[Peace-discuss] News from Neptune #445 notes

Sat Dec 28 14:39:22 UTC 2019

My letter to the News-Gazette, soon to be published, as read on the program:

The debate in the *News-Gazette* regarding “racial disparities” in Unit 4
schools is remarkably uninformed, if not slanderous; unsurprisingly, it
occurs within limits set by a society that quite intentionally promotes
radical income and wealth inequality based not on “merit,” but systemic,
legalized, and socially-admired greed.

In this context, those who call themselves “liberal” or “progressive,” and
accept capitalism, imperialism and war, use weasel words: “diversity,”
“equity,” “equal opportunity,” etc. They speak the obscurantist language of
individual attitudes and systemic cultural or racial “discrimination,”
rather than the revelatory language of systemic economic (and
environmental) exploitation and its accompanying “success” at materially,
medically, and intellectually hammering working class families.

Unit 4 teachers and administrators, some of whom I’ve voluntarily worked
with in recent years, range from merely competent to excellent. The
A.C.L.U. and N.A.A.C.P., ironically evidencing limited analytical skills,
look to “race” like an inebriated person looks for keys under a
streetlight. Nevertheless, corporate-driven “multicultural” curriculum and
testing regimes are designed to certify the “bright” futures of privileged
students, while preparing working class students, regardless of race, for a
future of alienation, self-blame, disrespected labor, and financial
struggle.

If the latter students don’t like that, the neoliberal corporate and
political establishment makes it clear they can serve as military cannon
fodder, medicate and entertain themselves, go to prison, or labor and
suffer in silent desperation and false hope.

Schools are at worst bureaucratic accomplices in this rigged system.
Liberal critics are oblivious to or enablers of those profiting from its
rigging.

On Sat, Dec 28, 2019 at 2:46 AM J.B. Nicholson via Peace-discuss <
peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net> wrote:

> News from Neptune #445
> A "Ghost of an Anti-War Movement Past" edition
> Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPA0iXKQkF8
>
> A list of links to items mentioned on the show.
>
> "Hamlet" by William Shakespeare
> http://shakespeare.mit.edu/hamlet/full.html
> The quoted reference comes from Act 3, Scene 4.
>
> Jeffrey St. Clair on "The Last Line of Defense: 20 Activist Groups That
> Are
> Making a Big Difference"
>
> https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/12/27/the-last-line-of-defense-20-activist-groups-that-are-making-a-difference/
>
> Voices For Creative Nonviolence
> 1249 W. Argyle St. #2
> Chicago, Illinois 60640
> 773-878-3815
> http://vcnv.org/
>
>
>
>
>
> Tom Mackaman on "An interview with historian Gordon Wood on the New York
> Times’ 1619 Project"
> https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/11/28/wood-n28.html
>
> Tom Mackaman on "An interview with historian James McPherson on the New
> York Times’ 1619 Project"
> https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/11/14/mcph-n14.html
>
> All pages on the wsws.org site mentioning "1619 project"
>
> https://www.wsws.org/en/search.html?sectionId=&maxResults=100&phrase=1619+project&submit=Search
>
> R. L. Stephens on "Between the Black Body and Me"
>
> https://www.jacobinmag.com/2017/05/ta-nehisi-coates-racism-afro-pessimism-reparations-class-struggle
>
> Fannie Lou Hamer and the Freedom Democratic Party and Congressional Run
>
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fannie_Lou_Hamer#Freedom_Democratic_Party_and_Congressional_run
>
> Julie Wurth on "Local ACLU, NAACP chapters air concerns on achievement
> gaps
> in Unit 4"
>
> https://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/education/local-aclu-naacp-chapters-air-concerns-on-achievement-gaps-in/article_861752a7-b070-54de-a488-b1e91031cbd7.html
>
> Related: Juliann Xu on "Unit 4 must address achievement gap"
>
> https://www.news-gazette.com/opinion/guest-commentary/guest-commentary-unit-must-address-achievement-gap/article_3bdc67f6-454d-5c5e-95fc-2000d268a6fb.html
>
> Adolph Reed, Jr. on "Oats for Breakfast" show
>
> https://soundcloud.com/user-108536943/episode-12-race-class-and-the-left-w-adolph-reed-jr
> -- initially published interview
>
> https://soundcloud.com/user-108536943/unlocked-extended-interview-w-adolph-reed-jr
> -- extended interview
>
> Oats for Breakfast
> https://socialistproject.ca/podcast/
>
> Glen Ford on "The Validity and Usefulness of the Term “Black Misleadership
> Class”"
>
> https://www.blackagendareport.com/validity-and-usefulness-term-black-misleadership-class
>
> Adolph Reed on "Identity Politics Is Neoliberalism"
> https://bennorton.com/adolph-reed-identity-politics-is-neoliberalism/
>
>
>
>
> Howie Hawkins on "The Green Party Is Not the Democrats’ Problem"
>
> https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/12/25/the-green-party-is-not-the-democrats-problem/
>
> Howie Hawkins interview with Primo Nutmeg on Russiagate (excerpt)
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xZZTlzThTo
> Full interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABW-_2lnn00
>
> Jimmy Dore on Howie Hawkins supporting Russiagate to Primo Nutmeg
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvbSLYC2PaE
>
> Dr. Jill Stein on Howie Hawkins supporting Russiagate to Primo Nutmeg
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7y7-IhocQWk
>
> Rep. Tulsi Gabbard interview with Primo Nutmeg (which includes Rep.
> Gabbard
> saying she'll not run as a third-party and that she's a loyal Democrat)
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkdl-QbtS1U
>
> Rep. Tulsi Gabbard saying she'll support any Democrat who wins the primary
> which means she'll likely end up supporting someone more belligerent than
> she speaks about war.
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzVSYBNgOeI
>
> > CBS Interviewer: Earlier this month you told our political reporter
> > Caitlin Huey-Burns[1] that you would support the Democratic nominee if
> > you end up not winning the primary. Is there any policy a Democratic
> > nominee could hold that would persuade you not to elect them in the
> > general election?
> >
> > Tulsi Gabbard: No. I am, as are all of the other candidates that I'm
> > aware of running for president, committed to defeating Donald Trump in
> > 2020. I look forward and hope to be able to earn that nomination myself
> > but if not then I'll join with others in making sure that that happens.
>
> [1] https://www.cbsnews.com/video/tulsi-gabbard-on-her-political-future/
> where CBS' Caitlin Huey-Burns got right to the point:
>
> > Caitlin Huey-Burns: Will you ultimately support the Democratic nominee?
> >
> > Tulsi Gabbard: Yes.
>
> Craig Whitlock, Leslie Shapiro, and Armand Emamdjomeh on "The Afghanistan
> Papers: A secret history of the war"
>
> https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/investigations/afghanistan-papers/documents-database/
> https://archive.md/75YUm
>
> Pentagon Papers
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentagon_Papers
>
> Major Danny Sjursen on "We Have Just Been Handed the Pentagon Papers of
> Our
> Generation"
> https://www.thenation.com/article/afghanistan-papers-forever-war/
>
>
>
>
> Costas Lapavitsas
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Costas_Lapavitsas
>
> Costas Lapavitsas interview with Paul Jay on "The Real News"
> Transcript:
>
> https://therealnews.com/stories/class-struggle-over-brexit-lapavitsas-and-jay
> Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jh65ee5U9Kk
>
>
>
>
> Rob Urie on "Gender, Class and Capitalism"
> https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/03/08/gender-class-and-capitalism/
>
> Liam Stack on "J.K. Rowling Criticized After Tweeting Support for
> Anti-Transgender Researcher"
>
> https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/19/world/europe/jk-rowling-maya-forstater-transgender.html
>
>
> TERF is an acronym for "trans-exclusionary radical feminist"
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TERF
>
> Cedric Johnson on "What Black Life Actually Looks Like"
> https://www.jacobinmag.com/2019/04/racism-black-lives-matter-inequality
>
>
> J.B. Nicholson's notes
>
> https://lists.chambana.net/pipermail/peace-discuss/2019-December/051707.html
> https://lists.chambana.net/pipermail/peace/2019-December/015514.html
>
> -J
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> Peace-discuss mailing list
> Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net
> https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace-discuss
>
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