Sweezy at sixty

by THEHIGHEREDITION.COM 

MR Online | June 13, 2017

This article from The Higher Edition blog commemorates Sweezy v. New Hampshire at 60 years—the first supreme court ruling in support of academic freedom. However, the author makes some intriguing observations about the concurring opinion in Sweezy (by Justice Frankfurter), which established what are known as the “‘four essential freedoms’ that should be outside the reach of government, i.e., ‘to determine on academic grounds who may teach, what may be taught, how it shall be taught, and who may be admitted to study.’” The author argues that this part of the opinion can be exploited by “universities-as-corporations or universities-as-individuals…to start asserting their autonomy as a form of academic freedom.” Given the fact that “administrations have taken steps to expand their supervisory role into areas previously reserved for faculty jurisdiction, from curriculum planning to oversight of the accreditation process,” this is indeed a worrying prospect. —Eds.

Some notes on white monopoly capital: Definition, use and denial 40

by Christopher Malikane

Pambazuka News | June 29, 2017

Fred Chartrand

Dismantling white monopoly capital in South Africa has always been central to the national liberation struggle. White monopoly capital simultaneously implies colonialism of a special type. The two concepts are inter-twined. To fail to mention the racial character of monopoly capital is to fail to acknowledge the colonial character of South Africa and the special nature of that colonialism.

 

“The theoretical conclusions of the Communists are in no way based on ideas or principles that have been invented, or discovered, by this or that would-be universal reformer. They merely express, in general terms, actual relations springing from an existing class struggle, from a historical movement going on under our very eyes” – Manifesto of the Communist Party, 1848.

“Today, the main task of the working class is to abolish the white monopoly of power, to carry out the national democratic revolution for the liberation of African and other oppressed people”- Augmented Meeting of the Central Committee of the South African Communist Party, 1970.

Trump siding with Wall Street over working people

by HEIDI SHIERHOLZ

People’s World | July 11, 2017

Protest against Wall Street and corporate greed. | Jeffrey M. Boan/AP

For over thirty years, the wages of working people have been flat, and pensions continue to be replaced with inadequate 401(k)s.

Economic uncertainty plagues millions of families in their working years and continues into retirement. And now, Donald Trump and his secretary of labor are making these problems even worse.

Last year, at the end of the Obama presidency, the Department of Labor approved the fiduciary rule, designed to keep workers from having their hard-earned retirement savings pocketed by unscrupulous financial advisers:

India: GST Conversion Blues – Weavers Weep, Free Kitchens Fret, Exporters Slap Their Foreheads In Despair

by Raman Swamy

Frontier | July 12, 2017

It has been a week since GST came into force.  Many big industrial houses have quickly adapted to the game-changing new tax regime and some have even issued statements welcoming it.

A significant number of prominent players, trade organizations and individual legal pundits, economists and chartered accountants have gone one step further by congratulating the government for bringing in such a bold and historic reform to galvanize the Indian economy, attract foreign investment and enable the country to achieve its potential to become an economic super-power.

The other side of the picture is that there are crores of common citizens, whether involved in small and medium scale trade, commence, manufacturing, retailing or services, for whom the last seven days have been full of stress and strain.   Some of them are determined to master the challenges posed by the new GST regulations come what may – they have rolled up their sleeves and girdled their loin cloths with grim resolve,  humming the words of the inspirational song “We shall overcome”.

Trump’s Sayings In Warsaw And People’s Protests In Hamburg

by Farooque Chowdhury

Countercurrents.org | July 07, 2017

There’s warning and concern, there’s assurance and optimism, and, there’s accusation and threat. All these were delivered and expressed by Mr. Donald Trump, the US president.

The US president was in Warsaw, a historic city, and was delivering a speech in front of people gathered at Krasinski Square, and was speaking at a news conference. All these happened on July 6, 2017, a Thursday, near-end of a week, and on the eve of the G-20 summit in Hamburg, also a historic city, now being secured by mobilizing at least 20,000 police in the face of forceful protests by thousands of people denouncing capitalism and inequality, and expressing concern over climate crisis.

How Vast Amounts of Land Have Been Stolen From Black Americans

by Julian Cola

teleSUR | June 30, 2017

“It was almost as if the earth was opening up and swallowing Black farmers.”

This passage is from Pete Daniel’s book titled “Dispossession: Discrimination Against African American Farmers in the Age of Civil Rights.” It alludes to the untold acres of land seized from Black farmers and rural landowners over the last century.

Though African-American farmers currently comprise less than 2 percent of all farmers in the United States and only 1 percent of rural land is owned by African Americans, that situation was radically different shortly after the Civil War.