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Articles by Greg writes
Death in a Small Town On the Small Screen
In 1974, Tobe Hooper and a young, mostly neophyte crew went off into the sun-scorched and scoriated rurality of Texas to film what would become one of the most important movies in the annals of world cinema: The Texas Chain Saw (two words) Massacre. Almost unbearably intense and waggishly deranged, it is the story of a coterie of young people who befall a family of dirt-mottled cannibals residing in a ramshackle home whose bland white exterior belies the horrors skulking within.
The Willful Destruction of a People
The US corporate media has maintained a near unanimous support for the Israeli destruction of Gaza – the home of 2.2 million Palestinians.
Liberalism and Its Discontents
These are difficult, perilous, and frustrating times. Many cherished beliefs are coming unraveled. Many once-shared values are no longer shared. And distrust of unshakeable institutions is widespread. Yet it was only a little more than three decades ago that North America and European intellectuals joined in acknowledging the triumph of the Western world’s “gift” to all: political and economic liberalism.
The Ugly Face of Anti-Communism
Since the Russian revolution, the founding of the Communist International, and the organization of a revolutionary party “of a new type” in nearly every country, Communist and Workers Parties have been in the sights of every country’s bourgeoisie. In nearly all countries, the bourgeoisie, its political parties, its media, and its other henchmen have sought to thwart, even destroy the revolutionary vanguard of the workers.
An Overdue Look at the Environmental Crisis
“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.” “The question is,” said Alice, ‘whether you can make words mean so many different things.” “The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master — that’s all.” ― Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass Our global environmental crisis is widely understood to be reaching a crucial moment; the danger signals are flashing almost daily.
Our Dirty Little Secret Revealed
I grew up in a small Midwestern town that was part of an industrial oasis located in the midst of corn and soybean fields. The oasis existed because bituminous coal had been discovered under the flat lands well over a hundred years ago. The mines attracted thousands of workers from Eastern and Southern Europe, including my two grandfathers. The large immigrant working class, in turn, attracted industry as well.
Multipolarity: False Hope for the Left
Since the end of the Cold War, important, profound changes in the relations between capitalist states, coupled with equally sharp changes in the content of those relations, have seduced left-wing intellectuals and academics to embrace those countries whose governments clash– for untold reasons– with the political or economic demands of the US and its allies. They began to uncritically see these countries as fellow combatants in the struggle for social justice, for example, as anti-imperialists.
That Night At Alcatraz
“It is discouraging to leave the past behind only to see it coming toward you like the thunderstorm which drenched you yesterday.” —William Gass “You’re a very bad man, Walker, a very destructive man,” says the redoubtable Carroll O’Connor, with the impetuousness of a hypochondriac—the desperation of the doomed—to Lee Marvin’s cryptic cipher, a mononymous, six-foot fist of a man slinging a hand cannon and garbed in stylish attire that always matches his surroundings.
Election Fever: A Fever Dream?
With nearly sixteen months to go, we are well into the silly season. The campaigning, fund raising, maneuvering, plotting, and mud-slinging have already reached a fever-pitch. We are told that the 2024 Presidential election — like every Presidential election in my lifetime — holds the fate of the country in its grip.
The Cold War, Desegregation, and Affirmative Action
by Greg Godels / July 29th, 2023 As the US Supreme Court aspires to drive a nail into the coffin of affirmative action, it is important to recognize how the Cold War helped to shape the mid-twentieth-century civil-rights people’s victories and the consequent policy of Affirmative Action in education. Some may find that connecting the conflict between the US and the USSR to the formal establishment of African American citizen rights is far-fetched. But the facts speak otherwise.
Norman Finkelstein: A National Treasure?
Among the most dangerous people in the US are those who actually once fervently believed the foundational myths of the country’s social and political order. It’s the true believers — we who are schooled on republican virtues, democratic procedures, universal equality, and fair play that are said to be deeply embedded in the US experience — who become radical crusaders when their beliefs are shattered by the truth.
Mired in Opportunism
by Greg Godels / June 17th, 2023 It should be obvious to everyone that the US left is in difficult straits. It is not even remotely clear who or what counts as left in this country. To most — encouraged by the capitalist media — the left is the Democratic Party. But that must undoubtedly be mistaken. To be left, one surely has to be outside of the centers of power, looking in; and that certainly is not true of the Democrats and their leaders.
Western Marxism: The Unwholesome Temptation
by Greg Godels / May 22nd, 2023 Image credit: Left Voice. The history of Marxism has a parallel history of counter-Marxism — intellectual currents that posture as the true Marxism. Even before Marxism came into being as a coherent ideology, Marx and Engels devoted an often-neglected section of their 1848 Communist Manifesto to debunking the existing contenders for true socialism.
The End of an Era
by Greg Godels / May 2nd, 2023 Why do the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the World Bank– three of the most highly regarded international economic organizations-project a bleak road ahead for the global economy? Ominously, the World Bank warns of the possibility of a coming “lost decade” for economic growth. In January of this year, the World Bank dropped its global growth projection for 2023 to 1.7% from its June of 2022 projection of 3%.
The War in Ukraine: A Year On
February 24 marked one year since Russian troops crossed the border with Ukraine and began its overt military intervention in what was a de facto civil war. From 2014 and the Western intervention resulting in that year’s coup against President Yanukovych, Ukraine has been a divided country engaged in a bitter, violent struggle over its future alignment. Indeed, that struggle had been simmering since Ukraine left the Soviet Union, with roots going back even further.
Derangement Unbound
Karl Marx famously said in the Eighteenth Brumaire that history repeats itself, “the first time as tragedy, the second as farce.” While there are many examples of this insight from history, Marx could not foresee how farce would become the staple of the US ruling class, how elites would defend what they see as their interests with a web of calculated deception extending beyond the limits of the absurd. Like the mad General Jack D.
France and the Dilemma of Electoral Politics in the 21st Century
by Greg Godels / January 31st, 2023 French workers currently live nearly two years longer than their counterparts in member states in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), composed of roughly the world’s most advanced capitalist countries. Further, they retire with full benefits, on average, nearly three years earlier than their counterparts in the OECD.
Let Them Die! | Dissident Voice
In the spirit of Jonathan Swift’s satirical world (“A Modest Proposal”), we might facetiously attribute the recent decline in US life expectancy to a concerted effort to strengthen the social safety net. Politicians have been maintaining for decades that it would be necessary to reduce social security, Medicare, and Medicaid benefits to keep the systems solvent.
Census Report Offers Good News for Red States
Greg Byrnes writes for PJMedia.com about interesting new census data. The U.S. Census Bureau is in need of serious reform. The agency has one job to do. It is outlined in the Constitution. Count the population. In the last census, it got 14 states wrong. But as we have seen with recent bogus employment numbers released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics that misstated growth by, say, 99%, the U.S. government employees many people charged with counting who need to go back to watching Sesame Street.
Lessons Unlearned
Karl Marx knew a thing or two about politics by Greg Godels / August 1st, 2022 Writing over a century-and-a-half ago, Karl Marx studied the aftermath of the 1848 revolutions that sought to drive a stake in the vitals of the European monarchies and consolidate the rule of the emerging bourgeois classes.
The Peace Question and Imperialism
The war in Ukraine is a propaganda war, with all of the belligerents, sponsors, and their allies churning out — through an abjectly subservient media — masses of lies and disinformation. In this regard, they resemble other wars, but with an added dose of shamelessness. For that reason, it is difficult to discern how the war is being conducted or who has the military advantage at any time. Like all modern wars, atrocity stories abound and losses are wildly exaggerated.
State of Physical Security: Assessing & Mitigating Risk
The mission of every security enterprise is to safeguard its organization’s people, property, information, and systems. Most security policies, particularly within government organizations, govern the administration of personnel security, physical security, administrative security, systems security, identity management, special access areas, security training and awareness, and other collateral programs.
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