[Peace-discuss] Fwd: Alternative Press E-newsletter, # 3 - March 2005

[Alfred Kagan]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: altpress at charm.net
> Date: February 25, 2005 1:10:04 PM CST
> To: "APC-Newsletter" <apc-newsletter at lists.altpress.org>
> Subject: Alternative Press E-newsletter, # 3 - March 2005
> Reply-To: "APC-Newsletter" <apc-newsletter at lists.altpress.org>
>
> AltPress E-Newsletter No. 3, March, 2005
>
> The Alternative Press Center's "Radical Picks of the Month!"
>
>
> ARTICLE 1.  "Nazism's Roots in European Culture"
> by Enzo Traverso
>
> Auschwitz-Birkenau has come to symbolise the brutality of the
> Nazis, and last month the 60th anniversary of its liberation
> was marked by international commemoration. Historians, though,
> are still divided about the meaning of the Shoah in the context
> of the development of western civilisation. Enzo Traverso
> examines the wider historical context looking beyond Nazism,
> World War II, and totalitarian systems, making links to
> eugenics, Social Darwinism, Taylorist production techniques,
> and other ideologies and practices. He concludes that "rather
> than a phenomenon
> without precedent, it was a unique synthesis of elements at
> work in our civilisation. Despite its pathological
> manifestations, Nazism was deeply rooted in the history,
> culture and technology of the modern world, and in modern forms
> of organisation, production and domination."
> Le Monde Diplomatique (February 2005)
> http://mondediplo.com/2005/02/15civildiso
>
> ARTICLE 2.  "Finance and American Empire"
> by Leo Panitch & Sam Gindin
>
> Leo Panitch and Sam Gindin attempt to understand the historical
> process that led to New York City becoming the operational
> center of the global financial order and the way finance
> capital and US empire reinforce each other. Panitch and Gindin
> examine the development of the Bretton Woods institutions
> (International Monetary Fund, World Bank), how the US state
> tried to manage class struggle and inflation in the 1960s and
> 1970s, the
> dominance of neoliberal policies since the 1980s, and how the
> globalization of finance capital has included the
> 'Americanization' of finance. They argue that there are
> openings for the Left provided by the problems of neoliberalism
> and the legitimacy of the US imperial state, but that new
> strategies are needed to challenge capitalist social relations.
> Socialist Register (2005)
> http://www.yorku.ca/socreg/Panitch%20Gindin.pdf
>
> ARTICLE 3.  "BP and the tainted temples of culture"
> by Sam Chase
>
> This articles explores the increasing levels of corporate
> sponsorship in the UK of mainstream cultural institutions such
> as museums and galleries, with a special focus on BP (formerly
> British Petroleum). As part of its overall facelift, BP, in
> addition to promoting itself as a forward looking,
> compassionate, community centered energy corporation, has moved
> in a big way into the world of art and in order to buy, as the
> company itself puts it, 'a social license to operate.' As of
> the beginning of 2005, BP has become the leading sponsor of
> such top-end venues of culture as The National Portrait
> Gallery, the Science Museum, the British Museum, the Royal
> Opera House, and the National Gallery and others. Although
> faced with ongoing budget cuts, the cultural establishment is
> far from innocent. By accepting BP's sponsorship of its annual
> award, the National
> Portrait Gallery, for example, merely exchanged one corporate
> daddy for another, feeling that its previous association with
> Imperial Tobacco was tarnishing its image. The article goes on
> to point out, that the real problem with corporate sponsorship
> is that it "eats into the art world's soul" and helps to
> further an already present depoliticization of cultural
> endeavors. Fortunately, an anti-capitalist direct action group
> called London Rising Tide is fighting back against corporate
> hegemony in the arts by staging an alternative 'Art Not Oil 1'
> exhibition at a squat close to the National Portratit Gallery
> itself. And, by way of a protest, one especially "dark,
> satanic" portrait of BP's  boss, Lord Browne, spent an
> afternoon, along with its creator, outside the gallery, and
> while both were denied
> entrance into the show, garnered publicity and support for the
> artists' organizing efforts. The article ends with a list of
> websites detailing other activities and organizations taking
> action against the corporatization of culture.
> Red Pepper February 2005
> http://www.redpepper.org.uk/Feb2005/x-feb2005-chase.htm
>
> ARTICLE 4.  "Is anti-capitalism enough?: issues of race and
> gender in the anti-globalization movement in Calgary"
> by Farhana Khatri
>
> This first-person account highlights instances of racism
> against womyn of color within the anti-globalization movement
> in Calgary, Canada. Khatri ariculates clearly the limitations
> of this movement until it embraces race and gender as critical
> issues. She notes incidences of privilege allowing white men to
> participate in movement activities such as squatting, which is
> far from a chosen activity for immigrant families. The second
> half of the article focues on people of color groups, such as
> Colours of Resistance and Anarchist People of Color, that have
> formed to provide support and confront these issues. However,
> the author points out that even within these groups sexism and
> homophobia are still quite glaring. Further reading resources
> are offered.
> Women and Environments International
> http://www.illegalvoices.org/knowledge/general_articles/is_anti- 
> capitalism_enough.html
>
> ARTICLE 5.  "Toxic Trespass"
> by Jack Doyle
>
> This article is actually the introduction of a new book by Jack
> Doyle, "Trespass Against Us, Dow Chemical and the Toxic
> Century." Doyle presents a brief but comprehensive history of
> the company containing valuable information for those already
> familiar with Dow Chemical and those who have never heard of
> any of its 100,000 invented chemicals -- pesticides, dioxins,
> fungicides, and the nefarious Agent Orange.  Doyle examines the
> commercial chemistry industry, noting the lack of rigorous
> public health testing and regulatory precautions, the denial of
> Dow Chemical to accept liability, and the ongoing litigation
> from thousands of people suffering from health problems caused
> by exposure (sometimes very brief) to the toxic chemicals
> (Dolye says that "since the 1960s, Dow has been in court almost
> constantly").
> Global Pesticide Campaigner, Dec 2004, v14 n3
> http://www.panna.org/resources/gpc/gpc_200412.14.3.07.dv.html
>
> ARTICLE 6.  "Building power in the new economy: the South Bay
> Labor Council"
> by Barbara Byrd and Nari Rhee
>
> Drawing on interviews with labor and community leaders in
> Silicon Valley, this paper outlines the work of the South Bay
> Labor Council and its nonprofit arm, Working Partnerships USA,
> as one model for labor’s efforts to reinvigorate itself.
> Together, the two organizations have employed a “three-legged
> stool” strategy —policy research and advocacy, community
> coalition building, and an aggressive political program—to
> advance a working families political agenda in the region. In
> this article, the authors describe how each of these components
> was implemented, identify their successes and challenges, and
> summarize major lessons.
> Working USA, December 2004 - Volume 8 Issue 2 Page 123-252
> http://www.laborstudies.wayne.edu/Power/San%20Jose.pdf
>
> ARTICLE 7. "Benefiting local populations? Communal reserves in
> Peru"
> by Helen Newing and Lissie Wahl
>
> At the international level, Peruvian communal reserves have
> been cited as a model for protected areas that is in line with
> policy recommendations by the 2003 World Conservation Union
> (IUCN) World Parks Congress for Community-Managed Protected
> Areas. Within Peru, proposals for communal reserves are
> multiplying: four of the six existing communal reserves have
> been created in the last three years, and at the time of
> writing, at least six more proposals were in preparation. But
> as positive as it is that the category of communal reserve is
> attracting such interest, within Peru it is still an
> experimental category for which legislation is under
> development. Two distinct but related issues are as yet
> unresolved: first, a fundamental difference between
> conservation and indigenous perspectives of the purpose of
> communal reserves; and second, the development of a mechanism
> for management that meets the requirements of the Peruvian
> System of National Protected Areas while retaining flexibility
> and minimizing the bureaucratic and administrative burden on
> participating communities.
> Cultural Survival Quarterly, Volume 28.1
> http://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/csq/csq_article.cfm? 
> id=C2371004-044F-417A-84F4 
> -5AD3B84FD653&region_id=6&subregion_id=213&issue_id=5
>
> ARTICLE 8.  "A woman's place is in the struggle: women and the
> Bolivarian revolution"
> by Robyn Marshall
>
> In Venezuela, an oil-rich Third World country with a population
> of 26 million, of whom 80% live on or below the poverty line.
> But there are exciting events taking place in this country.  In
> 1998, left-wing former paratrooper Hugo Chavez was unexpectedly
> elected president. Chavez has made a total commitment to change
> the social realities for the poor, the dispossessed and the
> marginalised through his Bolivarian Revolution. This has also
> meant big advances for most women in Venezuela.
>
> Green Left Weekly, Issue #594 August 18, 2004
> http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2004/594/594p8b.htm
>
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Al Kagan
African Studies Bibliogrpaher and Professor of Library Administration
University of Illinois Library
1408 W. Gregory Drive
Urbana, IL 61801

tel. 217-333-6519
fax 217-333-2214
akagan at uiuc.edu
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