Friday, October 31, 2014

Food regimes and their transformation

HFIn her first half-hour talk, Harriet Friedmann looks at food system transformation from the perspective of food regimes. She developed this perspective with Philip McMichael at Cornell University. They drew on French historiography, which looks at long time lines (long duree), and on US work on World System Theory, especially as exemplified in the work of Giovanni Arrighi, author of The Long Twentieth Century: Money, Power, and the Origins of Our Times, in looking at how the state system and world economy developed through long cycles since its origin 500 years ago, through colonial empires and international trade.
Relations among states in each cycle form a unique state system which organises that global market. This system of states goes through important transitions, in which the dominant states in power change and power alignments shift. The other important influence on this work on regimes is the French idea of filieres – long chains – from farm to table and the systems of transformation – processing, distribution, storage.
Food regime analysis follows these material chains to track state power, capital investment, class formation, and regional specialization constituting historical agro-economic systems. In this talk, Harriet first defines food regimes and their transitions, then discusses them since since the mid 19th century, and the current contradictions that may lead to a new regime


The End of the Long Twentieth Century? 

The Rise of China and the Possibilities of a New 

Global Fordism


Nick Jepson
It is now 20 years since the publication of Giovanni Arrighi’s The Long Twentieth Centurya highly influential and ambitious work charting the evolution of global capitalism over five centuries. Arrighi’s account posits the history of capitalism as a series of secular cycles, each consisting of expansionary material and financial phases. Every cycle is led by a hegemonic state, which houses an alliance of capitalist and governmental agencies best placed among various competitors to create the conditions for a stable profitable investment regime. The incipient hegemon’s competitive advantages over rivals (organizational, technological, geographical, etc.) gradually allow its capitalists to become the central actors in and beneficiaries of the most profitable circuits of accumulation. The dynamism of the hegemonic state-capital alliance drives (uneven) growth across the world-system as a whole, meaning that, generally speaking, the interests of all other capitalist actors become increasingly tied to supporting continued processes of hegemonic expansion. This tends to establish periods of relatively stable systemic growth, the material phase, which are eventually progressively undermined by their own contradictions. As returns on productive expansion under the organizational paradigm instituted by the hegemon diminish, capital begins to pull out of these activities and retreat into finance, in search of higher returns. The ensuing phase of financial expansion constitutes a brief belle époque in which the power of the hegemon appears to be resurgent. This proves illusory, however, as the financial expansion, not underpinned by growth in the real economy but in fact predicated upon an undermining of the bases of real growth, tends towards instability and quickly generates crisis. In turn, declining returns to financial capital promote a search for investment opportunities in a rising state-capitalist bloc that possesses the most advantages under the new conjuncture, eventually emerging as the new hegemon and providing the basis for another round of material expansion.

AND BARRIERS TO CHINA’S HEGEMONIC ACCESSION
ABSTRACT
Giovanni Arrighi’s The Long Twentieth Century is an almost unfathomably ambitious and 
complex work. Its monumentality derives from Arrighi’s conviction that the best way to handicap 
the possible futures of the world capitalist geo-economy is to analyze the structural evolution of 
this global system, an evolution spanning more than five centuries; the genius of the work rests in 
the distinctive approach that Arrighi takes. At the core of his approach is the identification of 
those long-term trends and accreted characteristics – one might call them “systemic 
contradictions” – that promise to send the world capitalist geo-economy in a radically different 
developmental direction as US hegemony wanes. Arrighi’s assessment of these contradictions 
compel him to make a provocative suggestion: in all likelihood, no singular concentration of state 
and economic power possesses the territorial scale or the organizational capacities required to 
lead the global system through another round of restructuring and expansion. Properly framed, 
this illuminating insight could serve as the starting point for a theoretical exploration of the 
socio-ecological constraints to global capitalist reproduction, but such is a journey (mostly) not 
taken by Arrighi in The Long Twentieth Century. In fact, to the degree that he subsequently 
contemplates the prospect of a China-centered reconstitution of the world geo-economy, Arrighi 
marginalizes the question of global systemic contradictions altogether.












Friday, October 24, 2014

ANARCHISM

A HISTORY OF LIBERTARIAN IDEAS AND MOVEMENTS

GEORGE WOODCOCK
1962, Postscript 1975

Contents
  1. PROLOGUE 7
 PART ONE  THE IDEA
  1. THE FAMILY TREE 35
  2. THE MAN OF REASON 56
  3. THE EGOIST 87
  4. THE MAN OF PARADOX 98
  5. THE DESTRUCTIVE URGE 134
  6. THE EXPLORER 171
  7. THE PROPHET 207
 PART TWO  THE MOVEMENT
  1. INTERNATIONAL ENDEAVOURS 223
  2. ANARCHISM IN FRANCE 257
  3. ANARCHISM IN ITALY 307
  4. ANARCHISM IN SPAIN 335
  5. ANARCHISM IN RUSSIA 376
  6. VARIOUS TRADITIONS: ANARCHISM IN LATIN AMERICA,
    NORTHERN EUROPE, BRITAIN, AND THE UNITED STATES
     401
  7. EPILOGUE 443
POSTSCRIPT 452
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 465
INDEX 477

Digital Text International


The first book I ever read on Anarchism. By a Canadian author formerly from the UK who was part of the Anarchist movement during WWII there. My articles on Woodcock can be found by clicking on his name. 

Thursday, October 23, 2014

RADICALS AND RADICALIZATION

RADICAL MEANS TO GET TO THE ROOT

Radix, the Latin word for root, is the origin of the word radical. In contemporary political philosophy, the term describes activists who challenge established views and who operate outside the parameters of social convention to achieve political aims, sometimes employing extreme or violent methods in that pursuit.
The concept of political radicalism evolved out of the language and logic of the scientific revolution when educated intellectuals began to view the world in scientific, secular terms. It gained popularity during the Enlightenment as social theorists employed the new method of critical thinking to challenge traditional religious and political dogma.
 http://science.jrank.org/pages/8021/Radicals-Radicalism.html#ixzz3Gu4BLJxK


TO RADICALIZE IS TO GET TO THE ROOT OF OR THE SOURCE OF THE PROBLEM, OF ONES OPPRESSION WHEN USED IN A MARXIST SENSE.

“To be radical is to go to the root of the matter. For man, however, the root is man himself.” ― Karl Marx


IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ADOLESCENT YOUNG MEN BECOMING INFATUATED WITH VIOLENCE, WITH THE BELIEF THEY CAN CHANGE THE WORLD AND ARE IMMORTAL, LIKE ALEXANDER THE GREAT.

WHETHER IT WAS BOMB CHUCKING ANARCHISTS, THE MILITIAS IN THE US, ADOLESCENT JIHADIS, OR CHILD WARRIORS IN THE CONGO. THE COMMONALITY IS THEY ARE ALL HORMONAL ADOLESCENT MALES WHO HAVE BEEN DOING THIS FOR CENTURIES, WHICH IS WHY PATRIARCHY INVENTED WAR. AND LATER SPORTS, LIKE THE MAYAN HOOP BALL GAMES.

THE DAY AFTER THE OTTAWA SHOOTING

Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones is already calling the Ottawa shooting a false flag operation by the police, for Alex everything is a false flag of course It isn't, but neither is it a terrorist act like Harper likes to claim.

Firstly we have no knowledge of why this incident occurred and to jump to conclusions, like how many shooters there were, is speculation that almost always turns out to be untrue.

There was only one shooter, though for most of the days coverage on Canadian cablenews channels,  it was not clear if there was only one person or several. A common problem in reporting during shootings

What we know is that a young man from Quebec shot and killed a Canadian reservist standing on guard at the war memorial in Ottawa; he ran into the parliament buildings where still carrying his shotgun he was shot and killed.

The rest they say is speculation.

What we also know about him, is that he has a criminal record, that he was able to buy a long gun, without a license or registration because the Harper government eliminated the Long Gun Registry, talk about coming back to bite you in theass.

His criminal record tells all we need to know according to Mr. Harper who reminded us that after a young native woman’s body was found in the Red River in Winnipeg, foul play was suspected that there is no deep sociological reason for her death rather it is a simple criminal act. No need to address the root causes of her death.

Yet when it comes to MichaelHall, aka Michael Zehaf-Bibeau , the shooter in Ottawa suddenly he is not a criminal he is a terrorist and everyone is talking about the sociological phenomena of rootscauses of radicalization.

Like the murder in Winnipeg the shooting in Ottawa is a criminal act, it is irrelevant  that we are involved in the Middle Eastin another conflict in Iraq, which Harper approved.

Nor is it related to the car assault on the weekend in Quebec, which saw another Canadian soldier killed, in a hit and run by another supposedly ‘radicalized’ Canadian youth. Of course he can’t tell us his motivation either since he too is dead.

The link between these two events, or between them and the Canadian involvementin the air war in Iraq are dubious at best, simply put there is no connection, except in the mind of the reader.

In fact since both events occurred involving Quebecois you could say something about that particular culture which produced these events and the men involved as well as the men responsible for the shootings at Dawson College and the Ecole Poly Technique massacre.

The connection is as tenuous as claims of the car assault on the weekend or the public murder in Ottawa are acts of terrorism. They are more like publicity stunts in the age of social media. They are I hate to say it the result of the need for ones 15 minutes of fame.

These two acts are not terrorism but cries of ‘Hey Look At Me’, which has less to do with so called radicalization as it does to do with adolescent psychology, alienation and mental illness, what Wilhelm Reich called the emotional plague.

What all these events have in common going back to Marc Lapine
Is that it involves young men, most often guns, and some kind of deep rooted alienation and rage. They are not demons, or monsters,nor are they misunderstood, they are deeply scarred and damaged. 
 
There is nothing radical about it, they are not interested in changing society for the better, they are simply lashing out at a society that fails to meet their needs whatever they imagine them to be. On the other hand they are not Demons or Monsters that the media will try to make them out to be. They are ordinary dysfunctional Canadians that's far more scary than any terrorist threat.

While Mr. Jones is wrong about this being a False Flag it is similar to the origin of that phrase. Like the Reichstag Fire of 1933, which allowed Hitler to introduce a form of Martial Law into Germany, these two events, the hit and run murder of a soldier in Quebec and the shooting of a Soldier at the War Memorial in Ottawa will be used as an excuse to increase the powers of the Security State. And you can bet the Law & Order Harper Government will milk it for election purposes as well.

That is what is behind all the talk about so called Canadians Radicalized to fight in the Middle East as Jihadists.

Harper has already leaped on this to call for more funding for his war and security efforts.  With it having happened in Parliament with its fetishistic symbolism of peace, order and good governance, that brings a tear to the eye of all MP’s regardless of party, the answer will beunanimous.

The state needs no excuse to increase its security powers, that people give it one is convent cover. And that is how we can judge their actions, not whether they were or were not a terrorist, but can their actions be used to justifyincreasing the states policing powers over its citizens.  The state claims it needs increased powers to defend itself from assault, not us, not Canadians, but the uniform figures that represent state power and authority.

Fascism loves disorder, terror, chaos, so it can impose its own form of order on it.

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

CHURCHILL SQUARE SMOKING BAN

ANOTHER STUPID MORALISTIC BYLAW IGNORES REALITY, 
HOMELESS FOLKS USE CHURCHILL SQUARE, HOMELESS FOLKS SMOKE,  
WAIT , OH NOW I GET IT
Lighting up in Sir Winston Churchill Square will soon be illegal after council approved a motion on Wednesday for a full smoking ban on the outdoor space.
CBC.CA
CANADA 




Tuesday, October 21, 2014

AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM




Sunday, October 19, 2014

TWO WORDS: RICKY RAY

This dreadful season of the orphan Argonauts muddles on with little or nothing to feel right about.
TORONTOSUN.COM

  • IS OVERPAID 

  • Things have progressed since 2002, when before joining the CFL, Edmonton Eskimos’ quarterback Ricky Ray was delivering Frito Lay potato chips for $43,000 U.S. a year - more than he made in Edmonton that year. By the mid-2000’s Ray was the highest paid player in the CFL with an annual salary nearing $400,000
  • .
    Eugene Plawiuk's photo.

  •  RICKY RAY IS NOT A TEAM PLAYER, 
    Toronto’s three-time Grey Cup-winning QB may just have...
    THEGLOBEANDMAIL.COM

  • ITS ALL ABOUT HIM

Saturday, October 18, 2014





WE ARE CAPITALISM 

It (Capitalism) is thus, despite itself , instrumental in creating the means of social disposable time,in order to reduce labour time for the whole society to a diminishing minimum, and thus to free everyone’s time for their own development.






The more this contradiction develops, the more does it become evident that the growth of the forces of production can no longer be bound up with the appropriation of alien labour, but that the mass of workers must themselves appropriate their own surplus labour.

Karl Marx,  Grundrisse

Wir sind Kapitalismus

FALLING RATE OF PROFIT

CAPITALISM CLOUD

The Subversion of Politics 

European Autonomous Social Movements 
and the Decolonization of Everyday Life 

    Copyright Georgy Katiaficas 1997,2006 






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