Bulletin N° 692
Subject:
Natural Selection and the Survival of the Fittest, at any cost….
2 April 2016
Grenoble, France
Dear
Colleagues and Friends of CEIMSA,
Thomas
Hobbes is generally revered by conservative intellectual forces of order in
France today. The 17th century philosopher was much influenced by
the horrors of the early stages of
the Puritan Revolution, which culminated with the execution of King Charles I
on January 30, 1649. Hobbes penned his most influential book, Leviathan, at the age of 64, the usual
age of retirement for university professors in contemporary France; and like
Machiavelli’s book, The Prince (ca.1515),
Hobbes’ opus, which first saw the light of day in 1651, was an appeal for a
strong ruler whose task it must be to unite an unimaginably chaotic society
through the constant threat of violence. Popular acquiescence, by means of a social contract in support of a monopoly
of coercive force in the hands of an absolute sovereign, was the sole guarantee
for law & order in a society of
“all against all”.
European
neo-liberalism, has sought its political roots in a discourse written more than
a century before Adam Smith (1723-1790), and nearly half a century before John
Locke (1632-1704), thus displacing the 18th century liberal philosophy of possessive individualism with a late medieval version of popular consensus, as an equally
corporative alternative for the earlier doctrine of divine right of rulers.
The
state apparatus exists to crush dissent in any form, in order to prevent the
emergence of chaos. The obedient
individual is the good member of society, and the shock and awe
of the state monopoly of violence assures popular cooperation and harmony in
society. The fallacy of this argument is, of course, that the control over
individuals by an omnipotent state apparatus presupposes the existence of
individuals as a social reality. It is much the same error as thinking that the
index finger is the essential item to be dealt with in violent gun-related
crimes. The finger --without considering the hand to which it belongs, not to
mention the rest of the body and the environmental/social conditions that
affect that body, as a member of a larger society-- is a ridiculous abstraction
and a purely ideological construct.
Perhaps a manicurist is justified in making such an abstraction, but certainly
not a social scientist. Some of the most mean spirited ideologues, on both the
left and the right, are produced by such alienated modes of thought. The
Vietnam War is a case in point, when President Johnson is said to have
proclaimed: “Grab them by the balls and their hearts and minds will follow.” He
was just one of many political leaders who failed to perceive the social class
interests which he represented and the conflicts his allegiance would
inevitably entail.
In
contrast to both individualist and the corporatist ideological constructions, a
social class mode of thinking takes on a necessarily revolutionary dimension.
One good example of this is found in the introduction of Jeff Faux’s book, The Global Class War: How
America’s Bipartisan Elite Lost Our Future and What It Will Take to Win It Back
(2006), in which he describes his discovery of “the elephant standing in the
living room.”
The seed of this book was planted in a
conversation I had with a corporate lobbyist in the main corridor of the U.S.
Capitol in 1993. She was exasperated that I couldn’t see the virtues of the
proposed North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which her company was
promoting.
“Don’t you understand?” she finally said.
“We have to help Salinas. He’s been to Harvard. He’s one of us.”
“Salinas” was Carlos
Salinas de Gortari, then president of Mexico.
The reference to “us” seemed odd. She and I
were not in the same political party, and a one-year fellowship at the Kennedy
Institute of Politics barely qualified me as a “Harvard man.” She, as it turned
out, hadn’t gone there at all. It took me a little while to understand her
point: we internationally mobile professionals had a shared self-interest in
freeing transnational corporations from the constraints imposed by governments
on behalf of people who were, well, “not really like us.” Despite the
considerable political and social distance between Carlos Salinas and me, she
was appealing to class solidarity.
At that moment, I realized that
globalization was producing not just a borderless market, but a borderless
class system to go with it.
Once the point was made it seemed obvious.
Markets within nations inevitably produce groups of people who have more money
and power than others. So, it would be odd if global markets were not creating
an international upper class of people whose economic interests have more in
common with each other than with the majority of people who share their
nationality.
In the years since that conversation, I have
found that the morphing of national elites into a global governing class
explained the politics of the new global economy better than the standard interpretations
offered by the media punditry. Certainly, the bipartisan embrace of NAFTA by
American elites could be adequately understood in no other way: not in the
familiar drama of Republicans versus Democrats, nor in the traditional trade
politics of industry rivalry, nor imperialism or the pursuit of some clear
notion of the national interests –and certainly not in the simple-minded mantra
of ‘free trade’ that saturated the newsprint and airwaves. As Jorge Castañeda,
who later became Mexico’s foreign secretary observes, NAFTA was ‘an accord
among magnates and potentates: an agreement for the rich and powerful in the
United States, Mexico, and Canada, an agreement effectively excluding ordinary
people in all three societies.’(pp.1-2)
In
Chapter one he proceeds to describe how Bill Clinton deceived voters into
electing him President in 1992, much like Ronald Reagan had done in 1980, only
to systematically violate his campaign promises and satisfy the corporate
interests that had been unsuccessfully pursued by his Republican predecessor,
George Bush. Another bipartisan deal was cut to satisfy corporate interests to
the detriment of working people and more . . . .
The 9 items below should serve as a reminder
of the class war that we have inherited and which has engaged all of us in a
combat not of our choosing. The strategies, tactics and logistics of this war
are inescapable and to think otherwise is to engage in self-deception, the
depth of which leaves us in a vulnerable position like the proverbial ostrich
who thinks himself protected from impending catastrophe.
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
a.
Oublier la loi travail...
http://www.lesmutins.org/oublier-la-loi-travail
===========
b.
From: Ghandhi,
Jamshed
Sent: Monday,
March 28, 2016
Subject: Chief rabbi: Non-Jews shouldn’t be
allowed to live in Israel
Chief
rabbi: Non-Jews shouldn’t be allowed to live in Israel
http://www.timesofisrael.com/chief-rabbi-non-jews-shouldnt-be-allowed-to-live-in-israel/
Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef says
gentiles who don’t take on seven Noahide Laws should
be ‘expelled to Saudi Arabia’
===========
c.
From: Herman, Edward S.
Sent: Tuesday, March
29, 2016
Subject: Blumenthal on pro-israel lobby
tactics.
Francis,
Here
is a brilliant and frightening article by Max Blumenthal.
ed herman
The Israel Lobby’s
Totalitarian Agenda:
Smash Free Speech and
Criminalize Resistance
With help from influential liberals, pro-Israel
lobbyists push to define resisting Israeli apartheid as hate speech.
===========
d.
Israeli War Lies Unveiled
as Corporate
Media Crumbles
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/israeli_war_lies_fall_as_corporate_media_falls_20160330
by David Swanson
Israeli war propaganda, which has skillfully swayed
U.S. public opinion in support of Israeli wars and occupations, has in fact
been not so much a matter of skill as a matter of control. A new film, The Occupation of the American Mind, traces the rise
of Israeli war propaganda in the United States.
===========
e.
The Blue State
Model: How the Democrats Created a "Liberalism of the Rich"
by
Thomas Frank
===========
f.
The CIA and the Pentagon Are Shooting
at Each Other
http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/35452-the-cia-and-the-pentagon-are-shooting-at-each-other
by William Rivers Pitt
===========
g.
Understanding
Marxism and Socialism with Richard Wolff
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article44485.htm
The
Empire Files
===========
h.
Human
Rights Advocates: U.S.-Backed Saudi Offensive in Yemen
a "Dark Mark" on Obama's Presidency
http://www.democracynow.org/2016/4/1/human_rights_advocates_us_backed_saudi
===========
i.
Digital
Dissidents
http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/specialseries/2016/03/digital-dissidents-160323141254755.html
An in-depth look
at the most famous whistleblowers of the 21st century and what drives them to
speak out.