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CHINA'S GREAT LEAP BACKWARDS Peter Kwong gives us the "New China" without illusions: from the "millionaires' fair" in Shanghai, with $60,000 diamond-studded dog leashes to one of the most savagely repressed working class and peasantry on the planet. How China's leaders swapped Marx and Mao for Milton Friedman. Alexander Cockburn on What's wrong with the U.S. left. They're sitting in darkened rooms weaving conspiracy fantasies about 9/11; they're blogging; they're confusing a medium with a movement; they're not doing enough to stop the war in Iraq. John Ross takes us along the stormy trail of the Mexican election. CounterPunch Online is read by millions of viewers each month! But remember, we are funded solely by the subscribers to the print edition of CounterPunch. Please support this website by buying a subscription to our newsletter, which contains fresh material you won't find anywhere else, or by making a donation for the online edition. Remember contributions are tax-deductible. Click here to make a donation. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now! |
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Today's Stories July 10, 2006 Alexander Cockburn July 8 / 9, 2006 Stephen Green Paul Craig
Roberts Greg Moses Ralph Nader Laura Carlsen Conn Hallinan John Chuckman Fred Gardner Dr. Tod Mikuriya Pierre Tristam Lucinda Marshall David Swanson Heather Gray Dave Zirin
/ John Cox Mark Engler Michael Lettieri Ron Jacobs Jamal Juma' Jeffrey St. Clair Poets' Basement
July 7, 2006 John Ross July 6, 2006 Nick Dearden John Stanton Ralph Nader Laray Polk Saul Landau Joshua Frank William S. Lind Adelman / Lindorff Jonathan Cook Website of
the Day
Mike Whitney Saul Landau Ramzy Baroud Missy Comley Beattie Arthur Neslen Vincent Maruffi Paul Cantor Paul D. Johnson David Price
Col. Dan Smith Chris Floyd Marjorie Cohn James Brooks Medea Benjamin Matt Reichel Elisa Salasin Rick Wilhelm Paul Craig
Roberts Website of the Day
July 3, 2006 Robert Bryce Dr. Bouthaina Shaban Julia Olmstead Dave Lindorff Andres Gomez Alan Singer Alexander Cockburn
Paul Craig
Roberts Stephen T.
Banko Daniel Cassidy Fawzia Afzal-Khan Jeff Taylor John Ross Greg Moses Laura Carlsen Justin E.H.
Smith Brian Cloughley Anthony Papa Mike Ferner Jerry Tucker Jane Goodall / Rick Asselta Phyllis Pollack Poets' Basement
June 30, 2006 Marjorie Cohn Heather Williams Burbach / Cantor Nick Dearden Michael J.
Smith Brian Concannon Virginia Tilley
Bill Quigley Ron Jacobs Paul Craig
Roberts June 28, 2006 Jorge Mariscal Greg Moses Mark Weisbrot Ramzy Baroud Dave Lindorff William S.
Lind Mike Ferner Zoltan Grossman
Marjorie Cohn Benjamin /
Jarrar William Hughes Doug Giebel Uri Avnery Alexander Cockburn
June 26, 2006 Don Santina Ralph Nader Dave Lindorff Rafael Rodriguez-Cruz Evelyn Pringle Jonathan Cook
June 23, 2006 Youmans / Erakat Dave Lindorff Ron Jacobs Col. Dan Smith
June 22, 2006 Marjorie Cohn Winslow T.
Wheeler Tanya Reinhart Mike Marqusee William Blum
June 21, 2006 Ramzy Baroud Patrick Cockburn Gary Leupp Greg Moses
June 20, 2006 Fred Gardner Omar Waraich Christopher Reed CP Newswire Jonathan Cook
June 19, 2006 Bill Quigley John Walsh Mike Whitney Alexander Cockburn
June 16 / 18,
2006 Kathy / Bill
Christision Joseph Nevins Farrah Hassen Greg Moses Nicole Colson John Scagliotti Mokhiber / Weissmann
June 15, 2006 Kathy Kelly Norman Solomon Ron Jacobs Sam Bahour Ramzy Baroud CounterPunch Wire Gabriel Kolko Website of the Day
June 14, 2006 Nicole Colson Jonathan Cook Joseph Schechla Michael Carmichael Evelyn Pringle Ward Churchill Rev. William E. Alberts Website of the
Day
June 13, 2006 Medea Benjamin Anthony Alessandrini Paul D'Amato Dave Lindorff John Ross Gabriel Garcia Hilton Obenzinger Yitzhak Laor Juan Antonio
Ocasio Rivera Jennifer Van
Bergen Website of the
Day
June 12, 2006 Paul Craig Roberts Patrick Cockburn Mike Marqusee Lee Sustar Robert Fisk Michael J. Smith Felice Pace Jennifer Loewenstein Website of the Day
June 10 / 11,
2006 Robert Fisk Diane Christian Joe Allen Ralph Nader Fred Gardner Dave Lindorff Dave Zirin /
John Cox Dennis Perrin Greg Moses John Chuckman Michael J. Smith Roger Burbach Ira Moskowitz Sam Bahour Seth Sandronsky Michael Berg Kirsten Roberts Ron Jacobs Jeffrey St. Clair Poets' Basement Website of the
Weekend
June 9, 2006 Alexander Cockburn Paul Craig Roberts Gary Leupp Eric Ruder Evelyn Pringle Mickey Z. Michael J. Smith Patrick Cockburn Website of the
Day
June 8, 2006 Chris Floyd Michael Dickinson Ron Jacobs William S. Lind Joshua Frank Missy Comley Beattie Lloyd Williams Bill Christison Website of the Day
June 7, 2006 Dave Lindorff Sunsara Taylor John Walsh David MacMichael Mickey Z. Evelyn Pringle Myles Palmer Laura Ribeiro Website of the Day
June 6, 2006 Diane Christian Paul Craig Roberts Ralph Nader Norman Solomon Darmont / Genovali Manuel Garcia,
Jr. Subcomandante Marcos Patrick Cockburn Website of the Day
June 5, 2006 Bruce Jackson Chris Floyd Michael Neumann Heather Gray William Hughes David Swanson Alexander Cockburn Website of the Day
June 3 / 4, 2006 Robert Fisk James Petras Rosemary Radford Ruether Harry Clark Jeffrey St. Clair Ron Ridenour Ron Jacobs Fred Gardner Peter Montague John Walsh Greg Moses Sean Donahue Mike Whitney Dave Patten Ali Khan Robert Dotson,
MD Hammond Guthrie St. Clair / D'Antoni Poets' Basement Website of the
Day
June 2, 2006 Kathy Kelly Alan Maass Mickey Z. Dave Lindorff Chris Kutalik Sunsara Taylor Sam Husseini Mike Ferner Website of the
Day
June 1, 2006 Brian Cloughley David Peterson Lee Ballinger Jonathan Cook Mike Whitney Paul Rockwell Clifton Ross Kevin Zeese Website of the
Day
May 31, 2006 Dave Lindorff Joshua Frank Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz P. Sainath Ramzy Baroud Seth Sandronsky Mickey Z. Ralph Nader Jeffrey St. Clair Website of the Day
May 30, 2006 Lee Ballinger Jonathan Cook Gary Leupp John Ross Robert Jensen Michael Dickinson Michael Carmichael Tim Wise Harry Browne Website of the
Day
May 27 / 29,
2006 Paul Craig Roberts Kathleen Christison Kathy Kelly Christopher
Reed Lawrence R. Velvel Tom Barry Gary Leupp Col. Dan Smith Ron Jacobs Don Fitz Fred Gardner Peter Montague Raymond Garcia John Farley Seth Sandronsky Tia Steele Lenni Brenner Dr. Susan Block Scott Michael Perey Jeffrey St. Clair Poets' Basement Recipe of the
Weekend Website of the Weekend
May 26, 2006 Col. Douglas
MacGregor Brian J. Foley Michael Dickinson Missy Comley Beattie Pierre Tristam Joe Allen Kona Lowell Roger Burbach Website of the
Day
May 25, 2006 Les AuCoin Jeff Halper Dave Lindorff Ron Jacobs Bob Wing Elise Gould Robert Bryce Website of the Day
May 24, 2006 Michael Donnelly Patrick Cockburn Lucinda Marshall Dave Lindorff Shmuel Rosner Moshe Adler Heather Gray Pratyush Chandra Paul Craig Roberts Floyd Rudmin Website of the Day
May 23, 2006 Paul Craig Roberts Sharon Smith Sunsara Taylor Joel Whitney Alice Cherbonnier Ron Jacobs Kristen Ess Patrick Cockburn Website of the
Day
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July10, 2006 The New SDSTowards a Radical Youth MovementBy RON JACOBS From August 4th through the 7th, a new incarnation of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) will hold its first national convention. This organization will have been around for almost a year when it meets in Chicago. Obviously taking its inspiration from the famed US student organization of the 1960s, the new SDS is part an extension and expansion on the hopes and dreams of the group and also something quite new. Although by assuming that group's name the new SDS is taking a risk in a number of ways, the enthusiasm of the new members that I have met; and their understanding of the mistakes and successes of their predecessor indicates that this SDS is not a nostalgia buff's toy, but the genuine article--a left and democratic youth organization dedicated to effecting radical social change. I was recently at another conference in New York City and met up with one of the convention organizers Patrick Korte. We agreed to have an email conversation discussing the new organization. The transcript follows. Ron: What are the founding organizers hopes for the new SDS? Pat: Our founding hopes are
to build a multi-issue, multi-generational, radical coalition
that can educate, fight, and build. Rather than build an organization
around a particular political ideology (anarcho-syndicalism,
libertarian communism, Marxism, etc.) we can build around the
need for unity within the Left, the need to actively combat the
oppression in the modern world (US imperialism in the Middle
East, racism in our Ron: Who can join SDS? Pat: SDS is open to people of all ages, regardless of their enrollment status. The reason for this is that we are all students of the human experience, actively learning from one another. For the older members of SDS, a post-graduate division has been created, the Movement for a Democratic Society (MDS). Ron : What is your role in the new SDS? Pat: Currently I am working
on both the local and national level. Locally, I am working in
the Connecticut and New York area, focusing on the issues of
US military intervention in the Middle East and South America,
immigrant rights, student rights, and political prisoners/prisoners
of war. On thenational level I have been doing alot of office
work (answering phone calls, responding to e-mails) and helping
to coordinate the national Ron: In terms of the current organizing group, what is the gender balance? The racial/ethnic mix? Pat: It's hard to say since we have grown to be fairly large in a short amount of time and we don't keep track of that information, but at the events I have attended there has been a diverse racial/ethnic mix and I would estimate that the gender balance on the national level is around 50-50. Unlike the original SDS, the issues of racism and sexism are already being actively addressed and overcome within the organization. Ron: Are you hoping to recruit students of all skin tones and ethnicities? What about non-students? You probably know from history that the attempt to recruit non-students and the debate on how to do so was problematic in 1968 and 1969. How have things changed since then? Pat: I believe it is critical
for SDS's success to build a multi-racial coalition, and we have
already begun to do so. Regarding non-students, we understood
from the beginning that radical change could not be brought about
in the US (or the world) by students alone, but it is critical
that youth and students lead their own struggles without bowing
at the feet of Ron: Are there certain political expectations that people interested in joining the organization should have? Do the organizers have certain political expectations of those that they hope do join? Pat: There is one political
expectation for people interested in joining SDS, and that is
a commitment to participatory democracy (active participation
in the decision making process). Most organizers hope that new
members fall along the libertarian side of the Left (as opposed
to the authoritarian), but for many, SDS is their first experience
with political activism and it is expected that ones ideology
will change through their Ron: What are SDS' founding principles? Pat: SDS was founded on the principles of participatory democracy, community education, and a commitment to action rather than rhetoric. We seek for both young and old people to participate in a movement that will tear down the pillars of the old society and build a new world that is democratic and free of poverty, ignorance, war, exploitation, racism, and sexism. The Port Huron Statement, although outdated, is still relevant to this question in many ways. SDS was also founded as a resistance organization as opposed to a protest organization. We are no longer going to plead with the people in power, begging them to serve in the greater interest of the people - they serve corporate interests and we will do what is necessary to stop them and build a society that puts people before profits. Ron: Why SDS and not some other name? Pat: Over the years, many students have been shafted in the American Left, and we believe it is necessary for students to lead their own organization and to determine the direction of their own movement without isolating themselves from the non-student Left. There is also a need for a radical, democratic alternative to the authoritarian and undemocratic organizations dominating the Left and an organization that is issue based and an inclusive one that allows the participants to develop their own ideology through their experiences within the organization. The reason we chose to keep the name SDS is because it accurately describes us (we are students for a democratic society), the ideas expressed in the Port Huron Statement, the focus on participatory democracy, and the militancy and radicalism that defined the original SDS are much needed in the 21st century. Ron: Who funds your organization? If it is an outside group, do you think that that connection will affect SDS' independence? (As you know, the original SDS was originally funded by the League for Industrial Democracy--an anti-communist leftist group. Despite this, they struck out on their own ) Pat: SDS received no outside funding with the exception of donations we have received from individuals. The majority of funding comes from our own pocket. In the spirit of the original SDS, we have continued the tradition of having a shoestring budget. Ron: What do you see as the biggest task facing you in the group's early stages? Pat: Our biggest task is to create a national and local structure that allows maximum participation of all members of the organization without jeopardizing the need for action. Ron: As you know, many folks believe that one of the primary reasons the original SDS disintegrated was because its membership policies and structure allowed groups with relatively small memberships to control the organization's agenda. What are your thoughts on that historical take and does the new SDS anticipate such a situation occurring this time around? Pat: We want to remain inclusive and we believe that the best way to combat sectarian takeovers of the organization is to create a structure that on a local level allows chapters to function autonomously and on a national level allows maximum participation of the organizations membership in the decision making process, rather than a select few individuals making decisions on behalf of the membership. Ron: If so, how do you think it will be handled? Pat: It is likely that individuals advocating totalitarian principles will infiltrate SDS and attempt to push the organization in a specific direction, but if the membership is actively involved in national and local decisions, then it would be difficult for individuals to take over SDS. Ron: There are other organizations out there in the US that are organizing around some of the same issues that SDS is organizing around--the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, immigration, civil liberties--how is SDS different from these groups? And, how are they similar? Pat: SDS is different because we are focused on student-worker power, we are multi-issue, and we are offering the opportunity for individuals to shape, build, and define an organization. We are similar in that we are against a common enemy (imperialism) and for the Left to successfully fight the Right, we must unite with these other organizations. Unity is critical, SDS is not asking individuals to leave their organizations because we offer a better platform or theory we exist for the purpose of offering a democratic alternative to authoritarianism without asking individuals to commit to a particular political ideology or party line. Ron: Do you see the group calling national demonstrations in the future? Pat: Currently all demonstrations
are called for on a local or regional level. I would like to
see SDS create a national structure that allows for the majority
of the membership to participate in calling for national mobilizations.
If we can't create a democratic process to call for national
mobilizations, then we'll stick to local actions - many which
have already proven to be more effective than many of the mass
anti-war demonstrations called for by the big organizations in
the Left. If we could call for national mobilizations that had
the potential to shut down entire cities and cause the war machine
to stop functioning on the Ron: Tell me about the convention. How many people have registered already? Pat: Currently we have only 120 people registered but we expect many more to be attending, especially since many SDSers plan on bringing friends. Ron: What's the agenda? Etc. Pat: The convention will be a mass gathering of SDSers collaborating in workshops to discuss issues of structure, local organizing, national organizing, and the issues that affect us today (US involvement in the Middle East/US imperialism, immigrant rights, student rights and power, the prison-industrial complex, racism, sexism, homophobia, poverty, AIDS, etc.). We want it to be a participatory convention where those in attendance will play an active role in the discussion, rather than a seminar where only a select group of individuals have the floor. We want much of the focus to be on how to effectively combat the problems we are up against (such as how we can sever ties between the military and the education system). The agenda will be available here. Ron: Are there any plans beyond the convention? Pat: Yes - in New York we are planning "Iraq Week", an event focused on the US war in the Middle East. The event will be a mass teach-in followed by a resistance campaign throughout the city. On a national level, we hope to put our goals and values into words and begin developing a national structure. I don't foresee SDS calling for a national action in the immediate future, but expect teach-ins, sit-ins, takeovers, and acts of resistance on high school and college campuses across the country starting this fall. We also hope to build an international solidarity network so that SDS can begin fighting US imperialism on a global scale. Ron: I see SDS as part of a broader movement. Although history will certainly decide the answer to this next question I would be interested in your thoughts before history takes over.. Do you see the group as part of a united front or as an organization that works parallel to other left-leaning organizations? Pat: I believe SDS is part of a united front against exploitation and empire; part of a broad coalition of radicals that understand change cannot be achieved by working within the imperialist system. Although we have differences regarding internal structure and have varying definitions of democracy, we are all in the same struggle against an enemy that is far to the right of even Nixon. (For those interested in attending the national conference, a registration form can be found on the SDS website.) Ron Jacobs is author of The
Way the Wind Blew: a history of the Weather Underground,
which is just republished by Verso. Jacobs' essay on Big Bill
Broonzy is featured in CounterPunch's new collection on music,
art and sex, Serpents
in the Garden. He can be reached at: rjacobs3625@charter.net
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from CounterPunch Books! The Case Against Israel By Michael Neumann  Grand Theft Pentagon: Tales of Greed and Profiteering in the War on Terror by Jeffrey St. Clair          Sick of sit-on-the-Fence speakers, tongue-tied and timid? CounterPunch Editors Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St Clair are available to speak forcefully on ALL the burning issues, as are other CounterPunchers seasoned in stump oratory. Call CounterPunch Speakers Bureau, 1-800-840-3683. Or email beckyg@counterpunch.org.                    |
