous waves;
But not the riches there that lie
In each idol's diamond eye-
Not the gaily-jewelled dead
Tempt the waters from their bed;
For no ripples curl, alas!
Along that wilderness of glass-
No swellings tell that winds may be
Upon some far-off happier sea-
No heavings hint that winds have been
On seas less hideously serene.

But lo, a stir is in the air!
The wave- there is a movement there!
As if the towers had thrust aside,
In slightly sinking, the dull tide-
As if their tops had feebly given
A void within the filmy Heaven.
The waves have now a redder glow-
The hours are breathing faint and low-
And when, amid no earthly moans,
Down, down that town shall settle hence,
Hell, rising from a thousand thrones,
Shall do it reverence.

UK  

The Kent areas under threat of disappearing underwater due to climate change

A report from Climate Central has revealed the severity of the crisis facing the county

By Stela Gineva Will Rider Multimedia Journalist
2 AUG 2020

An aerial view of the Kent coast (Image: Geograph/Thomas Nugent)

As the entire world battles to cope with COVID-19, it is important not to lose sight of other pressing global challenges.

While 2019 brought unprecedented focus on climate change, 2020 marks another year of insufficient action to adequately confront the crisis.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has said that human activity has caused around one degree Celsius of global warming above pre-industrial levels.

The Paris Agreement resulted in countries signing on to limit global warming to two degrees Celsius but, as evidenced in the IPCC’s 2018 report, this is just not enough.

READ MORE
Kent's climate emergency and what the county will really look like in 2050

In order to curb the worst impacts of climate change, the IPCC has said warming must be limited to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

To achieve that goal, we must reduce global net carbon emissions by 45 per cent from 2010 levels by 2030, reaching net zero by 2050.
A report from Climate Central, a non-profit news organisation focused on climate science, has revealed the severity of the impending crisis locally.



In the UK, should average global temperatures rise by the two degrees targeted in the Paris Agreement, anywhere between four to six million people could find their homes submerged.

And Kent will be one of the worst affected counties due to its coastal location.

Worldwide, more than 130 million people could be displaced, with that figure rising to half a billion, if temperatures rise by four degrees.
Which Kent areas will be affected?

An interactive map published by Climate Central reveals that a temperature rise of two degrees could see Thanet becoming its own island once again, as Margate, Broadstairs, and Ramsgate are cut off by the sea and surrounding towns and villages submerged.

The flooding could extend to as far as Canterbury.

(Image: Climate Central)

Large chunks of Herne Bay could be engulfed as well, with much of Faversham, Sittingbourne and Sheerness underwater.

Hoo and Chatham could also be affected in parts.

Folkestone and Dover beach front properties are similarly at risk, as the coastal lines will be swallowed by the sea.


Further west, the entirety of Dymchurch, Stone, and parts of Tenterden could be flooded.

The interactive map below shows how rising sea levels will affect Kent's towns.


There are three main reasons why the sea rises in hotter temperatures.


Huge ice sheets at the poles melt faster than they form from snowfall loading more water around the earth, ice at high altitude melts at higher points and as with all things, heat makes the oceans expand.

Experts say causes of global warming by humans include burning fossil fuels - coal, gas and oil - factory farming and increasing livestock production and deforestation.

Press here to read more on how Kent will be impacted by climate change.

The Economics of Military Spending A Marxist Perspective

Adem Yavuz Elveren

Published 2019

590 Views62 Pages

1 File ▾

Marxism,

Defence and Peace Economics,

Marxist theory,

Defense and Strategic Studies

Show more ▾

The Economics of Military Spending offers a comprehensive analysis of the effect of military expenditures on the economy. It is the first book to provide both a theoretical and an empirical investigation of how military spending affects the profit rate, a key indicator of the health of a capitalist economy. The book presents a general discussion on the economic models of the nexus of military spending and economic growth, as well as military Keynesianism and the military-industrial complex. Including an account of the Marxist crisis theories, it focuses on military spending as a counteracting factor to the tendency of rate of profit to fall. Using a range of econometric methods and adopting a Marxist perspective, this book provides comprehensive evidence on the effects of military spending on the rate of profit for more than thirty countries. The findings of the book shed light on the complex linkages between military spending and the profit rate by considering the role of countries in the arms trade. Offering a Marxist perspective and an emphasis on quantitative analysis, The Economics of Military Spending will be of great interest to students and scholars of defence and peace economics, as well as Marxist economics.

https://www.academia.edu/40840979/The_Economics_of_Military_Spending_A_Marxist_Perspective

The Effect of Military Expenditure on Profit Rates: Evidence from Major Countries

Adem Yavuz Elveren

Published 2018

97 Views20 Pages

1 File ▾

Marxism,

Defence and Peace Economics,

Military and Politics

Show more ▾

This article provides evidence of the effect of military expenditures on the rate of profits by focusing on 32 major countries for the period of 1963–2008 by using data from the Extended Penn World Tables, the University of Texas Inequality Project Estimated Household Income Inequality, the World Development Indicator, and the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. The article employs a Generalized Method of Moment model within a Marxist framework. Findings show that military expenditures have positive effect on the rate of profits. It is also showed that increasing income inequality increases the rate of profits. Finally, the findings suggest that while military expenditures have a positive effect on the profit rates in the case of both arms-exporting countries and net-arms exporters, the relationship is not that significant in the case of arms-importing countries.

https://www.academia.edu/37892869/The_Effect_of_Military_Expenditure_on_Profit_Rates_Evidence_from_Major_Countries

PERMANENT ARMS ECONOMY

The Labour Debate. An investigation into the theory and reality of capitalist work

Ana Cecilia Dinerstein

Werner Bonefeld

Harry Cleaver

Glenn Rikowski

mike neary

2002, The Labour Debate. An investigation into the theory and reality of capitalist work

2,249 ViewsPaperRank: 1.0256 Pages

1 File ▾

Social Movements,

Class,

Unemployment,

Capitalism,

Value Theory

Show more ▾

In a world dominated by capitalist work (labour), working for a wage is the central unavoidable reality of modern social life. And yet, the category of labour remains underdeveloped in social sciences. While waged labour in all its forms, including unemployment and mass poverty, has now invaded all aspects of social life, labour appears to have disappeared as a practice that constitutes modern society. This book revitalises labour as the fundamental constitutive principle of the social world, through a radical reinterpretation of Marx’s social theory. Each chapter develops a central Marxist theme: the continuing centrality of work; class and classification; commodity fetishism and primitive accumulation; labour movements and the way in which labour moves; unemployment, subjectivity and class consciousness, and the new forms of resistance developed in Europe, Latin America and East Asia. In conclusion, the editors give an account of what they consider to be the main critical and practical problems and possibilities confronting the concept and reality of labour in the 21st century. Contents Acknowledgements ix From Here to Utopia: Finding Inspiration for the Labour Debate Ana C. Dinerstein and Michael Neary 1 1 What Labour Debate? 1.1 Class and Classification: Against, In and Beyond Labour John Holloway p.27 1.2 Class Struggle and the Working Class: The Problem of Commodity Fetishism Simon Clarke p.41 1.3 The Narrowing of Marxism: A Comment on Simon Clarke’s Comments John Holloway p.61 2 Capital, Labour and Primitive Accumulation: On Class and Constitution Werner Bonefeld p.65 3 Labour and Subjectivity: Rethinking the Limits of Working Class Consciousness Graham Taylor p. 89 4 Hayek, Bentham and the Global Work Machine: The Emergence of the Fractal-Panopticon Massimo De Angelis p. 108 5 Work is Still the Central Issue! New Words for New Worlds Harry Cleaver p. 135 6 Labour Moves: A Critique of the Concept of Social Movement Unionism Michael Neary p . 149 7 Fuel for the Living Fire: Labour-Power! Glenn Rikowski p. 179 8 Regaining Materiality: Unemployment and the Invisible Subjectivity of Labour Ana C. Dinerstein p. 203 9 Anti-Value-in-Motion: Labour, Real Subsumption and the Struggles against Capitalism Ana C. Dinerstein and Michael Neary v … View full abstract

https://www.academia.edu/3190057/The_Labour_Debate._An_investigation_into_the_theory_and_reality_of_capitalist_work

Historical Materialism as Hermeneutics in Herbert Marcuse

Óscar Armando Ralda

30 Views16 Pages

1 File ▾

Critical Theory,

Aesthetics,

Marxism,

Herbert Marcuse,

Embodiment

Herbert Marcuse's critical theory of capitalist society is perhaps not the first we tend to associate with the project of hermeneutics. Arguably, however, a hermeneutical dimension consistently inflects Marcuse's concern with articulating historical materialism on a renewed basis-one that would account for the transformation of subjectivity a revolutionary politics ​ not only requires as an outcome​ , ​ but indeed presupposes as a necessary condition​. This necessity, I shall argue, forms the ground of Marcuse's understanding of hermeneutics as simultaneously a gesture of reactivating ​ historical memory and as ​ critique​. In this sense, Marcuse's historical materialist hermeneutics offers us a way to engage in a critique of the capitalist present and its fetishistic logic of dehistoricization, the reification of historically specific social relations as immutable, thingly laws. Indeed, for Marcuse the articulation of a revolutionary subjectivity concerns the development of radical needs, critical consciousness, and aesthetic sensibilities that would undermine and begin the process of interrupting the hold of capitalist society over our libidinal and bodily, as well as over our conscious and unconscious, life. The problem here, then, will be to clarify the mediations between the development of such radical needs and the kind of historical memory hermeneutical reflection itself occasions.

https://www.academia.edu/40055910/Historical_Materialism_as_Hermeneutics_in_Herbert_Marcuse