Oriental Origins of Post-modernism

What is post-modernism? Well it orginates in Modernist art of the decadence; in the Fin de Siecle of the 19th century.

Post modernism supercedes modernism with the invasion of the dialectical concisouness of Imperialism/Anti-Imperialism when the post WWII colonial/colonized world enters the space of capitalist decadence and speaks.

It is the dialectical result of the West's fascination with and creation of Orientalism which results in modernism and thus post-modernism;
the authentic Oriental voice's revenge.

POSTMODERNISM / FIN DE SIECLE
It is interesting to reread Ihab Hassan in this regard. Hassan's first book, after all, was called The Literature of Silence (1967), and made the case for a "new literature" written in the wake of Dachau and Hiroshima, a literature whose "total rejection of Western history and civilization" leads either to the apocalyptic violence and obscenity of a Henry Miller or a Norman Mailer or the silence, randomness, and indeterminacy of Samuel Beckett or John Cage. By 1971, Hassan referred to this "change in Modernism" as Postmodernism and drew up the first of his famous lists or tables, a table made up of binary oppositions :

Modernism	Postmodernism
1. Urbanism	1. The Global Village (McLuhan), Spaceship Earth (Fuller), the City as Cosmos--Science Fiction. Anarchy and fragmentation.
2. Technologism		2. Runaway technology. New media, art forms. Boundless dispersal by media. The computer as substitute consciousness or extension of consciousness.
3. Elitism	3. Antielitism, antiauthoritarianism. Diffusion of the ego. Participation. Community. Anarchy.
4. Irony	4. Radical play. Entropy of meaning. Comedy of the absurd. Black Humor. Camp.
5. Abstraction	5. New Concreteness. Found Object. Conceptual Art.
6. Primitivism	6. Beat and Hip. Rock Culture. Dionysian Ego.
7. Eroticism	7. The New Sexuality. Homosexuality , Feminism, Lesbianism. Comic pornography. Repeal of Censorship
8. Antinomianism	8. Antinomianism. 8. Counterculture. Beyond alienation. Counter. Beyond Law. Non Serviam. Western "ways." Zen, Buddhism, Hinduism the occult, apocalypticism.
9. Experimentalism	9. Open form, discontinuity, improvisation, Formal innovation. New language. Antiformalism. Indeterminacy. Aleatory Structure. Minimalism. Intermedia.

Postmodernism, Etc.: An Interview with Ihab Hassan

Al-Ahram Weekly | Opinion | Preface to Orientalism

Orientalism
A website devoted to the controversies surrounding Orientalism and Western representations of Islam and the Arabs. Located at www.orientalism.org.


A symphony of civilizations

China's re-emergence - there is no "China rise", but only China's restoration to its historical position - is already having considerable impact on the global village. Understandably, observers and analysts discuss the nature of Beijing's behavior on the international scene. Will China behave like an empire trying to dominate and extend a pax Sinica, or act as a cooperative force working for a foedus pacificum, a league of peace, to use Immanuel Kant's expression (Perpetual Peace, 1795)?


Lolita and Beyond

Epistemically I am trying to see how this mutation of Orientalism to Area Studies to active privatization of knowledge production (pretty much on the model of the privatization of certain aspects of the US military, such as intelligence gathering and torturing people) actually works. Meanwhile, I am also trying to keep a record of who is saying and doing what in these terrible times—for these criminal comprador intellectuals will have to be held historically accountable for what they now say and do.

What lies beneath

The legacy of Edward Said's 1978 book Orientalism, in which he argued that the west possesses a monopoly on how "Arabo-Islamic peoples and their culture" are viewed, was the subject of debate at the British Museum. Historian and novelist Robert Irwin kicked off by attacking what he decribed as Said's falsification of the past and poor understanding of Arabic, and argued that his "revolutionary" assertions were in fact part of longstanding Muslim and Marxist critiques.

A Marxist Critique of 'Third World

. [We] could start with a radically different premise: namely the proposition that we live not in three [or more] worlds but in one; that this world includes the experiences of colonialism and imperialism on both sides of [the] global divide; that societies in formations of backward capitalism are as much constituted by the division of classes as are societies in the advanced capitalist countries; that socialism . . . is simply the name of a resistance that saturates the globe today, as capitalism itself does; that the different parts of the capitalist system are to be known not in terms of a binary opposition but as a contradictory unity-with differences, yes, but also with profound overlaps.

The world [is] united not by liberalist ideology [or humanistic universalism] but by the global operation of a single mode of production, namely the capitalist one, and the global resistance to this mode, a resistance which is itself unevenly developed in different parts of the globe.

Tribute to India in world’s oldest caves

There is an Indian chamber in the Jenolan caves, which are said to be the world's oldest discovered open caves, according to cave-dating research published by Australian geologists.

“In the early 20th century, orientalism was a big theme in western societies, especially in the British Empire. Early cave explorers called it the Orient cave because of the red colour. It contains the Indian Chamber, Persian Chamber and the Egyptian Colllanade.

It was discovered in 1904,” explains Dr Armstrong Osborne, a senior lecturer at the University of Sydney.

A five-year study has shown that the limestone caves, which each year attract thousands of tourists, including Indian visitors, date back more than 340 million years.

Napoleon on the Nile at the Dahesh Museum of Art

Initiated under the patronage of the young General Napoleon Bonaparte as he invaded Egypt in 1798, and completed in 1829 during the reign of King Charles X, the Description was among the most significant, and certainly the most tangible, consequences of the French military’s occupation of Egypt (1798-1801). Not only did it form the foundation for the modern discipline of Egyptology, but its large and magnificent plate illustrations influenced the course of "Egyptomania" and “Orientalism” in western fine and decorative arts for two centuries.

Gallic grandeur

Where Brown really excels is in the description of Flaubert's voyage to Italy and Egypt (1849-51) with his close friend Maxime du Camp and a heap of photographic equipment. Flaubert was, like many of his contemporaries, hooked on orientalism, which included an early version of sexual tourism as well as an astonished revelling in what is now mostly lost, although even then the railway and western trousers were already creeping in (Flaubert travelled by rail as early as 1843, but favoured Turkish robes). Brown emphasises Flaubert's excellent horsemanship, and the image of him galloping across moonlit African plains makes it easier to understand why he spent so much of his life recreating not just a banal Normandy, but a lost and splendid antiquity, most memorably in his novel of Carthaginian magnificence and cruelty, Salammbo (1862).

Collection of Orientalist Imagery Reveals Roots of American Views ...

The imagery has long been appropriated for use in American film posters, cigarette packs, pulp fiction and popular music: scantily clad harem girls, tyrannical despots and turbaned mystics have personified an imagined Middle East in the popular culture.

Hundreds of objects reflecting that imagined realm has just wrapped up its first run at the University of California at Los Angeles. "Seducing America: Selling the Middle Eastern Mystique," an exhibit of Middle Eastern-inspired ephemera, is about to be launched as an extensive on-line data base complete with music samples, selected film clips and a comprehensive assortment of "Middle Eastern Americana". There are artifacts such as sheet music, souvenirs, book jackets and consumer goods, many bearing Middle Eastern insignias, and the accompanying advertisements which range from the crass to the cartoonish.

Objects included comic books from the 1930s, pulp fiction book covers with titles such as "Desert Madness" and "Spicy Adventures," video games such as "The Prince of Persia," vintage sheet music for songs including "The Sheik of Araby" and "Rebecca Came Back from Mecca," photos of topless women on the covers of CDs, fierce warriors on the covers of DVDs, "Turkish" tobacco products, Egyptomania films, and various and sundry consumer items such as Palmolive beauty products, Ben Hur flour, Sheik condoms - and a couple of Shriner fezzes.

Noble Dreams Wicked Pleasures Orientalism in America, 1870-1930

Indeed, one of the fascinations with Orientalism is how nicely it blends into other artistic styles of the 19^th Century such as Pre-Raphaelism and Art Nouveau as well as the Aesthetic Movement. Orientalism, Pre-Raphaelism and Art Nouveau are various manifestations of lush, richly embued, symbolic decorative aesthetics, often tinged if not overwhelmed by a sense of history and prior historic periods. The Aesthetic Movement, of course, emerged from these influences to produce a "modern" style based on them.

In his excellent essay, Oleg Grabar finds the "roots" of American Orientalism in "the Protestant search for the space of the biblical revelations," European aristocratic taste, popular culture in freemasonry and other fraternal organizations, and "the spirit of skeptical curiosity and adventure.




Also See:

Bureaucratic Collectivist Capitalism

Ibn Khaldun 14th Century Arab Libertarian

My Favorite Muslim

The Need for Arab Anarchism

Peter Drucker RIP

Breaking Out Of The Cultural Burka

Muslims Discovered America

Anti Islamism Manifesto

Two Excellent Sources For Islamic Studies

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Compassionate Capitalism

It seems some Blogging Tories just don't understand compasionate capitalism. To them generousity and business don't go hand in hand or else they would understand the following axioms;

a) rock & roll is a business
b) rock & roll musicians are businessmen
c) business is capitalism
d) rock stars are capitalists.

Since the time of the Beatles Apple Corp. and the Moody Blues Inc., this has been the case.

Bono gets richer still

Bono buys piece of capitalist rag

So why all the fuss, if Bono buys into Forbes magazine, while lobbying to end poverty. What? Did you forget Kellog, Hershey, Owen, and yes Engels. They were compasionate capitalists, social reformers. Heck what Bono is doing is no different than Gates.

AIDS Funding: Gates Steps Up as Rich Countries Step Back

In fact the intelligent business man recognizes philanthropy is good for business and social stature. Which is why the robber barons of the fin de siecle during the Guilded Age in America invented it. To give back to the community some of their ill gotten gain. Oh and it's good for a tax break.

As the old adage goes one needs to make money to spend money, or was it visa versa. Bono is spending and investing his money well, and putting it where his mouth is. He is using his capital for social good. Ironic he should be criticized for doing the right thing as a hip capitalist by the right.

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Cap't Crunch

Before there were hackers there were technology gurrellias like Cap't Crunch (aka John Draper)who invented the Blue Box, which was follwed by the black box and red box. Simple electronic beepers that when sent through the primitive switching technology of the seventies Tele Coms allowed you free long distance calls. It was promoted by the Yippies and by TAP .

The Youth International Party Line (YIPL; later, the name was changed to TAP for Technological American Party or Technological Assistance Program), started by Hoffman and Al Bell in June 1971 was the pioneer phreak magazine.

We were known as phone phreaks. Every time Tel Com security found a way to block the tones, a new box was invented. Thus hacking was born. Pre-PC pre-Internet.

Why Cap'n Crunch?

John Draper once gained fame (and prison sentences) from his skills in manipulating the telephone system. His "handle" came from the inclusion of a plastic whistle in Captain Crunch cereal in the 1960's which could, with proper manipulation, send out a control tone that would affect telephone systems of the time.

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PC is 25 years old

The modern age of computing began 25 years ago when Time Magazine declared the personal computer "person of the year'. And as they said back then in commercials; "you've come a long way baby".

The commodore 64 is, along with the Apple II and the Atari XL computers, the most famous home computer. According to the 2001 edition of Guinness book of records, the C64 was the most "prolific computing device ever manufactured". During its production run from 1982 to... 1993, about 30 million (!) units were sold. To put this number in perspective, that's more than all the Macintoshes in the world.

And the PC did not begin as an offshoot of IBM but rather the gaming industry.

The original Atari was a pioneer in arcade games, home video game consoles, and personal computers, and its dominance in those areas made it the major force in the computer entertainment industry from the 1970s to the mid-1980s. The brand has also been used at various times by Atari Games, a separate company split off in 1984.

To think about how far we have come in 25 years, a mere quarter of a century, let's just look back to the original Apple computer and where Steve Jobs is today; promoting IPOD technology.

And what had been a cumbersome clunker of a a computer with 64k memory was available as a hand-held Palm Pilot.

first-gen PDAs like Palm, which could also work as text readers. Heavier than a hardcover book, they were less portable and harder to read in direct light. But it was just these complaints that sparked killer app innovation.

This is literally expansion at the speed of thought, imagine the Gutenberg Press and twenty five years later you have the Xerox.


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Independent Lieberman

Independent Lieberman says he can be now be himself
So is that an Independent Democrat or and Independent Republican? Running against Lamont he should at least be honest and run as the latter.


Also See:

Lieberman

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Mining Merger Mania

You can't tell the players without a program.
CHRONOLOGY-Key dates in Canada mining takeover wars
This is a case of globalisation of Canada's mining industry, dog eat dog captialism. Much like the current wave of steel takeovers. Canadian miners flush with cash try to buy each other out to gain a monopoly in the marketplace, leaving themselves open to hostile takeovers by foreign corporations. Ain't capitalism grand. This is more exciting than Canadian Idol. Will they won't they get the brass ring. No wagering please.

Also See:

Mining



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Home of International Terrorism

Pakistan.

The current raid on terrorists in London finds several arrested in Pakistan. The July 7 bombers in London were trainind in Pakistan. The Taliban fighting Canadian and NATO troops in Afghanistan are located in Pakistan. Terrorist members of Bin Laden Inc. /Al Qaeda operate out of Pakistan. Kashmir terrorists operate out of Pakistan. Pakistan ships nuclear technology to rogue states.

Hmmm what was that George Bush said about States that support terrorism....oh yeah Pakistan is America's new buddy in the war on terrorism. Instead of invading Iraq to bring democracy to the folks there, perhaps the US should have invaded the military dictatorship and home of International Terrorism; Pakistan. Oh yeah they couldn't Pakistan has nukes.

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Fordism In Korea

The Fordist economy of South Korea has now reached the level where that country is officially a modern capitalist economy, the workers there now have a five day work week, but it is causing them some stress as they were brought up in the command economy of a militarist based State Capitalism.

More play, less toil creates stress for some Korean families

The shorter week has come as a particular shock to older members of Korea's predominantly male work force. Mr. Kim, for instance, grew up listening to official nation-building propaganda songs with lyrics like "Let's wake up early in the morning, work hard and make a good town." School books of the day hammered home such lessons as: "I was born for reviving and rehabilitating our nation." For Koreans in their mid-forties and older, "feeling guilty, staying long hours, and not knowing how to rest is part of the legacy of Gen. Park Chung Hee," says Park Tae Gyun, a Korean-studies professor at Seoul National University. The dictator ran South Korea during nearly two decades of rapid industrialization until his assassination in 1979.

Also See

Take Time From the Boss


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work, vacation, four-hour-day

Plundering Tax Payers

The Edmonton Journal reported yesterday that Big Oil in Alberta and other Alberta corporations like Telus and West Jet made increased record profits. Thanks to you and I.

That's right they would have made profits anyways, but thanks to Martin/Harper/Klein tax cuts you and I paid them out of our pockets to increase their bottom line.

Tax cuts and public private partnerships are a form of State Capitalism, the public pays for private profit.

Any trickle down effects as espoused by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation are a myth, these guys take the cash and run. They do not reinvest the money, but use it for playing the stock market.

BY THE NUMBERS

WestJet Airlines made a profit of $22.4 million after tax cuts of $11.2 million, while a $107-million tax reduction helped Telus Corp. to a $356.6-million profit.

Here's what five of the largest energy companies saved on taxes in the latest quarter:

- At Husky Energy Inc., tax cuts saved $328 million, helping earnings more than double to $978 million.

- Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. made a profit of more than $1 billion after a $438-million tax gain.

- Suncor Energy Inc.'s taxes dropped $419 million, helping the company make a profit of $1.2 billion.

- Imperial Oil, Canada's largest energy company, saved a $110 million in taxes on the way to a $837 million profit.

And if they didn't get tax cuts these guys would find other ways of avoiding paying taxes ( such as setting up income trusts), unlike you and I who have no choice.How the US super-rich 'dodge' taxes

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Sexually Transmitted Cancer

This is scary; a transmittable form of cancer that is genetic and acts as a parasite. It originated in an ancient wolf and now is being passed from dog to dog.

There is a type of cancer, called CTVT (canine transmissible venereal tumor) which is transmitted mainly through sexual contacts, but may also be passed on as a dog bites, sniffs or licks the tumor-affected areas, say scientists and vets from University College London (UCL). The cancer is rarely fatal and goes away after three to nine months - however, it is present in the dog long enough for it to pass it on to other dogs.Cancer Spreads From Dog To Dog


Currently it is only occuring in dogs, however considering that STD's (sexually transmitted diseases) are common amongst humans such as genital herpes, gives us pause. If a STC was to occur in humans it would be a an epidemic like AIDs.

Prevention is simple but remains controversial because of moralists. First the
need for use of condoms, which moralists countinue to condemn because its use along with other forms of contraception allow for us to have sex for pleasure (which is the real reason they oppose it, claiming sex is only for procreation). Second failure to teach sex education/sexuality awareness in public schools starting at a young age.

With dogs its understandable that sexually transmitted cancer would spread its not like you can teach an old dog new tricks, with humans and diseases such as AIDS and other STD's this is not the case. Use of condoms as well as effective public sex education decrease the spread of disease.

However as long as conservative moralists oppose any teachings that sex is fun, sex is healthy and sex is not just for procreation we can expect that STDs and possibly a STC will continue to spread because abstinence does NOT work, never has, and because abstience based sex education is a failure.


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Zionist Fascism

This appeal to authoritarianism and censorship smacks of fascism;

Frank Dimant, the Vice President of B’nai Brith Canada has called on the police and the federal government to ban, or crack down on pro-Hezbollah demonstrations. “The streets of Canada will not be taken over by radical Islamic forces supporting terrorist activities,” he said Wednesday. “B’nai Brith Canada will do its utmost to ensure that Canadians will not be intimidated by these terrorist sympathizers.”

Yep criticism of Israel will NOT be tolerated in tolerant Canada.

Label your political opponents as terrorists and demand the State lock them away.

Zionism once again shows its rotten roots in right wing nationalism.

Jewish libertarians, anarchists, and socialists need to denounce B'nai Brith for the fascists they are.

Thanks to Joseph Lavoie for this.



Also See:

Israel

Lebanon

Zionism

Anarchism


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Kinsella Is Demented

Blogs are a vanity press for the demented, some say.
Warren Kinsella blogs. Therefore he is demented. Hey he said it. Since he did not attribute the source of this made up quote, it must be from his-self, since his favorite comment is to call bloggers he disagrees with 'morons' and 'demented'. Vanity thy name is Kinsella.



Thanks to the three headed dog for this.

Also See:

Kinsella



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Van Allen Belt

RIP Rocketman. Before there were rocket jockeys, astronauts, there were the rocketeers, who were space scientists. Van Allen was one of them. And like Goddard and Parsons was central in the development of space rocketry. He was an inspiration when I was young and reading about space exploration.

James A. Van Allen, the physicist who made the first major scientific discovery of the early space age, the Earth-circling radiation belts that bear his name, and sent spacecraft instruments to observe the outer reaches of the solar system, died Wednesday in Iowa City. He was 91.

James A. Van Allen; Discovered Earth's Radiation Belts

Remembering James Van Allen
With Van Allen as scientist, Werner Von Braun as rocket builder, and William Pickering as spacecraft builder, Explorer 1 became the U.S. first successful space mission, and that simple spacecraft’s detection of the Van Allen Belts is remembered as the first major scientific discovery in space. At that dawn of the Space Age, the nature of space exploration was already apparent: It always leads to unexpected discoveries about our universe and the processes that shape our environment.

Nurture Iowa's future Van Allens
He was part of a remarkable generation of American scientists and engineers who are passing from the scene, amid evidence too-few replacements are in the pipeline.Van Allen was admired not only as a pioneer of space exploration but also as a dedicated professor who maintained contact with undergraduates long after his prestige would have allowed him to concentrate solely on research. And he chose to do his life's work at a university in his home state, just 50 miles from his hometown.

Click to enlarge >

Celebrating Success
From left, William H. Pickering, James Van Allen, and Wernher von Braun -- the three men responsible for the success of Explorer 1, America's first satellite, launched January 31, 1958. Credit: NASA

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Republican Mullahs

Following in the footsteps of its pals in Afghanistan and Iraq the Republican dominated Senate passed a fundamentalist fatwa forbidding interstate transportation of young women to get an abortion.

Next will be a ban on contraception. Forward to the past. This stupid law condemns young women to the backstreet clinics of yesteryear.

If there are any libertarians left supporting the Republican party they should be forced to wear burkas.

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Where Are The Women?

All this talk about how our troops are fighting in Afghanistan for 'women and girls' rights is laudable however there doesn't appear to be any women or girls in Afhganistan when you look at news photos of the 'public'. The public is 'men only'.






Yep really liberated country.

It is common and mostly heard and seen through the media such as a school set on fire, teachers killed or guards of schools beaten to death. Such activities that mostly are carry out at midnights are a day to day business in Afghanistan. But the latest deadly attack of 3rd of July, 2006 on Hirat University, has crossed all the limits killing a girl and wounding 9 others seriously in the bright day. Explosion of bomb by placing the bomb in water jug in a class room is an inimitable example of brutality.

Malalai Joys Concludes Successful US Tour

Afghan parliamentarian, Malalai Joya toured the United States in March 2006, addressing thousands of Americans in community forums, panels, college campuses, and local churches. Malalai Joya first gained media attention when she spoke out against warlords in the 2003 Constitutional Loya Jirga. Since then she ran for election and won a seat with the second highest number of votes in her native Farah Province

Some of the slogans on the banners carried by the participants were: "Parliament full of drug kingpins, criminals and traitors can’t represent our people!", "Collaboration with any of the fundamentalists is equivalent to treachery", "The Northern Alliance should be brought to justice", "April 28 odious than April 27", "New cabinet: the same donkey with a new saddle!" Through the installation of Mr. Karzai government, our people had hoped to see the slightest positive changes in their life, but today the anti-nation policies of authorities and their foreign masters exhibit the real and anti-nation face of the government that converted this hope into disappointment and abhorrence. Mr. Karzai and his Afghan and foreign advisers have shown conspicuously that they are ready to shake hands in friendship with the filthiest individuals and parties, who now wear the bogus mask of democracy on their nasty faces. They have gone even further by giving a share of the authority to the Taliban and the terrorist and misogynist party of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. Thus, for all practical purposes, they have not left any cruel and traitorous person or group out of the government mechanism. Mr. Karzai calls this kind of traitor-fondling “National Unity” but for our people it doesn’t have any other meaning other than dirtying the “Unity”.

Also See:

Afghanistan

Feminism

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Friendly Fire

Lets see the Americans kill us in Aghanistan, the Israelis kill us in Lebanon, not to be left out our own troops are now killing each other.

War is hell.

Accidents happen.

Wonder what other excuses the brass will come up with?

It wouldn't have happened if we weren't involved in Harpers Big Adventure. Another corpse for Harpers misplaced priorities.

And as usual we get the pro-military propaganda from the parents.
Walsh's parents, Ben and Margie Walsh, released a statement saying they were proud of their son."Jeff believed in his job and felt he could make a change in Afghanistan," the statement said. "We, his parents, support Jeff and all the Forces members in Afghanistan and all our peacekeepers."

Uh, huh well what did you expect them to say. Perhaps that this war is wrong. But that wouldn't get past the military censors or the PMO.

Unfortunately Jeff wasn't expecting to get killed by his comardes.

After all our troops are helping all those nice Afghani's to stop growing opium.

And they aren't peacekeepers they are war makers; Harpers toy soldiers.

Time to bring the troops home.



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Criminalization of Canadian Workers

So much for the Harpocrites claims for sovereignty regarding the longest undefended border in the world. While US Canada security passports come into effect in 2008, for Canadians working in the U.S. we are being treated to being just like any other suspected terrorist.

Last time I checked being fingerprinted was done when you commited a crime.

US proposes fingerprinting Canadian workers

Under new rules proposed by the Bush administration, Canadians who work in the United States are set to be fingerprinted and photographed every time they enter the country by air or sea.

The rule, proposed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, expands on the so-called US-VISIT program, which has been in effect since 2004.

It will affect any Canadian working in the U.S., including nurses, agricultural workers, those travelling through the States, as well as students and their dependents.

Of course this is also part and parcel of the expansion of NAFTA into the "establishment by 2010 of a North American economic and security community" with a common "outer security perimeter."


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Take Time From the Boss

The revolutionary struggle of workers has always been a struggle to take back our time, as Marx noted in the Grundrisse and Lafargue wrote in his famous pamphlet The Right To Be Lazy, updated by Bob Black as The Abolition of Work

With the end of the craft/trade/artisan culture and the advent of industrial capitalism, we wage slaves have struggled to gain more time for ourselves, since it is only our time we have to sell. Our skills are easily replaceable. This is what is key to a Marxist understanding of the conditions of workers under capitalism.

The struggle to abolish capitalism is the struggle to abolish work/wage-slavery as we know it.

So take your damn vacation time and quit working for the boss.

Banish vacation deprivation

Canadian employees put having more vacation days on the top of their most-wanted list, but according to a recent survey, fewer individuals are actually taking their days off. And that may be putting Canadian workers on the road to burnout.

In a recent Ipsos Reid and Expedia.ca survey, one in five Canadians said they would take a lower salary for more vacation time. Yet, despite the desire for more days off, the survey reveals that Canadians are falling behind on the number of vacation days they are actually taking. Some 24% of employed Canadians don't use all of their vacation days, and one in ten say they don't usually take any days.

Work and life out of balance

In offices, shops and factories across the country, workers are nursing a seasonal martyr complex. School is out, the legislatures are deserted, the temperatures are high and the beaches are jammed. It seems as if everybody is on vacation — except them.

If you're one of those people, you're actually less alone than you feel.One-quarter of Canadian workers don't take their allotted vacation time. Ten per cent don't take any holidays at all. Even those who do get away often feel compelled to check their email and phone messages.According to a poll conducted by Ipsos Reid this spring, Canadians take an average of 19 vacation days a year. That is down from 21 days in last year's survey. It is below the French average of 39 days, German average of 27 days and British average of 23 days (but above the American average of 14 days.)

Worker protection is in question as Canada's clothing and textile industries try to compete with cheap foreign labour.

Chances are that no one will ever know precisely what led to the death of Yvan Vachon on a spring afternoon nearly two years ago when he was found entwined in a 600-metre fabric roll in the midst of it being spun by a rolling machine. The 49-year old, a textile plant operator with some 20 years experience and the president of the local union, was replacing a co-worker on vacation when the dreadful accident took place. Vachon, who had just completed two weeks of training to grasp the inner workings of that particular machine, was walking through a narrow 35-cm wide passageway to go from one end of the machine to the
other when his hand apparently got caught in-between two rollers, according to an investigation by the Quebec Workers’ Compensation Board. He died later that day in hospital.

Vacation angst prevalent among workers
U.S. workers are taking fewer vacation days and enjoying the ones they take less amid skyrocketing anxiety over the retreats, a New York nonprofit said.The Families and Work Institute, which researches the habits of American workers, said vacation anxiety can come from a fear of unemployment, The New York Times reported Thursday.

As school starts, summer shrinks for all of us

According to information the U.S. Census Bureau released last year, 7.3 million workers in the U.S. have more than one job, and 28 percent of workers 16 or older work more than 40 hours a week. Another 8 percent work 60 or more hours.

According to a report released this year by Steelcase, an office furniture manufacturer, 43 percent of nearly 700 U.S. office workers surveyed spent at least some time working while on vacation. That number has almost doubled in the last 10 years.

Machinery and surplus labour. Recapitulation of the doctrine of surplus value generally

If we look at a single worker's day, then the decrease of necessary labour relative to surplus labour expresses itself in the appropriation of a larger part of the working day by capital. The living labour employed here remains the same. Suppose that an increase of the force of production, e.g. employment of machinery, made 3 workers superfluous out of 6, each of whom worked 6 days a week. If these 6 workers themselves possessed the machinery, then each of them would thereafter work only half a day. Now, instead, 3 continue to work a whole day every day of the week. If capital were to continue to employ the 6, then each of them would work only half a day, but perform no surplus labour. Suppose that necessary labour amounted to 10 hours previously, the surplus labour to 2 hours per day, then the total surplus labour of the 6 workers was 2 x 6 daily, equal to a whole day, and was equal to 6 days a week = 72 hours. Each one worked one day a week for nothing. Or it would be the same as if the sixth worker had worked the whole week long for nothing. The 5 workers represent necessary labour, and if they could be reduced to 4, and if the one worker worked for nothing as before—then the relative surplus value would have grown. Its relation previously was = 1:6, and would now be 1 5. The previous law, of an increase in the number of hours of surplus labour, thus now obtains the form of a reduction in the number of necessary workers. If it were possible for this same capital to employ the 6 workers at this new rate, then the surplus value would have increased not only relatively, but absolutely as well. Surplus labour time would amount to 14 2/5 hours. 2 2/5 hours [each] performed by 6 workers is of course more than 2 2/5 performed by 5.

If we look at absolute surplus value, it appears determined by the absolute lengthening of the working day above and beyond necessary labour time. Necessary labour time works for mere use value, for subsistence. Surplus labour time is work for exchange value, for wealth. It is the first moment of industrial labour. The natural limit is posited—presupposing that the conditions of labour are on hand, raw material and instrument of labour, or one of them, depending on whether the work is merely extractive or formative, whether it merely isolates the use value from nature or whether it shapes it—the natural limit is posited by the number of simultaneous work days or of living labour capacities, i.e. by the labouring population. At this stage the difference between the production of capital and earlier stages of production is still merely formal. With kidnapping, slavery, the slave trade and forced labour, the increase of these labouring machines, machines producing surplus product, is posited directly by force; with capital, it is mediated through exchange.

The tendency of capital is, of course, to link up absolute with relative surplus value; hence greatest stretching of the working day with greatest number of simultaneous working days, together with reduction of necessary labour time to the minimum, on one side, and of the number of necessary workers to the minimum, on the other. This contradictory requirement, whose development will show itself in different forms as overproduction, over-population etc., asserts itself in the form of a process in which the contradictory aspects follow closely upon each other in time. A necessary consequence of them is the greatest possible diversification of the use value of labour—or of the branches of production—so that the production of capital constantly and necessarily creates, on one side, the development of the intensity of the productive power of labour, on the other side, the unlimited diversity of the branches of labour, i.e. thus the most universal wealth, in form and content, of production, bringing all sides of nature under its domination.

Also See:

Work Sucks

IWW


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First the Cook Now The Pilot

First King Stephen fired his chef now he has fired his pilot.

How do you you spell Autark?

H A R P E R.

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Peak Oil = Alberta Water Shortage

While King Ralph bitch slaps the Pembina Institute for daring to point out that the Tar Sands may lead to a water shortage in Alberta, which is already facing drought conditions, claiming they should keep their noses out of the business of business, well a business blog says their concerns are justified.

The Oil Horror Picture Show (By Sean Brodrick)
Money and Markets, FL - 9 Aug 2006

Canada's total crude oil production has been dropping since 2004, and is down 11% since December, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

"But don't worry," says the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers. That product, they claim, should get back up to the 2004 level starting in 2010, thanks to oil sands.

Trouble is, they want you to ignore the fact that every cubic meter of oil produced requires two to five times as much water. In other words, a million barrels a day of oil production translates into roughly 2 to 4.5 million barrels of water used in that same day.

Just among the oil sands projects now planned, the water use will increase to 529 million cubic meters, according to the Pembina Institute's report, "Down to the Last Drop."

Considering that the drought in North America is worsening, there may be better uses for Canadian water. Water or oil … that's a tough choice, isn't it?

In fact despite all the ramping up of oil production in Fort McMurray we still face Peak Oil conditions.

"Once peak oil occurs, then the historic patterns of world oil demand and price cycles will cease. In recent years, the realization of price stability has depended on the effectiveness of nations belonging to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to adjust for the production increases and lags of the non-OPEC nations. "We have now entered a period where production is lagging behind demand. A Thousand Barrels a Second

Nuclear powered steam injection, melted Glaciers, all the wild and crazy ideas of the seventies are being revived in Alberta in order to extract the expensive oil from the Tar Sands.

A step back in time and a blast from the past. Historian Michael Payne looks back at efforts to set off an atomic bomb at Cheechum Crossing. All in the name of getting oil out of the Athabasca Tar Sands.

Oh yes and don't forget it also takes natural gas to power the current extraction process.

Tar sands take 1,000 cubic feet of natural gas and a lot of water to produce a barrel of what equates to sour crude. Sour or heavy crude is difficult to process and can only be handled by a limited number of refiners

The Tar Sands oil production is an expensive process. In other words along with the social and infrastructure costs which are not being met, the real cost for a barrel of oil from the tar sands fails to take into account real cost inputs.

While Klein likes to say leave it up to business, the real costs are borne not by business but by all Canadians who have subsidized big oil since the begining of the Tar Sands.

Canadian tax law invented income trusts (ITs) initially to enable oil and gas companies to pay dividends from cash flow before taxes. That means they could securitize future revenue streams and offer tax advantages. Normal stocks pay dividends from after-tax earnings. These entities are much more common in Canada than in the U.S., although some others are said to be coming here. The recipient of the IT dividends is responsible for paying taxes on what he has received. That makes this vehicle similar to real-estate investment trusts in the U.S. and other countries. Looking to Canada for investment innovation


Mackenzie Gas, Athabasca Tar: Industrializing Canada’s Northwest ...



Also See:

Peak Oil

Tar Sands



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Verbena for Ambrose

A tiny plant may mean the extinction of Rona Ambrose as Environment Minister.

Why, because the plant grows in Klein country, and that means it will be sacrificed for the good of the oil industry.

Klein dismissed a call by the Pembina Institute for a moratorium on oilsands development until a comprehensive plan is developed. ‘‘The Pembina Institute should keep their noses out of anyone’s business, especially businesses that want to take risks,’’ Klein said Thursday.

Of course this is the same province that refuses to protect the endangered Grizzly Bear population allowing for hunting of the last of North America's great bears. And if they allow for hunting of the last of the North American Grizzlies why would they care for a tiny little flower.

The groups picked the least significant plant to test the government's commitment to protecting endangered species, said Devon Page, a lawyer with the Sierra Legal Defence Fund.

"Never mind polar bears and grizzly bears and caribou," he said. "What does it say about protection of species under the act if they won't protect the least significant? I think it tells you what will happen: no species will get protected."

Page says Alberta is the only province that doesn't have legislation to protect endangered species. Environment minister asked to save Alberta plants facing extinction

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The New Imperialist

Imperialism is the highest form of capitalism. Lenin

China apparently has embraced Lenins axiom as only they could as a State Capitalist Autarky. Now sitting at the international table of imperialism; the WTO, China today is colonizing Africa as its resource base, just as the old European Imperialist Powers did in the past two centruries.

The death of the so called Super Powers conflict with the end of the Cold War has in the era of globalization led to what Kautsky called Ultra Imperialism. And China is ruthlessly applying the logic of Imperialism in Africa. Far more so than even the old Imperialists ever did.

Its rapacious need for resources,oil, gas, and ivory, which has increased the poaching of Elephants, makes Africa, poor Africa, the new colony of Imperialist China. The result is the same old same old, China's new Fordist economy relies upon underdeveloped Africa.

Africa will remain underdeveloped and a battlefield of Imperialism until some country on the contient develops its own Fordist economy.

Chinese goods flood SADC, there maybe benefits

More than 93 percent of these imports were manufactured goods. By comparison, regional exports to China, which also saw a dramatic increase from 1.3 billion US Dollars to over 8.2 billion US Dollars were dominated by raw material.

What Do the Chinese Want?

This article is about one part of the Chinese plan for economic independence, not interdependence, in a global economy in which China, itself, has become, perhaps, the driving engine of demand for commodities. A place formerly held, and for a very long time, by the United States, and still held by the United States in the minds of many investment advice-giving financial analysts. The part of the Chinese plan for economic independence I wish to discuss can be called the gathering and control of the natural resources necessary for a modern industrial economy.

The Chinese do not believe that the end result of their, strictly supervised by the government and intentionally limited, foray into a mixed planned and market driven economy should be that anyone with money can buy, and has the right to buy, anything they want. They believe that a great nation must first and foremost control sufficient natural resources and energy to be independent of the needs or desires of any other nation. They have entered into the global marketplace only to fulfill that purpose. This is the basis of what I call the ‘gold war’ that has supplanted the earlier unsuccessful cold war waged by the late Soviet Union. The Chinese have realized, as the Russians never did, that if a nation hopes to be powerful and respected it must first be economically self sufficient and bring first to its own people the superior benefits it claims for its political system as a global role model.

China’s scramble for Africa finds a welcome in Kenya

China Makes Trade Links With Africa

PanAfrica: China-Africa Trade Up 72 Percent

China’s empire-builders sweep up African riches


Also See

China




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