Bulletin N° 745
Subject
:
Kicking Up the Dust For More Predatory Gaming: The Contradictions of Corporate
Capitalism and the Production of International Class Struggle.
April 1, 2017
Grenoble, France
Dear Colleagues and Friends of CEIMSA,
The debacle of the international capitalist system is not necessarily synonymous with the collapse of capitalism and ruling-class power. The international ruling classes seem to be preparing ideologically and materially for the transition to new social class structures which will assure their continued exploitation of labor at the cost of society and the environment. The violent movement towards political decentralization --in the context of the increasing concentration of capital—is the precondition for the creation of a ‘new colonialism,’ which we might call a “colonize thy neighbor” policy. In our world today, we are told in a recent issue of Forbes Magazine, there are 2,043 billionaires. The dismantling of territorial states –both the process and the outcome-- is intended to create new investment opportunities across the planet (including in North America) for a small number of people to profit, while the rest of us must be kept busy and out of the way!
The history of Ireland is instructive of this process of colonization. In Ireland, it began with the Anglo-Norman invasion in 1169 and endured for more than 800 years, after the conquest of the High King of Ireland, Ruaidrí Ua Conchobair (Rory O'Connor), with the backing of King Henry II of England and authorization by Pope Adrian IV.
The historian Fernand Braudel describes the economic relationship between Irish peasants and English owners, which started long before the formation of the capitalist system as we know it.
In Ireland, the situation was very different [from that of Scotland]: it
was in the twelfth century that the English invaded and settled within the
Pale, as they were later to do in their American colonies. The Irish were the
enemy, savages simultaneously despised and feared. The consequence was mutual
incomprehension, high-handedness by the invaders, and horrors whose sinister
catalogue needs no elaboration: the story has been told with lucidity and
honesty by the English historians themselves.
There can be no doubt, as one of them has put it, that ‘the Irish;,
together with the blacks who were sold as slaves were the victims of the system
which brought Great Britain world hegemony’.
But our concern here is neither the colonization of Ulster, nor the
‘farce’ of the so-called Irish government set up in Dublin (a fiction which
was of course destroyed by the Act of Union of 1801); it is the subjection of
Ireland to the English market, that total subjection which meant that
‘throughout the eighteenth century, trade to Ireland was the most important
branch of English overseas trade’. This exploitation originated in the estates
of the Protestant Anglo-Irish, who had appropriated for their own advantage
three-quarters of the land in Ireland. Out of an annual income of £4
million, rural Ireland paid these absentee landlords annual dues of the order
of £800,000 by the end of the eighteenth century
the sum had reached £1 million. In these conditions, the Irish peasant was
reduced to severe poverty, aggravated by the rising population.
Thus
Ireland sank into the position of the ‘peripheral’ country, subject to ‘cycles’
in the sense of the word used by Lucio de Azevedo of the Brazilian economy. In about 1600, since
Ireland was covered with forests, she became a supplier of timber to England
and developed, again for her masters, an iron industry which collapsed of itself when the island had been completely deforested after
a hundred years. Next, to meet the rising demand of the English cities, Ireland
specialized in livestock farming and export of salt beef and pork, and kegs of
butter –for the English market was plentifully- supplied with meat on the hoof
from Scotland and Wales and closed her doors to live animal exports from
Ireland. The key port for these huge meat exports was Cork in the south: which
supplied not only England but the English fleet, the sugar islands of the West
Indies and the fleets of other western nations, notably France. In 1783, during
the season ‘which lasts through October, November and December’, almost 50,000
head of cattle were slaughtered in Cork; plus ‘pigs which were killed in the
spring’ to the same value, not to mention the product of other slaughterhouses.
European merchants had their eyes glued to the prices fixed at the end of the
season on kegs of salty beef or pork, and bacon, lard, butter and cheese by the
quintal. The bishop of Cloyne, reckoning the
prodigious quantity of cattle, pigs, butter and cheese exported every year from
Ireland as curious enough to wonder ‘how a foreigner could possibly conceive
that half the inhabitants are dying of hunger in a country so abundant in
foodstuffs’? But these foodstuffs did not of course contribute in any way to
domestic consumption, any more than the Polish peasant consumed his own grain.
Toward
the end of the century, Irish salt meat encountered competition from Russian
exports via Archangel and even more from shipments out of the English colonies
in America. It was then that the ‘grain cycle’ began. A French consul wrote
from Dublin on 24 November 1789 :
The most enlightened people whom I have been able to consult
. . . regard the salt meat trade in Ireland as doomed, but far from being
distressed at this they are pleased to see that the big landowners are forced
in their own interest to change the system of exploitation which has prevailed
hitherto, and no longer to give over to grazing vast and fertile estates which
if cultivated would provide employment and subsistence for a much greater
number of inhabitants. This revolution has already taken place and is
proceeding with inconceivable rapidity. Ireland, which was formerly
dependent upon England for the grain consumed in the capital [Dublin] which
was the only part of Ireland in which this foodstuff was at all known, has
been in a position for several years now to export considerable quantities of
it.
As the reader will know, England, once a grain exporter, had become with
the beginnings of industrialization and a rising population, a cereal importer.
The grain cycle continued in Ireland until the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846.
But in its early stages, this cereal export was a maneuver reminiscent of the
situation of seventeenth-century Poland. The Irish, our informant explains,
are only able to export [cereals in
1789] because the great majority of them do not consume it; it is not the
surplus that leaves the country, it is what anywhere else would be the vital
necessity. The people in three-quarters of this island are content to eat
potatoes, and in the north, groats from which they
make oatcakes and porridge. Thus a people which is
poor, but used to privation, is feeding a nation [England] which has far more
natural wealth than itself.
If one looked simply at the statistics for foreign trade –which also
included salmon, fisheries, profitable whaling expeditions, large-scale exports
of linen whose manufacture had begun in mid-eighteenth century—Ireland should
have had in 1780 a trade surplus of £1 million: this was precisely what she paid every year to
her English landlords. (Braudel, Civilization
& Capitalism, vol. 3, pp. 373-374)
The historical formations of
capitalist relationships over the centuries can be instructive of what might come
next: The ruling classes will predictably do whatever is necessary to retain their
advantages in times of crisis. What is not predictable
are the extremes to which they will be driven. Alternatives to the cruel
mastery of this class domination are limited only by our imprisoned
imaginations: ‘Whose’ are we? and what do we really want? –these are the
practical questions each of us must continually ask ourselves; any empty mind will be
formatted and filled immediately with capitalist propaganda. In this context,
the memorable words of the late Howard Zinn serve as an important corrective :
The 22 items below should have a sobering effect
on CEIMSA readers, who wish to remain conscious of the illicit political hegemony of corporate capitalism which governs society during this descent into a state of great peril that has now been unleashed upon
us, beginning with the most vulnerable.
Sincerely,
Francis Feeley
Professor emeritus of
American Studies
University
Grenoble-Alpes
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.
The United States of Cognitive
Dissonance
by
CJ Hopkins
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/46720.htm
==========
b.
Ending Syria’s Nightmare will Take
Pressure From Below
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/46756.htm
by Mike Whitney
Ominous
developments in East Syria have drawn the United States and Russia into
closer proximity increasing the likelihood of a violent
confrontation. The Trump administration has embarked on a dangerous
plan to defeat the terrorist militia, ISIS, in Raqqa.
But recent comments by US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson
suggest that Washington’s long-term strategy may conflict with Moscow’s
goal of restoring Syria’s sovereign borders. Something’s got to
give. Either Russia ceases its clearing operations in east Syria or Washington
agrees to withdraw its US-backed forces when the battle is over.
If neither side gives ground, there’s going to be a collision
between the two nuclear-armed adversaries.
(Listen,
also, to Vanessa Beeley's
alternative-media analysis on “21st Century Wire” of the pivotal
situation in Syria today at : http://21stcenturywire.com/sundaywire/ about 2 hours into this 3-hour
program.)
==========
c.
Saudi Arabia pivots to China
(28 March 2017)
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017/03/28/saud-m28.html
by Jean Shaoul
==========
d.
John Pilger:
Disastrous Consequences if US Proceeds
with
“Policy of Provocation”
Video
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/46769.htm#idc-cover
After losing its
economic prowess, Washington has turned almost obsessively to its military
might, and the prospect of nuclear war is no longer unthinkable.
==========
e.
US Senator Al Franken Grills Neil Gorsuch on Frozen Trucker Case in Extended Questioning
https://www.democracynow.org/2017/3/24/watch_sen_al_franken_grills_neil
===========
f.
Defending the Climate in the Age of Trump
http://therealnews.com/t2/story:18577:Defending-the-Climate-in-the-Age-of-Trump
Centre for Sustainable
Economy's Ted Gleichman says we need to see the
fossil fuel industry as a rogue industry that can no longer be considered just
another normal part of the economy.
===========
g.
Climate Catastrophe Is Here: 2016 Hottest
Year on Record
http://therealnews.com/t2/story:18751:Climate-Catastrophe-Is-Here%3A-2016-Hottest-Year-on-Record
Dr. Michael Mann emphasizes
says we are already seeing global impacts; within one to two decades we are on
track for an iceless Arctic
===========
h.
Study Links Extreme Weather Events to
Climate Change
http://therealnews.com/t2/story:18755:Study-Links-Extreme-Weather-Events-to-Climate-Change
Dr. Michael Mann says
the way climate change affects the jet stream is intensifying and increasing
the regional scale of droughts and flooding
===========
i.
Baltimore
Mayor's Veto of $15/Hr Bill Shows
Corporate Wing
of Democrats Alive and Well
Labor reporter Mike Elk discusses
the potential backlash faced by Maryland Democrats as well as the significance
of the Mississippi Nissan workers struggle - Part (1/5)
===========
j.
Nebraskan Landowners
Resist Keystone XL By Refusing to Sell Their Property
to TransCanada
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vi7s-m7vA78
===========
k.
Hillary Returns
by Margaret Kimberley
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/46723.htm
“Hillary Clinton must be
stopped before she goes any further in thinking herself rehabilitated.”
How long should one stay in rehab after losing to Donald Trump? In Hillary Clinton’s case, forever. Clinton’s recent “coming
back out” party in Scranton, Pennsylvania, shows that “there will be no
deviation from the failed strategies which put Trump in the White House.” With
nothing else to offer (except war and more war) she’s still running against
Trump. “If Trump didn’t exist the Democratic Party would have had to invent
him.”
===========
l.
Rehabilitating
George Bush and Tony Blair
by
David Edwards
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/46735.htm
George W Bush, the 43rd president of the
United States, bears responsibility for the destruction of an entire country, the
killing of one million Iraqis, the wounding and displacement of countless
millions more. Before “Dubya,” there had never been a
suicide bomb attack in Iraq — the car bombs, the mass executions, the
disappearances, the endless tortures, the bombs in London and Madrid, the rise
of Islamic State, all began with him.
===========
m.
The
Surveillance State Behind Russia-gate
https://consortiumnews.com/2017/03/28/the-surveillance-state-behind-russia-gate/
by
Ray McGovern and Bill Binney
Amid the frenzy over
the Trump team’s talks with Russians, are we missing a darker story, how the
Deep State’s surveillance powers control the nation’s leaders, ask U.S. intelligence
veterans Ray McGovern and Bill Binney.
===========
n.
Interviews
With Labor Organizer Mike Elk on American Political Culuture, Past & Present
===========
o.
Operation
Mosul: A Medieval Massacre
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/46740.htm
by Stephen Lendman
===========
p.
The
Protest-Resignation of UN Under-Secretary
Dr. Rima Khalaf
http://therealnews.com/t2/story:18740:The-Protest-Resignation-of-UN-Under-Secretary-Dr.-Rima-Khalaf
UN Secretary General Guterres caves under pressure from Israel and United States
and orders Under-Secretary Rima Khalaf
to withdraw an incriminating investigative report on Israeli apartheid policies
against Palestinians, says Vijay Prashad
bombs
in London and Madrid, the rise of Islamic State, all began with him.
===========
q.
Daesh, Creature of
the West
https://sputniknews.com/columnists/201703241051928836-daesh-western-creature/
by Pepe
Escobar
===========
r.
Leaked Clinton email admits Saudi,
Qatari government funding of ISIS in Syria
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2016/10/12/wiki-o12.html
by Bill
Van Auken
===========
s.
Gas From
Israel And The Flynn Wiretapping - Behind The Deep-State Infighting Over The
Trump Election
by
Moon Of Alabama
===========
t.
US Forces Block Syrian Army Advance in
Preparation For Syria Partition
by
RI
A U.S.-backed operation near Raqqa aims to
"block any advance by Syrian government forces from the west". The
Balkanization of Syria begins.
===========
u.
Will Dems Derail
Sanders Push for Public Option?
http://therealnews.com/t2/story:18759:Will-Dems-Derail-Sanders-Push-for-Public-Option%3F
Wendell
Potter, a health insurance executive turned whistleblower, on the GOP failure
to repeal Obamacare and what lessons the 2009 defeat
of the public option - when Democrats controlled Congress - can offer today.
===========
v.
From: Jim
O'Brien, haw-info@stopthewars.org
Sent: Friday, 31 March, 2017
Subject: [haw-info] HAW Notes 3/31/17: Links to recent articles of
interest
http://stopthewars.org/mailman/listinfo/haw-info_stopthewars.org
Links to Recent Articles of Interest
“The Odds Against
Antiwar Warriors”
By Andrew J. Bacevich, The
American Conservative, posted March 30
Review essay on Michael Kazin’s new book War Against War, on the World War I–era peace movement.
Andrew Bacevich is an emeritus professor of history
and international relations at Boston University.
By Matthew Stevenson, CounterPunch.org,
posted March 29, 2017
A long, very readable travelogue with
historical reflections on the Indochina wars
“Trump in the Middle East:The New Brutality”
By Ahmed Rashid, New York Review of
Books blog, posted March 27
“An American Centuryof
Carnage: Measuring Violence in a Single Superpower World”
By John W. Dower, TomDispatch.com, posted
March 28, 2017
This is an adaptation of the first
chapter of the author’s forthcoming book, The
Violent American Century: War and Terror Since World
War Two.
“Obama’s Worst Foreign Policy
Decision, Two Years Later”
By Micah Zenko, Council
on Foreign Relations blog, posted March 27
The author is a senior fellow at the
Center for Preventive Action at the Council on Foreign Relations. The subject
is the bombing campaign in Yemen.
“Kony 2012:
Another Humanitarian Intervention Bust”
By Jeremy Kuzmarov, Huffington
Post, posted March 26
The author teaches history at the
University of Tulsa.
“This Is What’s
Really Behind North Korea’s Nuclear Provocations”
By Bruce Cumings, The
Nation, posted March 23
The author teaches East Asian history at
the University of Chicago.
“Labor and theLegacies
of World War I”
By Elizabeth McKillen, Labor
and Working Class History Association blog, posted March 20
The author teaches history at the
University of Maine.
“President Blowback: How the Invasion
of Iraq Came Home”
By Tom Engelhardt, TomDispatch.com,
posted March 16
“Did the Muslim World Really Fall for
Hitler?”
By John Broich, Slate, posted
March 13
The author teaches history at Case
Western Reserve University.
____________
Thanks to Mim Jackson and
an anonymous reader for suggesting articles that are included in the above
list. Suggestions can be sent to jimobrien48@gmail.com.