Bulletin N° 608
Subject: ON UKRAINE : ARTIFICIAL 'TOP-DOWN' MANAGEMENT OR
AUTHENTIC 'GRASSROOTS' ORGANIZING, WHICH IS THE ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE?
25 April 2014
Grenoble, France
Dear
Colleagues and Friends of CEIMSA,
We
know what they are capable of because they have done it before in a period
similar to the crises we are now witnessing. Most were not members of a Fascist
political party; some participated in resistance to fascism, at one level or
another, but the majority looked the
other way and ignored the Fascist violence around them; they had learned to
live with it, while the designated scapegoats suffered silently and were
disappeared. Western capitalist countries were willing and able to produce
this. It is the history which we have inherited; we ignore it at our peril . .
. !
Grassroots
organizing is an art involving
intuitive understanding and creative risk-taking, and it shares with science the practice of precision
--stemming from theory, experiment and careful observation. The ham-handed
management that is currently being practiced by venal institutional
administrators --in both the private and the public sectors-- is an artless,
philistine practice devoid of social theory and blind to human needs. These
are the ‘friendly fascists’ which Bertram
Gross wrote about in his revealing book, Friendly
Fascism, the New Face of Power in America (1980).
Civil
societies have been invaded by a form of cultural imperialism, a pernicious
ideology that undermines social solidarity and serves to isolate each of us, so
that we feel helpless in front of the forces that plunder our environment and
endanger our species.
Will
the last one leaving civilization please turn off the light!
The
8 items below offer CEIMSA readers a look at the brinkmanship now being
played by nuclear-armed states, in the name of “democracy,” the will of the
people. The contradictions of US military gigantism, without economic
stability; of Washington’s formal rhetoric, without coherent ideological
justification; of transnational corporate strategies, without plausible
logistics and riddled with self-destructive tactics –these contradictions and
more have produced in us a zombie-like quality, ever-ready to obey and wanting
to not comprehend. Capitalist cultural hegemony has all but suffocated human agency, history it seems has made
us what we are, but we no longer aim at making history by changing our society into
the structure we need in order to live and prosper. But, as we can see in some of the items below, there are
corners of this planet, small areas where exceptions to this monolithic senareo have appeared, and it is to such a place of local politics that
we first turn, before looking at the broader context of the looming military
confrontation in Ukraine between the US proxy army known as NATO and, well ... just anyone who
dares not to submit to this militarized Behemoth from across the Sea.
Item
A.,
from Sebastian Juy,
is a look at the fruits of bottom-up organizing, i.e. human development.
Item
B.
is an article on the introduction of free access to “open source software” offered by the new municipal government of Grenoble.
Item C., from NYU Professor Bertell Ollman, is an article first published by German Public Service Television, reporting on the miseries caused by US-funded destabilazation tactics and 'false flag' operations in Ukraine.
Item
D.,
from University of Pennsylvania
Professor Edward Herman, is a short article by film maker John Pilger on NATO, Ukraine and US Grand Strategies.
Item
E.,
from Information Clearing
House,
is an article by Nick Wright on the
US-led coup d’état in Ukraine.
Item
F.
presents two additional pieces (a video + an article from ICH) giving further information on the threat of a US-provoked war
against Russia as part of the grand strategy for US imperialist control of
future Eruasian markets.
Item
G.,
from Boston historian Jim O’Brien,
founder of Historians Against The War, is a series of recommended recent articles +
information on the up-coming conference on
the centenary of World War I, to be held next week in New York City.
Item
H.,
from UCSD Professor Fred Lonidier, is an a article first published in the Los Angeles Times,
by George
Miller, Rosa DeLauro and Louise Slaughter,
about ‘Free trade on steroids: The threat of the
Trans-Pacific Partnership.’
And
finally, we invite CEIMSA readers to watch the review of James Spione’s new documentary film :
“Silenced”
The Film which Explores the Human
Toll of Obama’s Crackdown on National Security Whistleblowers
also, see a short excerpt from this film at:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1941167757/silenced-a-new-documentary-from-oscar-nominee-jame
Sincerely,
Francis
Feeley
Professor
of American Studies
University
of Grenoble-3
Director
of Research
University
of Paris-Nanterre
Center
for the Advanced Study of American Institutions and Social Movements
The
University of California-San Diego
http://dimension.ucsd.edu/CEIMSA-IN-EXILE/
_______________
A.
From Sebastian Juy :
Dates: 14 April 2014
Subject
: Grassroots
organizing and the fruit that it might bear in Grenoble.
Retour sur les Municipales 2014 à Grenoble et réponse des
militants Parti de gauche
aux interprétations de la presse sur la nature du
Rassemblement : "Grenoble une ville pour tous"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73FjvGKkHwc
_______________
B.
From MEC :
Dates: 14 April 2014
Subject : Grassroots organizing and the fruit that it might bear in Grenoble.
Francis,
just check the articles on the new
municipal government; you will see that L.Comparat is
in charge of open data and "logiciels libres" How do you translate "logiciels
libres"? We have the best municipal government
since Dubedoud.
mec
Grenoble a une adjointe au maire déléguée à l'open data et veut
utiliser des
logiciels libres
_______________
C.
From Bertell Ollman :
Dates: 17 April 2014
Subject : New clues about Kiev massacre.
Francis -
Best evidence based account I've read of what happened
in the mysterious shootings of protestors that triggered the coup in Ukraine.
If you haven't already published as good an account of this crucial event on
your lists yet, this is well worth sharing with your readers.
Bertell
The TV magazine "Monitor" of the German ARD channel (public service) throws significant doubt on the identity of the perpetrators of the massacres in Kiev. Their investigation has created a stir in Germany but has not been taken up by the media outside, to my knowledge.
Attached, my translation of the channel's article.
Anne-Marie
Here
is the original article in German, with links and pictures:
http://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/maidan-schuesse102.html
Investigation by “Monitor” magazine
of ARD (German Public Service télévision)
New clues about the sharpshooters of
Maidan Square
Seven
weeks after the deadly shootings in Kiev which brought about the fall of the
government of President Victor Yanukovich, evidence is gathering which sheds
considerable doubt on the official version of events. According to
investigations of the magazin Monitor of the WRD channel, there is
little probability that the shots which killed the demonstrators came solely
from the side of the Ukranian authorities, then under the leadership of
Yanukovich.
The
General Prosecution and the new transition government had concluded [in the
sense of an exclusive responsibility of the Yanukovich authorities] at a press
conference last week. Twelve members of the special forces “Berkut,” dissolved
since, have been arrested and designated as the main culprits.
An investigator puts in doubt the
General Posecurtor’s version
A
higly placed member of the investigative commission of the Ukrainian government
in charge of the investigation throws doubt on the declarations of the General
Prosecution. “The results of my investigations are not in concordance with the
declarations of the General Prosecution at the press conference,” says the
investigator, who desires to keep anonymity, in an interview with Monitor.
The ARD magazine has also at its
disposal a recording of radio commincations between elements of the sharp
shooters, which must be those on the side of ex-president Yanukovich, who were
posted in all evidence on various roofs in the center of Kiev in the morning of
February 20th. This exhanges have been recorded by a radio-amateur, whom Monitor
has met. One hears one sharp-shooter asking his colleagues: “Who just shot? We
don’t shoot unarmed people.” A moment later, another says: “Someone shot this
man there. But it wasn’t us.” Then he adds: “Are there other sharp-shooters?
And who are they?”
Shots coming from Hotel Ukraina
On videos, one can see that the
opposition demonstrators who were on Institutska Street where not only targeted
from the front, from the direction of the government buildings, but also from
the Hotel Ukraina, in their back. This has been confirmed in an interview of Monitor
with an eyewitness who found himself that day between the hotel and the
government buildings and who can be recognized in several videos. “They’ve shot
at us from the front, but also from the back, say, from the eighth or ninth
floor of the Hotel Ukraina. In any case, these were pros!”
The
hotel, where many representatives of the medias were staying, was then firmly
in the hands of the opposition. That very morning, an access control had been
established: only those with a room-key or who could justify their identity
could enter the hotel.
The
lawyers do not get information
The lawyers of family members and of
the injured voice grave reproaches against the General Prosecution of Ukraine,
as well. Access to the results of the investigation has been up to now almost
completely withheld from them. “They haven’t told us what type of weapons was
used, we have no access to the expert opinions, we cannot get the action plans.
We also do not have the other documents of the investigation at our disposal.
We can absolutely not say what has truly happened from the viewpoint of the
Prosecution.” One of the lawyers goes as far as to compare this state of
affairs to what happened in the Soviet Union and under Yanukovich: “The General
Prosecutor does not investigate in the right way. They are covering up for
their own, they are partisans, as in the past.”
http://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/maidan-schuesse102.html
_______________
D.
From Ed Herman
:
Dates: 18 April 2014
Subject : Pilger on NATO and the Ukraine.
Francis,
Pilger is a genuine man of the left: anti-imperialist and pro
democracy.
ed
Nato's action plan in Ukraine is right out
of Dr Strangelove
From China to Ukraine, the US is pursuing its longstanding
ambition to dominate the Eurasian landmass
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/apr/17/nato-ukraine-dr-strangelove-china-us
_______________
E.
From Information Clearing House :
Dates: 25 April 2014
Subject : The US-lead Coup in Ukraine.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/
Troops are moving, planes are flying, ships are advancing, war threats are being thrown. The governments of NATO and their media point fingers at Russia, but the provocation is fully hidden. Peace activists who should know better are buying this propaganda and spreading it.
It Was a US-instigated
Ukrainian Coup
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article38331.htm
By Nick Wright
_______________
F.
From Information Clearing House :
Dates: 25 April 2014
Subject : The US-lead Coup in Ukraine.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/
Assertion based on photos the U.S.
government provided to NYTimes and that the newspaper
has had to retract.
Evidence for
Russian Involvement in East Ukraine Based on Shoddy Journalism
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article38325.htm
Video
+
There are internal factors driving
Washington to war. Social contradictions within the United States have reached
a dangerous intensity.
Does Washington
Want War With Russia?
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article38327.htm
By Bill
Van Auken
_______________
G.
From Historians Against the War :
Dates: 24 April 2014
Subject : May 3 conference on World War I and present-day dangers + links to recent articles of interest.
http://www.historiansagainstwar.org/
To members and friends of Historians Against
the War,
The American Friends Service Committee and several other groups
are sponsoring a free conference in New York on Saturday, May 3 relating the
centenary of World War I to the danger of a great-power war in the present day.
At the end of this message, please find the text of a flyer for the conference,
including links to the full conference agenda and registration.
Links to Recent Articles of Interest:
1.
"Ukraine: From Crisis to Catastrophe"
By Patrick Cockburn, CounterPunch.org, posted April 22
An argument on "the perils of intervention" based on
recent history in Iraq and Afghanistan
2.
"How Torture Became Normalized in
America"
By Rebecca Gordon, Informed Comment blog, posted April 22
Based on the author's newly published book, Mainstreaming Torture
By Tom Engelhardt, TomDispatch.com,
posted April 21
On the erosion of accountability, except for the one crime of whistleblowing
4.
"Is
the Only Solution to the Ukraine Crisis an Appalling One?"
By Cynthia Hooper, History News Network, posted April 20
The author teaches Soviet and post-Soviet history at College of
the Holy Cross.
5.
"What
Do You Call It When a Big Country Takes a Chunk of a Smaller One? Greed (And We
Should Know)"
By David Lee McMullen, History News Network, posted April
20
The author teaches history at the University of South florida.
6.
"The Ukraine Imbrogio
and the Decline of the American Empire"
By Arno J. Mayer, CounterPunch.org, posted April 18
The author is a professor of history emeritus at Princeton
University.
7.
"Unconditional Palestinian Surrender"
By Zeev Sternhell,
Haaretz, posted April 18
Pessimistic argument on the trajectory of internal Israeli
politics regarding Palestinian rights
8.
"Why
Germans Are More Ambivalent about What's Happening in Ukraine than Anybody
Else"
By Julianne Fuerst, History News
Network, posted April 13
The author teaches history at the University of Bristol, U.K.
By Juan Cole, Informed Comment blog, posted April 13
The author teaches history at the University of Michigan.
10.
"The Seductive Allure of Wars We're Not Winning"
By Andrew J. Bacevich, Washington
Post, posted April 11
The author teaches history and international relations at Boston
University.
Thanks to Mim Jackson, Steve Gosch,
and Rosalyn Baxandall for suggesting articles
included in the above list. Suggestions can be sent to jimobrien48@gmail.com.
+
Flyer for May 3 conference
"Facing the Dangers of 21st Century Great Power War - A
Conference on the Centenary of World War I"
Saturday, May 3, 2014, 9 a.m.-5:30 p.m.
Assembly Hall, Judson Memorial Church
229 Thompson St., Manhattan, South of Washington Square Park
This conference will provide an
opportunity for reflection and discussion on the world wars of the last
century, and about the risks of great power war today. The conference
will be held alongside the 2014 preparatory committee meeting for the 2015 Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference. We hope as well to spark discussion
and awareness about the dangers posed by nuclear weapons in the context of new
rounds of great power competition and arms racing.
The conference will bring together
activists and academics with knowledge and experience relevant to emerging
dangers in key regions, from wars, resource conflicts and profound ongoing
political realignments in Ukraine, Russia and Europe, and in the Middle East,
to growing tensions in the Western Pacific over territory and resources, as
well as the U.S. strategic “pivot” to Asia. Speakers will address the
risks of great power war, the implication of those dangers for peace and
disarmament efforts, the lessons to be learned from chemical and other arms
control growing out of World War I, and the kinds of movements we will need to
build to forge a path to a more peaceful world.
Speakers include Michael Klare, Irene Gendzier, Paul
Walker, Erhard Crome, Andrew Lichterman,
M.V. Ramana, Joseph Gerson,
Emira Woods, Zia Mian and
others with knowledge and insight. For the program and a full list of
speakers, see
http://afsc.org/story/conference-speakers-and-agenda-facing-dangers-21st-century-great-power-war
For the call to the conference,
see
http://afsc.org/story/new-york-city-may-3-2014-facing-dangers-21st-century-great-power-war
Registration information:
There is no charge for the conference. An inexpensive lunch will be
available on site at cost. We would appreciate pre-registrations indicating
whether people wish to purchase lunch. Please indicate whether you would
like a vegetarian meal. Register by writing to Jennifer Sherys-Rivet
at JSherysr@afsc.org. For more information, call 617-661-6130.
Conference conveners and sponsors: American Friends Service Committee, Peace and Economic Security
Program; International Peace Bureau; the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation; and
the International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms and its U.S.
affiliates, Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy and Western States Legal
Foundation.
Endorsing
organizations: Peace Action, Abolition
2000 Global Network to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons. Our intention is that the Facing the Dangers conference
will contribute to discussion and planning at the Abolition 2000 annual general
meeting to be held the next day, Sunday, May 4. See http://www.abolition2000.org/?p=3225
_______________
H.
From Fred Lonidier :
Dates: 24 April 2014
Subject : The ‘TPP Scam’ and why we should fear it.
Free
trade on steroids: The threat of the Trans-Pacific Partnership
The
TPP would
have a devastating effect on jobs and America's middle class.