CEIMSA/Bulletin 764 : A LOOK AT 'THE SYSTEM' AND THOSE WHO SUBMIT TO IT.

Bulletin N° 764

Subject : A LOOK AT 'THE SYSTEM' AND THOSE WHO SUBMIT TO IT.

9 September 2017

Grenoble, France

Dear Colleagues and Friends of CEIMSA,

Reading Peter Weiss’s 1965 play, The Investigation, Oratorio in 11 Cantos: A dramatic re-construction of the Frankfort War Crimes trials, is a lesson in systemic thinking. The actual testimonies concerning Auschwitz and the atrocities that were enacted there are presented almost verbatim with very little punctuation in a most dramatic way to impress upon the reader the "banality of evil" in our lives as reflected in the poverty of human relationships in Auschwitz. The reader is left with a profound understanding of the distortions that result from abstracting carelessly out of context the murderous activities that occurred in the concentration camps, and to falsify these acts as some sort of aberration rather than understanding the experiences as a continuity with national chauvinism and the pre-conditioning for uncritical obedience and identity politics of one form or another, which is the habit of blindly following social, economic and political injunctions, of simply blending in instead of learning to participate in critical thinkng, for fear of rejection by the group. This is the banality of evil; it is precisely this continuity that is most disturbing, indeed more disturbing than the sensational sadism that one occasionally encounters in this play. The general collaboration – by some more than others – should inform all of us to pay closer attention to who we are, what we want, and what influences govern our lives.

Weiss, a close friend of Bertolt Brecht, borrows a technique from Dante Alighieri’s Devine Comedy as a vehicle for this play; he presents Auschwitz to readers as a descent into Hell, divided into eleven Cantos, each examining the role played by various parties in this drama of death and destruction. The cast of characters in this powerful documentary play are 30 men and women: The Judge, The Public Prosecutor and Co-Plaintiff, The Counsel for The Defense, 18 Defendants, and 9 Witnesses.

The play takes place at a public hearing in a German courtroom. The excerpts below offer readers a flavor of Weiss’s aesthetics. We begin with his firsthand observation of testimonies by men and women who were caught in The System, made to collaborate with their own destruction:

Part I, from Canto Two: “The Camp”.

Female witness 4 : When we had crossed the tracks

and were waiting

at the entrance to the camp

I heard

a prisoner say to a woman

The Red Cross van is only used

to carry gas to the crematoria

Your family will be killed

The woman began to scream

A guard who had overheard her

came up and said

But my dear lady

how can you believe a prisoner

They’re nothing but criminals

and lunatics

Don’t you see his prominent ears

his shaven head

How can you listen to such people

Judge : Please tell the court

can you remember

who the officer was

Female witness 4 : I saw him again later

I worked as a clerk under him

in the Political Department

His name is Broad

Judge : Can you point out Defendant Broad to us

Female witness 4 : This is Herr Broad

Defendant 16 gives the witness a friendly nod

Judge : What happened to the prisoner

Female witness 4 : I heard he was sentenced

to be flogged

150 blows

for spreading rumors

He died from it

Judge: Defendant Broad

have you anything to say about that

Defendent 16 : I remember no such case

No one ever hit a prisoner

that many times

Witness 3 : Even though our baggage had been left behind

and we had been separated

from our families

we still went through the gate

and barbed wire without distrust

We believed

that our wives and children

were being given something to eat

and that we would soon see them again

But then we saw hundreds

of ragged forms

thin as skeletons

Our confidence fled

Witness 6 : One came up to us

shouting

Prisoners

Do you see the smoke behind the barracks

those are your wives and children

Even for you

who have entered the camp

there is only one way out

Through the gratings of the chimney

Witness 3 : We were driven into a washroom barracks

Guards and prisoners came

with bundles of papers

We had to undress

And everything we still had

was taken from us

Our rings identity cards and photos

were listed on registration forms

Next we had a number

tattooed on the left forearm .. . . (pp.33-34)

Political alienation before the debacle of liberal capitalism in Germany had prepared the population to relinquish control over their lives in extreme situations, and a perverse pecking order filled the vacuum, where collective revolt would have better served the interests of the inmates.

Part III, from Canto Two: “The Camp”.

Female witness 4: The more successful you were

in pushing down your inferiors

the more secure your own position became

I saw how the Block Captain’s face

would change if she spoke

with a superior officer then

she was gay and friendly

but you knew she was really frightened

Sometimes she was treated by the overseer

as the best of friends

and enjoyed many privileges

But if her superior slept badly

then the privileges

could go tumbling down

from one moment to the next

She had already endured everything

her family shot down before her eyes

they made her watch

while they murdered her children

She was worn blunt like the rest of us

she knew

that if she went under even once

no one would help her

and another in her place

would continue to beat us

So she beat us

because she wanted to stay on top

at any price

Female witness 5: The question

of what was right and what was wrong

no longer existed

For us the only thing that mattered

was what could be useful for the moment

Only our overlords were entitled

to have moods

and even show emotion

or pity

or plan for the future . . . . (pp.50-51)

The constituent elements of the all-inclusive System and their origins help us to understand the pervasive force of its conditioning, which no one could dismantle by the time it had evolved into its extreme form of genocide.

Part I, from Canto Four: “The Possibility or Survival”.

Witness 3: The atmosphere in the camp changed

from day to day

It depended on the Camp Commander

the Liaison Chief

the Block Leader and their moods

and these were dependant

on the stages of the war

At first while there were still victories

they still had a certain arrogance about them and

often made jokes as they flogged us

In rhythm with the losses and retreats

their treatment of the prisoners

gathered momentum

But you had no way of telling

what would happen next

Falling in could mean anything

waiting for nothing

or drudgery

In our hospital prisoners

could be well cared for

and even receive good food

only to be sent up the chimney

as soon as they recovered

A prisoner working as a nurse

could be beaten by a camp doctor

because he had forgotten a detail

in a patient’s medical record

and there was that same patient killed

I myself

only escaped gassing

by accident

because on that evening

the ovens were clogged up

On the way back from the crematorium

the physician in attendance

learned that I was a doctor

and he accepted me in his department

Judge: What was the doctor’s name

Witness 3: His name was Dr. Vetter

He was a man with perfect manners

Dr. Schatz and Dr. Frank also

were always friendly with the prisoners

they deliver over to death

They killed not from hate or conviction

they killed because they had to

and it wasn’t worth talking about

Only a few were passionate in their killing

Among that number was Boger

I saw prisoners

when they were called to Boger

and I saw them

when they came back again

Once a prisoner who had been shot

was delivered to the infirmary

on Boger’s orders

He had to be saved

so that he could be hanged

But the prisoner died too soon

Judge: Defendant Boger

Do you know about this case

Defendant 2: Prisoners shot while escaping

were brought to the hospital

as a matter of principle

so that they could be interrogated

after their recovery

Up to this point the declaration

of the witness might be entirely correct

In this case I gave the further order

that the prisoner should be kept alive

I said

He had to be saved

so that he could be interrogated

Judge: Was he then hanged

Defendant 2: Possibly

That lay outside my responsibility . . . (pp. 75-77)

In some instances, class consciousness served as an antidote to the Fascist solidarity promoted in the camp. Past experiences of class struggle prepared some inmates to recognize quickly the ‘bad faith’ exhibited by privileged camp officials - both kapos and Nazi guards – and a mental space for resistance appeared.

Part II, from Canto Four: “The Possibility or Survival”.

Defence Council: Would the witness tell us

How he maintained his will to resist

when he saw that he had been

left in the lurch

by all possible military authorities

Witness 3: In the conditions of the camp

it was sufficient resistance

to remain vigilant

and never forget

that a time would come

when we would be able

to relate our experiences

Defence Council: Would the witness tell us

how he kept the oath

he swore as a doctor

Prosecutor: We object to this question

which the Defence is using in an attempt

to associate the witness with the Defendants

The Defendants killed out of free will

The witnesses were forced to be present

when death was administered

Witness 3: I would like to answer as follows

Those among the prisoners

who through their special positions

had managed a postponement

of their own death

had at least taken a step

against the rulers of the camp

In order to achieve

the possibility of survival

they were forced to show

a semblance of co-operation

I saw this clearly in my department

Soon I was bound to the Camp Physician

not only by our common profession

but also by my co-operation in making the system work

Even we ourselves

the prisoners

from the important ones

down to the ones who were dying

belonged to the system

The distinction between us

and the camp personnel

was slighter than the difference

between us and outsiders

Defence Counsel: Does the witness

mean to say

that there was an understanding

between the administration

and the prisoners

Witness 3: If we speak today about our experiences

with people who were not n the camps

these people always regard them

as something unimaginable

And yet it was the same men there

who were both prisoners and guards

We came to the camp

in such great numbers

and there were so many who brought us there

that what happened ought to be

comprehensible even today

Many of those who had been chosen

to play the role of prisoners

were brought up with the same values

as those

who played the rule of guards

They had worked hard for the same nation

and for the same incentives and rewards

and if they hadn’t been called prisoners

they might just as easily have been guards

We must get rid of our exalted attitude

that this camp world

is beyond our comprehension

We all knew the society

which had produced the regime

that could bring about such a camp

we were familiar with this order

from its very beginnings

and so we could still find our way

even in its final consequences

which allowed the exploiter

to develop his power

to a hitherto unknown degree

and the exploited

had to deliver up his own guts

Defence Counsel: We absolutely refuse to accept

this kind of theory

which presents a totally

distorted view of society

Witness 3: Most of those who arrived on the ramp

could no longer find the time

or orient themselves

Bewildered and struck dumb

they went their final way

and let themselves be killed

because they could not understand

We call them heroes

but their death was senseless

We see these millions

before us

in the glaring light

of abuse and barking dogs

and the outside world still asks today

how it was possible

that they let themselves be destroyed

who still live with these images

know that once again millions may be

waiting in full view of their destruction

and that this destruction

exceeds the old arrangements many times in its effectiveness

Defence Counsel: Was the witness

politically active

before his internment

in the camp

Witness 3: Yes

It was our strength

that we knew why we were there

That helped us

to keep our identity

But even this strength

helped only a few

to die

Even those could be broken . . . . (pp.86-89)

In the Autumn of 1941, the German wehrmacht met serious resistance by Soviet troops first around Leningrad (the siege of Sept. 8, 1941 – Jan 27, 1944); then Rostov-on-Don, the Gateway to the Caucasus (where German troops entered Nov. 21, 1941, but were soon routed by Soviet troops, in the first major defeat of the Übermensch); then near Moscow, when German troops attempted to capture the city between November 27 and December 6, 1941, before the order for German withdrawal was given. It was precisely in this period, the Autumn of 1941, that Germans began constructing gas chambers in some camps using IG Farben chemicals to implement their “Final Solution” policy. Testimonies from the Frankfort War Crimes Trial reflect this turn of events. With the unimaginable military defeat of Nazi troops, followed by the predictable search for scapegoats – “sabotage from within” was used to explain the unexpected defeats suffered by Germany troops on the Eastern Front in autumn of 1941.

Part I, from Canto Six: “Unterscharführer Stark”.

Witness 8: Defendant Stark

was our superior in the reception department

I worked there as a clerk

At the time Stark was 20 years old

In his free hours he prepared himself

for his higher school exam

He was very glad to have the graduates

among the prisoners test his knowledge

and he came to them with questions

In the evening when a Polish woman with 2 children

was brought in he was engaged in a discussion with us

on the humanism of Goethe

Judge: What happened

on this occasion

Witness 8: We later found out the following

The eight-year-old boy

that the woman led by the hand

had taken a little rabbit away

from the camp office

to give it to his two-year-old sister

to play with

Because of this

all three were to be shot

Stark

performed the shooting

Judge: Were you able to see this

Witness: At the time the shootings

were carried out at the old crematorium

located directly behind the reception barracks

Through the window we could see

Stark going into the crematorium

with the mother and her children

He had his rifle around his shoulder

We heard a series of shots

Then Stark came out alone

Judge: Defendant Stark

Does this description represent the truth

Defendant 12: I absolutely deny it

Judge: What was your position in the camp

Defendant 12: I was a Block Captain

Judge: How did you come to the camp

Defendant 12: I was sent

along with a group

of other non-commissioned officers . . . . (pp.108-109)

. . . .

This testimony goes on to expose the genocidal intentions of Nazi leadership. These shock troops of late capitalism had been carefully instructed to root out and destroy the enemy, who were contaminated with class consciousness and a socialist world view. They were subversive to the dreams of the Third Reich and the New World Order. The Russian Revolution had caused an epidemic that had to be eradicated: eliminate the people and you eliminate their ideas. This was a cultural genocide, and it continues today!

Part II, from Canto Six: “Unterscharführer Stark”.

Witness 7: My whole life long I hear Stark

always Stark

Come on get in you bastards

and then we had to go into the chamber

Judge: Into what chamber

Witness: The corpse chamber of the old crematorium

Many hundreds of men lay there

women and children like packages

There were even prisoners of war

Come on

Undress the corpses shouted Stark

I was 18 years old

and had never seen the dead before

I just stood there

and Stark came up and hit me

Judge: Did the dead have wounds

Witness 7: Yes

Judge: Were they gun wounds

Witness 7: No

The men were gassed

They lay stiff against each other

Often we ripped their clothing

And then we were beaten again

Judge: Didn’t they undress them first

Witness 7: That was later

in the new crematorium

there were rooms to undress in

Judge: Was Stark there also

Witness 7: Stark was always there

I hear him shouting

Come on

Pick up that junk

Once a small man was hidden

underneath a hill of cloths

Stark discovered him

Cone here he shouted

and placed him against the wall

He shot him first in one leg

then in the other

finally

the man had to sit down on a bench

and Stark shot him dead

He liked to shoot people in the leg first

I heard a woman screaming

I haven’t done anything

He shouted

Get up to the wall Sara

The woman begged him for her life

as he began to shoot

Judge: Can the witness say

when he first saw Defendant Stark

perform these killings

Witness 7: In autumn of 1941

Judge: Was this the first time gas was used

Witness 7: Yes

Judge: What did the old crematorium look like

Witness7: It was a cement building

with a heavy square chimney

The walls were buttressed

by earthworks

The corpse room was about 60 feet long

and 15 feet wide

It was reached through a small anteroom

From the corpse chamber a door led

to the first crematorium oven

and another door to the hall

with the other two ovens

Judge: Dfendant Stark

How large were the groups

you were given to lead to the crematorium

Defendant 12: They averaged between 150 and 200 units

Judge: Were there women and children among them

Defendant 12: Yes

Judge: Did you think it right

that women and children

should be part of these shipments

Defendant 12: Yes

At the time it was a question

of family liability

Judge: You did not question

the guilt of women and children

Defendant 12: We were told

they were involved

in poisoning the water supply

blowing up bridges

and other acts of sabotage

Judge: Did you also see prisoners of war

among these people

Defendant 12: Yes According to orders these people

had lost all claim to honourable treatment

Prosecution: Defendant Stark

In the autumn of 1941 great hordes

of Soviet prisoners were brought into the camp

According to our records

you were in charge of the treatment

of these troops

Defendant 12: I only acted according to orders

with this shipment

Prosecutor: What do you mean according to orders

Defendant 12: I simply had to lead them off

and take their record cards

with the notice that they had been ordered

to be shot

Then I had to destroy

their identity discs

and keep their numbers on file

Prosecutor: What reason was given

for the slaughter

of these prisoners

Defendant 12: It was a question of annihilating

a philosophy

With their fanatical outlook on politics

these prisoners endangered

the security of the camp

Prosecutor: Where did the shooting take place

Defendant 12: In the yard of Block Eleven

Prosecutor: Did you take part in the shooting

Defendant 12: In one case

yes

Prosecutor: How is it happen

Defendant 12: The people’s names were read out

and the formalities were observed

They were let into the yard

one after another

It was almost over

The Grabner said

It’s Shark’s turn now

Until then the other Block Captains

had taken turn shooting

Prosecutor: How many did you shoot

Defendant 12: I no longer know

Prosecutor: Was it more than one

Defendant: Yes

Prosecutor: More than two

Defendant: It might have been four or five

Prosecutor: You couldn’t have refused

to take part in the shooting

Defendant: It was an order

I had to act as a soldier

Prosecutor: Did you have any connections

with other shootings

Defendant: No

I came home on leave

to finish my studies

Prosecutor: When did you go on leave

Defendant: In December 1941

Prosecutor: When did you bring

your studies to a close

Defendant: I passed my examination

in the spring of 1942

Prosecutor: Did you come back to the camp then

Defendant: Yes

for a short period

Defence Counsel: The court would do well to consider

that our client was 20 years old

when he was transferred

to camp service

As the witnesses have stated

he had lively intellectual interests

which as his entire character shows

did not make him suitable

for the duties he was assigned

We should also like to point out

that our client

a year after he finished his studies

received a further leave of absence

in order to study law

after which he was wounded

during action on the front

in the last year of the war

Right after the war

when he was able to return

to normal life he continued

his educational development

He now took up agriculture

passed the university exams

was a specialist for the Economic Ministry

and until his arrest

served as a teacher in an agricultural school

Prosecutor: Defendant Stark

Did you take part in the first gassings

which were carried out as a test

on Soviet prisoners in 1941

Defendant 12: No

Prosecutor: Defendant Stark

The mass annihilation

of Soviet prisoners

began in the autumn and winter of 1941

These annihilations claimed a sacrifice

of 25,000 lives

You were involved in the registration

of these prisoners

You knew of their execution

You agreed to their death

and permitted the necessary preparations

Defence Counsel: We most urgently protest

against these attacks on our client

All-inclusive accusations

have no legal significance

We are only concerned with known cases

of dereliction and complicity

in connection with the history of the crime

Every possible doubt however slight

must be allowed to count in the favour

of the Defendants

The Defendants laugh in agreement

The paranoid fascist fantasies found fertile ground in the misery of post-WWI Germany. Lessons in national solidarity and blind subordination to authority were being learned in liberal capitalist society, before the Nazi seizure of power. Designated minorities remained second class citizens after the Nazi defeat, and, as we can see, their murderers received a sympathetic hearing from the liberal authorities.

Part III, from Canto Six: “Unterscharführer Stark”.

Judge: Defendant Stark

Did you never help

with the gassings themselves

Defendant 12: I had to once

Judge: How many people were involved

Defendant 12: It could have been 150

At least 4 vans full

Judge: What kind of prisoners were they

Defendant 12: It was a mixed shipment

Judge: What did you have to do

Defendant 12: I stood outside in front of the stairs

after I had led

the people into the crematorium

the first aid people

who were responsible for the gassing

had closed the door

and were making their preparations

Judge: What did these preparations consist of

Defendant 12: They got the containers ready

and put on gas masks

and they went up the slop

to the flat roof

Usually 4 people were necessary

This time one was missing

and they shouted

that they needed someone

Because I was the only one around

Grabner said

Come on

give a hand

But I didn’t go right away

Then a security guard came and said

Get a move on

If you don’t go up there

you’ll be sent inside

So I had to go up

and help pour it in

Judge: Where was the gas introduced

Defendant 12: Through hatches in the roof

Judge: And what did the people do

in the room below

Defendant 12: I don’t know

Judge: Did you hear nothing

of what happened below

Defendant 12: They screamed

Judge: How long

Defendant 12: Perhaps 10 or 15 minutes

Judge: Who opened the room

Defendant 12: A first aid man

Judge: What did you see there

Defendant 12: I didn’t look closely

Judge: Did you consider what you saw

to be wrong

Defendant 12: No not at all Only in the manner

Judge: What do you mean the manner

Defendant 12: If someone was shot

that was something else

But the use of gas

was unmanly and cowardly

Judge: Defendant Stark

During your studies for a university degree

did you never have occasion

to doubt your actions

Defendant 12: Your Honour

I should like to explain for once

Every third word in our schooling

was concerned with those

who were guilty of everything

and who must be tooted out

It was hammered into us

that this could only be

in the best interests of our own people

In the officers’ schools we learned

above all to maintain silence

If anyone asked any further

he was told

Everything that is done

happens according to law

It matters little

that today the laws are different

We are told

You must learn

Your education is more important than bread

Your Honour

Our thinking was taken away from us

Others did it for us (pp.114-122)

Approving laughter of the Defendants

°°°°°°°°°°°

The lessons we can learn from Peter Weiss’s writing are important today, as the seeds of fascism continue to germinate in the debris of exhausted liberal capitalism. While understanding is a form of resistance, it does not constitute forgiveness, as is sometimes claimed. Remaining vigilant and developing a comprehensive understanding of class struggle, free of dogma, can open new space for original forms of resistance to subvert this system that threatens to capture us all. Readers could do worse than to read Peter Weiss on this subject, and learn to understand without forgiving!

The 18 items below will help CEIMSA readers recognize the dimensions of the debacle we are now experiencing. Liberal capitalism is morphing into a form of fascism, predictably different from European fascism of the 20^th century, but nevertheless we can see today the same players – bankers, industrialists, arms dealers, military/police forces, the same strategies and tactics, the same authoritarian capitalist interests dominating society. National wars and the various displacements of violence serve once again to rejuvenate the system of private profits and to stifle class consciousness wherever it might challenge The System, which continues to promote the virtues of unquestioned submission to authority.

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

http://www.ceimsa.org

Putin's Warning To The World
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/47732.htm
by Tyler Durden

North Korea "On The Verge Of A Large-Scale Conflict"

===========

Korea Crisis Exposes Orwellian West

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/47730.htm

by Finian Cunningham

The Western media would have us believe that North Korea and its nuclear arsenal is the world’s number one threat. The continual depiction of a "rogue" state in the Western media plays into the US agenda of a pre-emptive attack on North Korea.

===========

From: Herman, Edward

Sent: Saturday, 5 August, 2017
Subject: Google’s New Search Protocol Restricting Access To Leading Leftist Web Sites

Francis,

Please share this important information.

Please sign the Petition @ https://petitions.wsws.org/fightcensorship/ ! ! !

Google’s New Search Protocol Restricting Access To Leading Leftist Web Sites

EDUCATE! GOOGLE, INTERNET
By Andre Damon and David North, www.wsws.org
August 3rd, 2017

Note: Popular Resistance has also noticed a drop in views as well, more than a 60% drop since April, which was our last strong month. This was the same month as the new Google search protocol. KZ & MF

New data compiled by the World Socialist Web Site, with the assistance of other Internet-based news outlets and search technology experts, proves that a massive loss of readership observed by socialist, anti-war and progressive web sites over the past three months has been caused by a cumulative 45 percent decrease in traffic from Google searches.

The drop followed the implementation of changes in Google’s search evaluation protocols. In a statement issued on April 25, Ben Gomes, the company’s vice president for engineering, stated that Google’s update of its search engine would block access to “offensive” sites, while working to surface more “authoritative content.”

The World Socialist Web Site has obtained statistical data from SEMrush estimating the decline of traffic generated by Google searches for 13 sites with substantial readerships. The results are as follows:

* wsws.org fell by 67 percent
* alternet.org fell by 63 percent
* globalresearch.ca fell by 62 percent
* consortiumnews.com fell by 47 percent
* socialistworker.org fell by 47 percent
* mediamatters.org fell by 42 percent
* commondreams.org fell by 37 percent
* internationalviewpoint.org fell by 36 percent
* democracynow.org fell by 36 percent
* wikileaks.org fell by 30 percent
* truth-out.org fell by 25 percent
* counterpunch.org fell by 21 percent
* theintercept.com fell by 19 percent

Of the 13 web sites on the list, the World Socialist Web Site has been the most heavily affected. Its traffic from Google searches has fallen by two thirds.

The new statistics demonstrate that the WSWS is a central target of Google’s censorship campaign. In the twelve months preceding the implementation of the new Google protocols, the WSWS had experienced a substantial increase in readership. A significant component of this increase was the product of Google search results. The rapid rise in search traffic reflected the well-documented growth in popular interest in socialist politics during 2016. The rate of growth accelerated following the November election, which led to large protests against the election of Trump.

Search traffic to the WSWS peaked in April 2017, precisely at the point when Google began the implementation of its censorship protocols.

Another site affected by Google’s action has provided information that confirms the findings of the WSWS.

“In late May, changes to Google’s algorithm negatively impacted the volume of traffic to the Common Dreams website from organic Google searches,” said Aaron Kaufman, director of development at progressive news outlet Common Dreams. “Since May, traffic from Google Search as a percentage of total traffic to the Common Dreams website has decreased nearly 50 percent.”

The extent and impact of Google’s actions prove that a combination of techniques is being employed to block access to targeted sites. These involve the direct flagging and blackballing of the WSWS and the other 12 sites listed above by Google evaluators. These sites are assigned a highly negative rating that assures that their articles will be either demoted or entirely bypassed. In addition, new programming technology teaches the computers to think like the evaluators, that is, to emulate their preferences and prejudices.

Finally, the precision of this operation strongly suggests that there is an additional range of exclusion techniques involving the selection of terms, words, phrases and topics that are associated with socialist and left-wing websites.

This would explain why the World Socialist Web Site, which focuses on issues such as war, geopolitics, social inequality and working class struggles has experienced such a dramatic fall in Google-generated searches on these very topics. We have seen that the very terms and phrases that would under normal circumstances be most likely to generate the highest level of hits—such as “socialism,” “Marxism” and “Trotskyism”—produce the lowest results.

This is an ongoing process in which one can expect that Google evaluators are continuously adding suspect terms to make their algorithm ever more precise, with the eventual goal of eliminating traffic to the WSWS and other targeted sites.

The information that has been gathered and published by the WSWS during the past week exposes that Google is at the center of a corporate-state conspiracy to drastically curtail democratic rights. The attack on free speech and uncensored access to information is aimed at crippling popular opposition to social inequality, war and authoritarianism.

The central and sinister role of Google in this process demonstrates that freedom of speech and thought is incompatible with corporate control of the Internet.

As we continue our exposure of Google’s assault on democratic rights, we demand that it immediately and unequivocally halt and revoke its censorship program.

It is critical that a coordinated campaign be organized within the United States and internationally against Google’s censorship of the Internet. We intend to do everything in our power to develop and contribute to a counter-offensive against its efforts to suppress freedom of speech and thought.

The fight against corporate-state censorship of the Internet is central to the defense of democratic rights, and there must be a broad-based collaboration among socialist, left and progressive websites to alert the public and the widest sections of the working class.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Larry Gross

Professor

School of Communication

Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism

University of Southern California

734 West Adams Blvd.

Los Angeles, CA 90007-7725

213-740-3770

Editor, International Journal of Communication

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What Happened to Veterans for Standing Rock?

http://therealnews.com/t2/story:19901:What-Happened-to-Veterans-for-Standing-Rock%3F

The struggle against the Dakota Access Pipeline- the valuation of elite property over the lives of oppressed classes - is ongoing, says Marine Corp veteran Michael Wood

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Nephew of Fascist Who Marched in Charlottesville & Former Neo-Nazi on Confronting Racists

https://www.democracynow.org/2017/9/4/nephew_of_fascist_who_marched_in

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What the Media isn’t Telling You About North Korea’s Missile Tests
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/47742.htm

by Mike Whitney

Last Monday, the DPRK fired a Hwasong-12 intermediate-range ballistic missile over Japan’s Hokkaido Island. The missile landed in the waters beyond the island harming neither people nor property.

The media immediately condemned the test as a “bold and provocative act” that showed the North’s defiance of UN resolutions and “contempt for its neighbors.” President Trump sharply criticized the missile test saying:

“Threatening and destabilizing actions only increase the North Korean regime’s isolation in the region and among all nations of the world. All options are on the table.”

What the media failed to mention was that, for the last three weeks, Japan, South Korea and the US have been engaged in large-scale joint-military drills on Hokkaido Island and in South Korea. These needlessly provocative war games are designed to simulate an invasion of North Korea and a “decapitation” operation to remove (Re: Kill) the regime. North Korea’s supreme leader, Kim Jong-un has asked the US repeatedly to end these military exercises, but the US has stubbornly refused. The US reserves the right to threaten anyone, anytime and anywhere even right on their doorstep. It’s part of what makes the US exceptional. Check out this excerpt from an article at Fox News:

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Trump, North Korea And The Danger Of

World War

http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017/09/04/pers-s04.html

by Peter Symonds

The North Korean nuclear test yesterday, its sixth and most powerful, has once again exposed the extremely volatile and precarious state of global geopolitics and the great danger of a descent into a nuclear world war. The unstable regime in Pyongyang has concluded that its only hope of self-preservation, in the face of provocative threats from an unstable Trump administration, is to try and expand its nuclear arsenal as quickly as possible. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is acutely conscious of the brutal end of Iraq’s Saddam Hussein and Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi, after they abandoned their so-called weapons of mass destruction.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/47759.htm

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Diseases of Despair

https://www.truthdig.com/articles/diseases-of-despair/

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Neo-Nazis in Your Streets? Send in the (Coup Clutz) Clowns

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/06/opinion/comedy-protest-taxes-nazis.html?emc=edit_th_20170906&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=30100672

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Cesar Vargas On Fighting Trump's Anti-Immigrant Forces for DACA

and the Dream Act

http://therealnews.com/t2/story:19945:Cesar-Vargas-On-Fighting-Trump%27s-Anti-Immigrant-Forces-for-DACA-and-the-Dream-Act

Interview with Cesar Vargas, former Dreamer Coalition Director, Latino Outreach Strategist for Bernie Sanders' 2016 Campaign, and New York's first undocumented lawyer

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From: "Alison Weir, If Americans Knew"

Sent: Thursday, 7 September, 2017
Subject: Israel partisans exploit death of an American

<contact@ifamericansknew.org>

The strange, sad saga of the Taylor Force Act

https://iak.salsalabs.org/congressinisrael_copy2_copy1/index.html

The Unz Review: The USS Liberty Wins One!

https://israelpalestinenews.org/unz-review-uss-liberty-wins-one/

Israel Bombs Syrian Military Positions, Killing Two Army Personnel

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/47757.htm

by SANA

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Macron’s labor decrees in France: A new stage in the international social counter-revolution

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017/09/05/pers-s05.html

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Corporate Democrats Have a Vested Interest in Not Listening to Workers - RAI with Thomas Frank (1/4)

http://therealnews.com/t2/story:19922:Corporate-Democrats-Have-a-Vested-Interest-in-Not-Listening-to-Workers---RAI-with-Thomas-%0D%0AFrank-%281

On Reality Asserts Itself, Thomas Frank author of "What's the Matter with Kansas" and "Listen Liberal", tells host Paul Jay that the Democratic Party serves the professional class and the top 10% and no longer cares about the poor or working class.

http://therealnews.com/t2/story:19944:Clinton-Attacks-Sanders-in-New-Book----RAI-With-Thomas-Frank-%2826%29

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Trump Is Building an Army for Civil War
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/47735.htm

by Jennie Neufeld

The president may be preparing his supporters to revolt in the event that he's impeached.

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Beijing’s “Belt and Road” Initiative, Towards an Economy of Peace?

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/47725.htm

by Peter Koenig

Why is Peace not breaking out, when the vast majority of the world’s populace does not want war? Why is the world one huge fireball of hostilities, conflicts, threats of economic sanctions, propaganda of lies and mind manipulations, fear mongering – killing – massive killing – 12-15 million people killed since 9/11? – Why is that? And all provoked and executed by ONE country, and her vassals in the form of NATO, stooges of Brussels and the Middle East, and their prostituted proxies, paid mercenary whores, Islamic State, by the one Rogue Nation the world is subjected to – the United States of America. All that at the cost of trillions of dollars, tax-payers’ money – really? – More likely privately FED, Wall Street created fiat money, pyramid money, based on usury and debt, subjugating debt to be pillaged from the ordinary citizens; but government debt never to be repaid, as per Alan Greenspan (FED Chairman, 1987-2006) to an exasperated journalist who asks, when will the US ever pay back its huge debt? – “Never – we will just print new money”. – So, is it really ‘tax-payers’ money’? – Would tax-payers’ money be able to pay for these trillions and trillion spent on conflicts, wars and hostilities – hundreds of billions spent on propaganda of deception and lies to promote endless assassinations around the globe? Hardly. Why is it that we live willingly and knowingly in a fraud and greed-economy? – Is living in deception the illusion that keeps ultra-capitalism alive? – That leads us to ever higher grounds of avarice – ending in all-destructive fascism? – Possibly in a globe-annihilating mushroom? Why do we worship war, if at least 99.99% of the peoples of this globe want peace?

http://www.pipr.co.uk/all/dangerous-times-john-pilger-discusses-north-korea-china-and-the-threat-of-nuclear-war-and-accident/

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The Real BRICS Bombshell

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/47761.htm

by Pepe Escobar

Putin reveals 'fair multipolar world' concept in which oil contracts could bypass the US dollar and be traded with oil, yuan and gold

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Equifax Data Breach is a 10 out of 10 Scandal

http://therealnews.com/t2/story:19960:Equifax-Data-Breach-is-a-10-out-of-10-Scandal

The hacking of consumer credit reporting giant Equifax, and the company's 'cynical' handling of it, is a far-reaching disaster that borders on criminal,

says financial regulation expert Bill Black

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Growing Fears in U.S. Immigrant Communities

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/47760.htm

Amid more federal and state crackdowns on illegal immigrants, some Latinos feared that Hurricane Harvey relief efforts could serve as another excuse to round up people without documents, as Dennis J Bernstein learned.