Lunacharsky writes:

"Economic & Philosophical Background to the Autonomen Movement"

By Lunacharsky



Economic Background to Autonomy



This is an article about the background and principles which underlie the German autonomist movement. Right off, at the start, I’d like to point out that there are two movements out there in Europe which have similar names but which are oriented in different directions: there’s the Autonomia movement in Italy, which focusses on the inherent autonomy of the working class from the economy in which it’s located, and then there’s the Autonomen movement in Germany and the Low Countries, which focussed on remaking society through autonomous centers and squats outside of the system.

"The Aesthetics of Empire and the Defeat of the Left"

Kees van der Pijl, International Relations and Politics, University of Sussex

The ‘War on Terrorism’ launched by the United States after the suicide attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon in September, 2001, builds on a longer history of international confrontation and pressure and more specifically, on a series of postures which have been adopted by the West after the collapse of the Soviet Union. These postures have included ethical foreign policy, humanitarian intervention, and peace enforcement. They are all part of the quest for a coherent, post-cold war global strategy on the part of the neo-liberal, Atlantic core of the international state system. As I have argued elsewhere (van der Pijl, 1998: ch. 3), capital has historically crystallised in an English-speaking ‘heartland’, from which it continues to radiate, overlaying the transnationalisation of capital from other centres such as East Asia, the Middle East, or Latin America. In this heartland, the capitalist class is most firmly rooted and it is from this core that it organises its transnational class alliances across the globe. Certainly in the recent period, fractures have appeared in the effort to multilateralise US global strategy by straight pressure and the ‘international community’ seems to have narrowed down again to the United States and Britain. But the basic premise that it is ‘ethical’ to wage war against sovereign peoples for their own good, or that whatever the cost to the civilian population, an embargo can be imposed on a nation for political reasons, remains widely accepted. The systemic requirement for a continued growth of capitalism and the deepening of its discipline over society and nature on a world scale, in the end ties the fate of the global capitalist class to the continued ability of the US-led ‘West’ to project its power world-wide.

Rob submits:

"The Meaning of Rachel Corrie:

Of Dignity and Solidarity"

Edward Said, CounterPunch, June 26, 2003



In early May, I was in Seattle lecturing for a few days. While there, I had dinner one night with Rachel Corrie's parents and sister, who were still reeling from the shock of their daughter's murder on March 16 in Gaza by an Israeli bulldozer. Mr. Corrie told me that he had himself driven bulldozers, although the one that killed his daughter deliberately because she was trying valiantly to protect a Palestinian home in Rafah from demolition was a 60 ton behemoth especially designed by Caterpillar for house demolitions, a far bigger machine than anything he had ever seen or driven. Two things struck me about my brief visit with the Corries. One was the story they told about their return to the US with their daughter's body. They had immediately sought out their US Senators, Patty Murray and Mary Cantwell, both Democrats, told them their story and received the expected expressions of shock, outrage, anger and promises of investigations. After both women returned to Washington, the Corries never heard from them again, and the promised investigation simply didn't materialize. As expected, the Israeli lobby had explained the realities to them, and both women simply begged off. An American citizen willfully murdered by the soldiers of a client state of the US without so much as an official peep or even the de rigeur investigation that had been promised her family.

Anonymous Comrade submits:

"The Fight for Che's Legacy"

Boris Kagarlitsky, Moscow Times, Tuesday, Jun. 17, 2003

On June 14, Ernesto "Che" Guevara would have turned 75. Much loved during his lifetime, "El Comandante" was even more revered after his tragic death in 1967. Che's execution at the age of 39 gave rise to a cult following in Western Europe and the Americas. The new left was sorely in need of a hero. The rebellious youth movement of the 1960s rejected traditional leadership icons, but its need for a heroic ideal was profound.