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Inside the New Print Edition of Our Subscriber-Only Newsletter! Drug Companies and Psychiatrists
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Inside the New Print Edition of Our Subscriber-Only Newsletter!
Drug Companies and Psychiatrists
Partners in CrimeEugenia Tsao reports on the upcoming revision of one of the most important books in America, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Here’s where the drug lords, the shrinks and the insurance companies collude in establishing hundreds of bogus psychic conditions requiring the psychotropic drugs from which they reap billions every year. There are about 250,000 migrant laborers in Israel, mostly from the Philippines and Thailand. Meanwhile tens of thousands of Palestinians can’t find work. From Tel Aviv, Yonatan Preminger reports on Israel’s vicious employment strategy. Also in this latest newsletter Andrew Cockburn updates his CounterPunch world exclusive on how the U.S. has secretly helped build Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal. Get your new edition today by subscribing online or calling 1-800-840-3683 Contributions to CounterPunch are tax-deductible. Click here to make a donation. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now! CounterPunch books and t-shirts make great presents.
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Today's Stories July 10-12, 2009 José Pertierra July 9, 2009 Ronnie Cummings Jonathan Cook Nikolas Kozloff James Bovard Norman Solomon Afghanistan: the Escalation Scam Allan Nairn Andy Worthington Tomas Borge Nadia Hijab Paul Krassner Website of the Day July 8, 2009 Saul Landau Dean Baker Winslow T. Wheeler Eric Walberg Ray McGovern David Rosen Dr. Mona El Farra Ron Jacobs Benjamin Dangl Alan Farago Website of the Day July 7, 2009 Alexander Cockburn Uri Avnery Brian M. Downing Gary Leupp Gregory A. Burris David Macaray Laura Flanders Alan Farago Greg Moses Dan Bacher Website of the Day July 6, 2009 Patrick Cockburn Diana Johnstone Nikolas Kozloff Gary Leupp Jonathan Cook Tim Wise Franklin Lamb Charles R. Larson Carlos Benemann Shepherd Bliss Jerry Kroth Karyn Strickler Website of the Day July 3-5, 2009 Alexander Cockburn Eamonn Fingleton Jeffrey St. Clair Mike Whitney Pam Martens George Ciccariello-Maher Paul Craig Roberts Patrick Cockburn Anthony DiMaggio Roger Burbach John Ross Nikolas Kozloff Gareth Porter Andy Worthington Saul Landau David Macaray Adam Federman Jane Slaughter Labor's Vague Rally for Health Care Russell Mokhiber Black Caucus Muzzled on Israeli Kidnapping of McKinney Robert Jensen Robert Bryce Belén Fernandez Missy Comley Beattie C. G. Estabrook Stephen Martin Charles R. Larson Lorenzo Wolff Kim Nicolini Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend July 2, 2009 Andrew Cockburn Nikolas Kozloff Wendell Potter Ellen Hodgson Brown Christian Christensen Iran: Networked Dissent? Patrick Irelan Binoy Kampmark Returning Iraq Nicola Nasser Brian Tokar Dan Bacher Website of the Day July 1, 2009 Vijay Prashad Alberto Vallente Thorensen Paul Craig Roberts Robert Weissman Manuel García, Jr. Victor Figueroa-Clark / Pablo Navarrete Norman Solomon Franklin Lamb Martha Rosenberg Diane Rejman Website of the Day June 30, 2009 Michael Hudson Esam Al-Amin Benjamin Dangl Jonathan Cook Franklin Lamb George Wuerthner Todd Gordon Ron Jacobs Kenneth Libby Julian Vigo Website of the Day
June 29, 2009 Ishmael Reed Nikolas Kozloff Clifton Ross Patrick Cockburn Uri Avnery Conn Hallinan James G. Abourezk Ralph Nader Carol Miller Greg Moses Website of the Day June 26-28, 2009 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair Doug Peacock Daniel Wolff Mike Whitney John Ross David Rosen Emily Ratner Gareth Porter Farid Marjai Nadia Hijab Paul Craig Roberts Fred Gardner Carl Ginsburg Paul Watson David Ker Thomson Farzana Versey Geoff Berne Todd Alan Price Ramzy Baroud Jeff Sher Dr. Carol Paris Despite My Arrest by Max Baucus, I Will Continue to Advocate for Quality Health Care for All Walter Brasch Adultery as Family Value? Glen Johnson Charlotte Laws Charles R. Larson Kim Nicolini David Yearsley Lorenzo Wolff Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend June 25, 2009 Kathy Kelly Jack Bratich Wendell Potter Charles R. Larson Alan Farago Jonathan Cook Gareth Porter Bitta Mostofi / David Macaray Mark Schuller Website of the Day June 24, 2009 Andrew Cockburn Dean Baker Andy Worthington James Bovard Diana Gibson / P. Sainath Gareth Porter Robert Alvarez Dave Lindorff Steven Colatrella Remembering Giovanni Arrighi Website of the Day
June 23, 2009 David Price Patrick Cockburn James Ridgeway / Dave Lindorff Carmelo Ruiz-Marrero Gary Leupp Brian M. Downing Robert Bryce Nicholas Dearden Yousef Munayyer Website of the Day June 22, 2009 Michael Hudson Esam Al-Amin Chris Floyd Jack Z. Bratich Atash Yaghmaian Laura Carlsen Paul Craig Roberts Vijay Prashad Fred Gardner Andy Thayer David Macaray Website of the Day
June 19 - 21, 2009 Alexander Cockburn Jeffrey St. Clair Patrick Cockburn Al Giordano Henry A. Giroux Anthony DiMaggio Paul Craig Roberts John Ross Gareth Porter Carl Ginsburg Tommi Avicolli Mecca Joe Bageant Serge Halimi P. Sainath Jim Goodman Dave Lindorff Rannie Amiri Robert Fantina Harvey Wasserman Walter Brasch David Ker Thomson Charles R. Larson David Yearsley Kim Nicolini Ben Sonnenberg Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend
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Weekend Edition Lurching Toward Populism, Not FascismEurope's New Politics of Hard TimesBy CHRISTOPHER BICKERTON What do the results of the European elections really mean? And beyond a memorable bust-up on French television between green ’68er Daniel Cohn-Bendit and centrist presidential hopeful, François Bayrou, what will people remember about the elections? Participation was the lowest it has ever been since direct elections to the European parliament were introduced in 1979. Vaclav Klaus, president of the Czech Republic and renowned Eurosceptic, dubbed the elections in his country “one quarter elections”, referring to the 28 per cent turnout. The Economist’s Charlemagne suggests that the European parliament should be wound down altogether, as with a failed experiment. But for all the apathy, the election results provide important insights into contemporary European politics. For a start, it offered clear proof of the ambivalent relationship between economic downturn and the popularity of leftwing politics. Since the beginning of the financial meltdown, Karl Marx has, for some, suddenly become relevant after all. But this renewed interest in theories of economic crisis is only skin-deep, for it has had little political impact. Anti-globalization movements like Attac, popular in the late 1990s and early 2000s, have failed to win support in spite of the downturn. And the same has happened in the European elections, though many expected far left parties to do well. In France, Olivier Besançenot formed a New Anti-Capitalist Party (NPA). In Germany, the amalgam of the breakaway leftwing of the Social Democrat Party and the former East German communist party, known as the Left Party (Die Linke), was also expected to do well. More centrist parties, such as the French and Spanish Socialists, were also hoping to profit from the crisis. The opposite proved true. Across Europe, voters abandoned the left. In France, the governing UMP party was a victim of its own success: winning twice as many seats as in 2004, Sarkozy has had to renege on his promise to send all his party’s candidates, if elected, to Brussels. The biggest losers in France were the Socialists: they lost almost half their seats and in some regions were pushed into third place behind a newly formed green party, Europe Écologie. Led by a motley crew of activist environmentalists, including Daniel Cohn-Bendit, José Bové and Éva Joly, Europe Écologie were one of the big winners in the election. Besançenot’s NPA failed to make any impact: with just under 5 per cent of votes, they won no seats to the European parliament. In Britain, the Labour Party was left with its worst election result since 1918. In Germany, the Social Democrat Party won only 20.8 per cent of the vote, a historic low for the party. Die Linke’s percentage of the vote rose but only marginally, from 6.1 per cent to 7.5 per cent. In Spain, the incumbent Socialist Party came second behind the rightwing Popular Party and in Italy the opposition centre-left Democratic Party won just under 27 per cent of the vote – not enough to beat Berlusconi but enough to avoid a collapse in the leadership. At this time of economic crisis, centre left and leftwing parties across Europe have failed to win over voters. Pundits are writing of a “blue wave” sweeping Europe: many are concerned that the current crisis has swelled support for the far right rather than the far left. The elections were marked by the success of far right parties. The British National Party (BNP) in the UK won two seats in the European parliament. In Hungary, a neo-fascist group with its own military wing, Jobbik, won three out of 22 seats. In Italy, the Northern League made gains, reaching 10 per cent of the vote. In Austria, the Freedom Party, set up by the late Jörg Haider, doubled its vote to 13 per cent. In Holland, the Freedom Party led by Geert Wilders won 17 per cent of the vote, giving it four seats. Was this set to be a breakthrough for the far right, an ominous sign that in difficult times European voters tend towards chauvinism, xenophobia and racism? The Times correspondent for eastern Europe, Adam LeBor, certainly thinks so, writing a timely political thriller The Budapest Protocol about a rightwing takeover of eastern Europe in the shadow of a Brussels superstate. ‘Punish the pigs’ In truth, the far right groups remain very marginal in Europe and the trend is weak and uneven. In Poland, the results of the 2004 election – which saw the Catholic League of Polish Families and the peasant movement Sambroona both win seats in parliament – were reversed this time around, with Polish commentators celebrating the “maturity” of their population who opted instead for mainstream parties. The real lesson is two-fold. The first is that governments, in Britain and elsewhere, have given up democracy to these far right movements: instead of arguing with them or challenging their ideas, mainstream parties have refused to engage with them. This was the message of the UK Labour Party’s European election campaign: vote for us in order to prevent the BNP getting in. It was also a general theme of the European elections: the choice is between mainstream parties or rightwing populist extremists. This message does little more than pander to middle class prejudices about racist working class voters. When French National Front (FN) leader Jean-Marie Le Pen won through into the second round of the presidential election in 2002, the French media went in search of infamous FN voters as if they were a curious new species of homo sapiens. Such reactions only reveal the gap between the political establishment and society at large. And they misrepresent what is occurring as a revival of racist and fascist ideology. A closer look reveals a different dynamic. The second lesson is that the far right movements are more populist than racist. The BNP’s campaign in the UK was about MPs’ expenses: the slogan of its poster campaign was “Punish the pigs” (the pigs being the politicians). In Hungary, support for the far right is not reducible to anti-Roma sentiment. As recently as 2006, Hungarians were demonstrating outside their parliament, demanding the resignation of a prime minister whose cynical comments about his own party sparked growing disenchantment with the political class. Rather than a significant shift to the right, these groups signal the end of left and right. They express anger, disenchantment and frustration, but not a coherent new ideology or the rebirth of old fascist political traditions. The desire to protest, not to take power, animates the votes for the far right today. Contemporary populism is in part a product of the EU’s own preference for taking decisions behind closed doors. But there is no perfect symmetry between the EU’s contempt for democracy and the current populist backlash. This is because the EU doesn’t stand above member states but is rather the mode of politics that prevails in relations between national capitals. The contemporary backlash has domestic roots, evident in the very marginal role played by EU-related issues in the 2009 campaign. That populism has become the new opposition is demonstrated in the rise and fall of Libertas, the pan-European political party set up by Declan Ganley in late 2008. Libertas appeared at a time when governments across Europe were intent on preventing their populations from having a vote on the Lisbon Treaty: the British government reneged on an election promise, the Irish were asked to vote again, and France and Germany agreed between themselves to avoid any more referendums. Libertas promised to unravel this “anti-referendum pact” by making the June elections into a pan-European referendum on Lisbon. In the end, this message was lost. Owing to its lack of any social base across Europe, Libertas made alignments with widely different national parties. It had no clear pan-European message beyond a vague call for more democracy and transparency. As a result, it was drawn into national political battles, which it invariably lost. In the UK, it made no impact whatever, unable to distinguish itself from the EU-critical voices of the Conservatives and UK Independence Party (UKIP). Recent crises have discredited political institutions. The economic crisis has raised doubts about the capacity of governments to manage the markets. The crisis in political representation – from British MPs’ expenses scandal to the fuss over Berlusconi’s relationship with minors – has left many people disaffected and disenchanted with their elected representatives. But these sentiments have not given birth to anything new. Anti-establishment figures will continue to emerge but only as charismatic individuals, not as embodiments of new political ideas. This was the lesson of Declan Ganley’s European crusade. There is no European lurch to the right. There is an entrenchment of populism as the new political opposition in Europe – but one that remains devoid of political ideas, unable to transform people’s anger and mistrust of the establishment into a new political vision or programme. Christopher Bickerton is co-convenor of the Sovereignty and its Discontents (SAID) working group, and co-editor of Politics without Sovereignty: A Critique of Contemporary International Relations, UCL Press, London, 2007. He lectures on international relations at Oxford University. This article appears in the English language edition of Le Monde Diplomatique, which can be found at mondediplo.com. This full text appears by agreement with Le Monde Diplomatique. CounterPunch features one or two articles from LMD every month.
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Now Available from CounterPunch Books! Yellowstone Drift:
Spell Albuquerque:
Waiting for
Lightning
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