Counterpunch, May 24, 2002

Stephen Jay Gould, 1942-2002, Farewell to a Great Fighter

by Jeffrey St. Clair

Look back at the life of the evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould and
we confront an astonishing fact: he was only 60 when he died at the start
of this week. It hardly seems possible that Gould could have done so much
work in so complex a field in so little time. His revolutionary theory of
punctuated equilibrium, nothing less than a wholesale rewrite of Darwin,
alone seems worthy of a career. That achievement came very early in his
life (he was 30), but he kept on refining and enhancing it right up to the
end. In March of this year, Gould, battling the cancer that would finally
end his life, published The Structure of Evolutionary Theory, a 1,500-page
treatise that will surely stand as one of the most important volumes in the
history of the biological sciences.

Yet, there was so much more to the man and his work.

Gould was an engaged academic in the best sense. He used his formidable
intellect and sharp prose to lay waste to charlatans who sought to use
pseudo-science for malign political purposes. At the top of the list was
Charles Murray, the right-wing sociologist, whose racist tract the Bell
Curve sought prove that blacks were intellectually inferior to whites and
genetically incapable of leading productive lives. It became a manifesto
for the Gingrich right in the early 90s, on the rampage to destroy what
remained of the federal government's social welfare system and justify its
own racist policies.

Gould's review in the New Yorker demolished Murray's tract as a pastiche of
fabricated statistics, perverted science and fraudulent conclusions. Here's
a taste of Gould at work: "The Bell Curve, with its claims and supposed
documentation that race and class differences are largely caused by genetic
factors and are therefore essentially immutable, contains no new arguments
and presents no compelling data to support its anachronistic social
Darwinism, so I can only conclude that its success in winning attention
must reflect the depressing temper of our time -- a historical moment of
unprecedented ungenerosity, when a mood for slashing social programs can be
power-fully abetted by an argument that beneficiaries cannot be helped,
owing to inborn cognitive limits expressed as low I.Q. scores."

full: counterpunch

Pim Fortuyn, the maverick right-wing politician who had just made his come-uppance in Dutch politics with statements such as "The Netherlands is full" (i.e. no more immigrants), has been shot dead by a guy in a baseball-cap around 6.00 pm tonight. Fortuyn had just been doing a radio-interview in Hilversum. The shooting sent shockwaves through Dutch society. Official confirmation of his death has yet to be given, but the newsmedia assume from the observable evidence that he is in fact dead.

Shaner writes

John McGuffin 1942 - 2002

John McGuffin,Anarchist, Author, lawyer, civil rights veteran and self-confessed rioter, pirate radio operator, guerilla fighter and bank robber, died in Derry yesterday, aged 59.

John McGuffin 1942 -2002

John McGuffin, aka Sean McGuffin, author of a variety of works, most famously The Guineapigs, provoked by his experience of torture when he was the first Protestant to be interned by the northern Irish State in the late 60s(&which was censored by the British government), died peacefully yesterday (Sunday 28 April) in Derry after six months of illness.

Anonymous Comrade writes "When the U.S. Navy announced it would again practice bombing on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques in April 2002, most Puerto Ricans were stunned. The Navy had practiced in Norfolk, VA the last time and few thought they would return. It was particularly strange given that the Navy would bomb Vieques during the 3rd anniversary of the death of David Sanes (April 19, 1999), the security guard that died as a result of an errant Navy bomb that set off the most recent massive movement against the Navy in Vieques.

nolympics writes "April 25, 2002: A truck carrying humanitarian aid from the United States to Jenin refugee camp has been turned back by the residents of the camp. The aid, including baby clothes and toys, was being unloaded and the boxes were marked as ‘a gift from the United States’. Some of the goods were clearly manufactured and produced in Israel. One man pointed to the remains of two missiles fired from an Apache helicopter and stated that “this is the biggest gift we got from America.” A delivery of tents was also refused.

Despite the utter devastation and desperate need of the people, they are still able to make a political statement to the world.
Children have become orphans, women are widowed, homes detroyed and America is complicit in this destruction and killing. The act of refusing this aid has empowered the people of the camp who, despite everything, wish to retain their dignity.

This was reported at: timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow.asp?art_id =7982314"

USI AIT LAZIO - UNIONE SINDACALE ITALIANA

Confederation of self-managed national unions and inter-category territorial federations faithful to the principals of the IWA.

Head office: Via Iside 12, 00184 Rome Tel. 0670451981, Fax 0677201444

WEB: usiait e-mail: usiait

16/04/02 THE GENERAL STRIKE

- AGAINST THE WAR - AGAINST A FINANCIAL LAW OF WAR

- AGAINST THE ATTACK TO THE PENSIONS

- AGAINST THE PRIVATIZATIONS

- AGAINST THE REDUCTION OF THE PUBLIC AND SOCIAL SERVICES

- AGAINST THE ATTACK TO THE PUBLIC SCHOOL

- FOR WAGE INCREASES - FOR THE RIGHT TO THE HEALTH

- TO THE DEFENSE OF STRIKE AND OF FREEDOM OF UNIONS

- AGAINST THE CAPITALISTIC GLOBALIZATION

THE ITALIAN SYNDICAL UNION (U.S.I.) HAS PROCLAIMED THE GENERAL STRIKE

TOGETHER TO THE OTHER LABOR UNIONS OF BASE.

SEGRETERIA GENERALE NAZIONALE U.S.I.

Lori Zett writes

Sat, 13 Apr 2002 09:52:20

I have just spoken to Guillermo Garcia Ponce in Venezuela.

He was an advisor to Chavez. He has two URGENT requests:

1) He asks that people and organizations mobilize to pressure the "junta" so that Chavez's family and other officials and Human Rights activists have access to him. He has been held incommunicado. There is no conformation that he resigned. No document to that effect has been produced. People have to mobilize to insure Chavez‚s safety.

2) He requests the solidarity of Human Rights organizations to stop the indiscriminate arrests, suppression, and mistreatment of Chavez supporters. The Paratroopers and various military, who are loyal to Chavez, are being held in Maracay. Ministers are being arrested and mistreated their wives and family members have been beaten. Guillermo Garcia Ponce request that everyone demand that the "junta" respect human rights."

We have been receiving a number of good reports from Venezuela.

First we printed Coup in Venezuela: An Eyewitness Account
By Gregory Wilpert

And later yesterday, we started getting some interesting stuff translted by Lori Zett. These stories include: a translation of document written by the Legal Ministry of Venezuela condemning the coup; a statement blaming the Coup on Chavez's bad leadership; a letter from an activist discribing the civil unrest/resistance to the coup that is not getting covered in the mainstream english or spanish-language media; and finally a message from Guillermo Garcia Ponce (an advisor to Chavez)

Lori Zett writes "I searched the most important newspapers, El Nacional and El Universal in Caracas this morning and there was not a whisper of discent in the population. The following comes from an activist in Caracas.

GOLPE EN VENEZUELA (Coup in Venezuela)

13 de abril del 2002

Información de última hora desde Venezuela

(Most recent information from Venezuela)
Movimiento Cristianismo de Liberación

(from the Christian Movement of Liberation)

En estos momentos, a las 22:15 [del viernes] queremos reportar, desde la redacción de Espacio Autogestionario, los siguientes hechos: Se están dando disturbios generalizados en la zona metropolitana de Caracas, concretamente podemos decir lo siguiente:

At this monent, at 22:15 (Friday) we want to report, from the editing [desk] of Espacio Autogestionario, the following facts: there are general disturbances in the Metropolitan district of Caracaqs, we can say the following concretely:

La nueva institucionalidad se fue al carajo. Las
contradicciones entre la clase empresarial y los
excluidos culminaron con un Golpe de Estado que
resguarda los intereses del poder económico y el
suministro de materia prima barata para los países
desarrollados. Eso es lo que ha ocurrido en la hoy
República Bananera de Venezuela que preside el
dictador Pedro Carmona Estanga.

The new institution went to hell. The contradictions
between the entraprenurial class and the excluded
culminated in a Coup that protects the interest of
economical power and the sumministration of cheap raw
materials to the developed countries. This is what
happened in what is now the Banana republic of
Venezuela that is presided over by the dictator Pedro
Carmona Estanga. [Pedro Carmona E. is the president
of Fedecameras the most important corporate
organization of Venz.]t.n.