Chapter 11 of 'Why Feminism Didn't Lead To Socialism'
One big reason for the drive of political opinion to the right side of the political spectrum I unfortunately left out. I failed to mention the great economic melt down of 2007 and 2008. When the financial firm of Lehman Brothers collapsed in 2007 it triggered a wave of selling that soon led to what some called 'The Great Recession'.
Soon millions of people in the western world lost their jobs. Yet the big banks and hedge firms that created the crisis walked away unscathed. The U.S. government spend a total of over $700 billion (U.S.) to re-start its own economy. It also bailed out two of the Big Three U.S. auto firms that faced bankruptcy. It also unloaded t lots of other moneys to stave off a great depression. European governments did the same.
Yet millions of middle class and working people got little help at all. Many of these people lost their homes, their livelihoods and some even lost their lives. Yet many western governments didn't lift a finger on their citizens' behalf. "I have lost all hope" said one resident of the ultra rich area of Lake Forest on the outskirts of Chicago. "What is our government up to?"
The financial collapse and the flood tide of immigrants that swept into European countries and the
economic collapse ignited public anger that paved the way for the rise of right wing populism all over the world .Bankers and financiers never went to prison although some of their firms were hit with fines of billions of dollars. This soft gloved treatment of the very rich also swung millions of voters to the right.
And when the European governments later brought in policies of austerity, it became impossible for any left wing ideas to get a fair hearing. "This situation is just tailor made for right wingers," one political analyst pointed out. If the Great Recession had never happened, a lot of extreme right wing parties would never have attracted so many new voters.
Thursday 27 September 2018
Friday 14 September 2018
Ends and Odds: The Ravings Of An Old Man. Chapter 10 of "'Why Feminism Didn't Lead To Socialsm' by Dave Jaffe
Why Feminism Didn't Lead To Socialism. Chapter 10 by Dave Jaffe.
In the last 50 years some groups in North America saw their lives improve. Yet all the changes triggered sometimes violent reactions. In November 1989 Marc Lepine a deranged violent man killed 14 students at the University of Montreal. Lepine of course was mentally unbalanced but he was totally anti-feminist. "The media tried to show him as a lonely mentally ill mad man," one women's rights advocate told this writer in the early 1990's. "Yet his main target was feminists." Lepine killed himself after his rampage. Yet he had compiled a list of prominent Quebec feminists that he also planned to kill.
In the United States one former policeman killed Harvey Milk an outspoken gay advocate in San Francisco in the late 1970's and also murdered George Moscone the city's mayor. Everywhere where gays, feminists environmentalists and others came forward to protest they were often met with state sanctioned violence. "You always have a backlash," the late Rosemary Brown said in effect
"whenever people demand their rights." Many activists faced threats of violence from hate filled conservatives. The abortion provider Henry Morgenthaler was nearly stabbed by an enraged right-to-lifer when he opened his Toronto clinic in the 1980's. Some doctors who provided abortions were killed or had their clinics bombed.
To-day a resurgent right wing still tries to strip many groups of their rights, And Canada and the U.S. remain profoundly unequal countries. Over 6 million Canadian adults can't afford to go to a dentist while the head of the Royal Bank of Canada earned over $10 million in 2015. Over 200,000 Canadians sleep on the streets or in shelters every night. Meanwhile in the U.S. one black clergyman vowed to launch a campaign against poverty, He put the number of poor Americans at over 140 million. This means that close to two in every five Americans are poor and are struggling to survive.
"The answer is blowing in the wind," Bob Dylan sang over 55 years ago. The solutions to social injustice are still blowing in the wind.
In the last 50 years some groups in North America saw their lives improve. Yet all the changes triggered sometimes violent reactions. In November 1989 Marc Lepine a deranged violent man killed 14 students at the University of Montreal. Lepine of course was mentally unbalanced but he was totally anti-feminist. "The media tried to show him as a lonely mentally ill mad man," one women's rights advocate told this writer in the early 1990's. "Yet his main target was feminists." Lepine killed himself after his rampage. Yet he had compiled a list of prominent Quebec feminists that he also planned to kill.
In the United States one former policeman killed Harvey Milk an outspoken gay advocate in San Francisco in the late 1970's and also murdered George Moscone the city's mayor. Everywhere where gays, feminists environmentalists and others came forward to protest they were often met with state sanctioned violence. "You always have a backlash," the late Rosemary Brown said in effect
"whenever people demand their rights." Many activists faced threats of violence from hate filled conservatives. The abortion provider Henry Morgenthaler was nearly stabbed by an enraged right-to-lifer when he opened his Toronto clinic in the 1980's. Some doctors who provided abortions were killed or had their clinics bombed.
To-day a resurgent right wing still tries to strip many groups of their rights, And Canada and the U.S. remain profoundly unequal countries. Over 6 million Canadian adults can't afford to go to a dentist while the head of the Royal Bank of Canada earned over $10 million in 2015. Over 200,000 Canadians sleep on the streets or in shelters every night. Meanwhile in the U.S. one black clergyman vowed to launch a campaign against poverty, He put the number of poor Americans at over 140 million. This means that close to two in every five Americans are poor and are struggling to survive.
"The answer is blowing in the wind," Bob Dylan sang over 55 years ago. The solutions to social injustice are still blowing in the wind.
Saturday 8 September 2018
Ends and Odds: The Ravings of An Old Man by Dave Jaffe. Chapter Nine: Why Feminism Didn't Lead to Socialism.
Why Feminism Didn't Lead To Socialism: chapter Nine by Dave Jaffe.
In the late 1960"s and early 1970's, the business class and other conservatives zeroed in on the New Left and other progressive groups as the main threat to the capitalist system. Now 50 years later the main threat to democracy is coming from the extreme right wing. In the U.S. the Trump administration seems to have contempt for democracy. In Italy the new right wing coalition seems to have the same feelings for the vast majority though it promises improved social programs for Italian citizens.Yet like Donald Trump it has no love for immigrants from poor countries. And the sane is true of the National Front in France, the Brexit supporters in Britain and many other right wing populists across Europe.
Yet in the past 50 years the new groups of people who emerged after the great rebellions of the late 1960's had been defeated, did win many victories. Through picketing, mass demonstrations, occupying government offices, leafleting and even sometimes violence, they changed the countries across Western Europe and North America.
"You dance with the lady that brought you," the conservative leader of the right wing Progressive Conservative Party Brian Mulroney said in the 1980's. Mulroney was a conservative. Still, he persuaded his own party and U.S, lawmakers to ban sulfur emissions and stop acid rain. Green activists shut down nuclear power plants across the U.S. and in other countries. Environmentalists allied themselves with First Nations people and targeted oil pipelines and Kinder Morgan and the Keystone XL line as dangers to the environment. Green politicians in Europe ran for office in Europe and in North America. In Germany green politicians even entered government
Openly gay and lesbian politicians ran for political office and often won. Women became lawyers, doctors, carpenters, bus drivers and many other things. They won the right to abortion and some even impressed tough blue collar male workers. "Women get it," a foreman in Richmond, B.C. said. "They work hard and are very good on safety issues." Women ran for political office and gained power in politics. Kim Campbell, was briefly Prime Minister of Canada. The present Prime Minister of Britain is a woman, namely Teresa May. Other women sit in legislatures all across Europe. In contrast in the late 1960's women had very little power at all.
Some women though only a few right now lead big businesses like the American Cheryl Sandberg and the Canadian Heather Reisman. Thousands of other women run businesses in many fields. Gay and lesbian people in many countries won the right to get married
The dreams of the old left and the New Left are now history. Capitalism now rules the roost. Dick the man who believed that capitalism could safely absorb feminism passed away in 2007. He remained a socialist to his dying day. Jackie was last seen trying to organize Hispanic American workers in the American South. She remains a socialist although probably a more realistic one now.
As one progressive said recently, "Socialism is history but the struggle for social justice still goes on." Jackie and Dick would have agreed with that.
In the late 1960"s and early 1970's, the business class and other conservatives zeroed in on the New Left and other progressive groups as the main threat to the capitalist system. Now 50 years later the main threat to democracy is coming from the extreme right wing. In the U.S. the Trump administration seems to have contempt for democracy. In Italy the new right wing coalition seems to have the same feelings for the vast majority though it promises improved social programs for Italian citizens.Yet like Donald Trump it has no love for immigrants from poor countries. And the sane is true of the National Front in France, the Brexit supporters in Britain and many other right wing populists across Europe.
Yet in the past 50 years the new groups of people who emerged after the great rebellions of the late 1960's had been defeated, did win many victories. Through picketing, mass demonstrations, occupying government offices, leafleting and even sometimes violence, they changed the countries across Western Europe and North America.
"You dance with the lady that brought you," the conservative leader of the right wing Progressive Conservative Party Brian Mulroney said in the 1980's. Mulroney was a conservative. Still, he persuaded his own party and U.S, lawmakers to ban sulfur emissions and stop acid rain. Green activists shut down nuclear power plants across the U.S. and in other countries. Environmentalists allied themselves with First Nations people and targeted oil pipelines and Kinder Morgan and the Keystone XL line as dangers to the environment. Green politicians in Europe ran for office in Europe and in North America. In Germany green politicians even entered government
Openly gay and lesbian politicians ran for political office and often won. Women became lawyers, doctors, carpenters, bus drivers and many other things. They won the right to abortion and some even impressed tough blue collar male workers. "Women get it," a foreman in Richmond, B.C. said. "They work hard and are very good on safety issues." Women ran for political office and gained power in politics. Kim Campbell, was briefly Prime Minister of Canada. The present Prime Minister of Britain is a woman, namely Teresa May. Other women sit in legislatures all across Europe. In contrast in the late 1960's women had very little power at all.
Some women though only a few right now lead big businesses like the American Cheryl Sandberg and the Canadian Heather Reisman. Thousands of other women run businesses in many fields. Gay and lesbian people in many countries won the right to get married
The dreams of the old left and the New Left are now history. Capitalism now rules the roost. Dick the man who believed that capitalism could safely absorb feminism passed away in 2007. He remained a socialist to his dying day. Jackie was last seen trying to organize Hispanic American workers in the American South. She remains a socialist although probably a more realistic one now.
As one progressive said recently, "Socialism is history but the struggle for social justice still goes on." Jackie and Dick would have agreed with that.
Thursday 6 September 2018
Ends and Odds: The Ravings Of An Old Man by Dave Jaffe. Chapter Nine of 'Why Feminism Didn't Leas To Socialsim.
Chapter Nine of "Why Feminism Didn't Lead To Socialism' by Dave Jaffe.
As U.S. media swung even further to the right in the 1970's, Canadian media went in the same direction. CTV and the Asper-owned media empire kept churning out conservative right wing news. As said before,Conrad Black took over many papers and turned them into right wing outlets. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation was never a progressive media outlet. In the 1980's it endorsed right wing policies. Most Canadian media cheered on massive tax cuts for the rich, the shrinking of social programs, scrapping unions and wars against left wing regimes. In the face of this right wing propaganda, the New Left of the 1970's shrank in support and numbers.
In the 1970's also two of the greatest union organizers in American history died under mysterious circumstances. Walter Reuther, a pillar of progressive causes died in a plane crash that some said was an assassination. Five years later the former head of the Teamsters union Jimmy Hoffa disappeared after going to an appointment in Detroit. His body was never found.
Hoffa was tarnished with his links to organized crime. Still, he organized hundreds of thousands of truckers in the 1930's and later. Reuther was one of the few union heads who could have bridged the gaps that lay between the New Left and organized workers. The deaths of these two men left the American unions leaderless in the 1980's.
One of the first things the newly-elected U.S. President Ronald Reagan did after becoming president was to fire all the members of the air traffic controllers Union. "We voted for that guy," one traffic controller told this writer, "and then this S.O.B. goes and fires us all." Reagan's action set off an anti-union wave that swept across America. Hundreds of thousands of union members lost their jobs as big companies shut down their U.S.-based plants and moved offshore. Public workers lost their jobs as state and city governments privatized their services. State governments hobbled union organizing by passing new restrictive laws.
When writer-activist Michael Parenti visited parts of the U.S. in the 21st century he complained that unions had vanished in many parts of the U.S. The Reagan and the Bush presidencies shrunk the numbers and power of unionized workers dramatically. In the early 1960's, 30 per cent of American workers belonged to unions. By 2000 that number had shrunk to less than 20 per cent. In Canada the percentage of unionized workers fell from 40 per cent in 1970 to less than 30 per cent to-day.
This shrinking power of unions tipped things even further to the right and strengthened the power of the rich. Again, this was another defeat for the left wing.
As U.S. media swung even further to the right in the 1970's, Canadian media went in the same direction. CTV and the Asper-owned media empire kept churning out conservative right wing news. As said before,Conrad Black took over many papers and turned them into right wing outlets. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation was never a progressive media outlet. In the 1980's it endorsed right wing policies. Most Canadian media cheered on massive tax cuts for the rich, the shrinking of social programs, scrapping unions and wars against left wing regimes. In the face of this right wing propaganda, the New Left of the 1970's shrank in support and numbers.
In the 1970's also two of the greatest union organizers in American history died under mysterious circumstances. Walter Reuther, a pillar of progressive causes died in a plane crash that some said was an assassination. Five years later the former head of the Teamsters union Jimmy Hoffa disappeared after going to an appointment in Detroit. His body was never found.
Hoffa was tarnished with his links to organized crime. Still, he organized hundreds of thousands of truckers in the 1930's and later. Reuther was one of the few union heads who could have bridged the gaps that lay between the New Left and organized workers. The deaths of these two men left the American unions leaderless in the 1980's.
One of the first things the newly-elected U.S. President Ronald Reagan did after becoming president was to fire all the members of the air traffic controllers Union. "We voted for that guy," one traffic controller told this writer, "and then this S.O.B. goes and fires us all." Reagan's action set off an anti-union wave that swept across America. Hundreds of thousands of union members lost their jobs as big companies shut down their U.S.-based plants and moved offshore. Public workers lost their jobs as state and city governments privatized their services. State governments hobbled union organizing by passing new restrictive laws.
When writer-activist Michael Parenti visited parts of the U.S. in the 21st century he complained that unions had vanished in many parts of the U.S. The Reagan and the Bush presidencies shrunk the numbers and power of unionized workers dramatically. In the early 1960's, 30 per cent of American workers belonged to unions. By 2000 that number had shrunk to less than 20 per cent. In Canada the percentage of unionized workers fell from 40 per cent in 1970 to less than 30 per cent to-day.
This shrinking power of unions tipped things even further to the right and strengthened the power of the rich. Again, this was another defeat for the left wing.
Wednesday 5 September 2018
Ends and Odds: The Ravings of An Old Man by Dave Jaffe; Chapter Eight of 'Why Feminism Didn't Lead To Socialism'
Chapter Eight of 'Why Feminism Didn't Lead To Socialism'.
The power of the media also helped defeat part of the aims of the New Left. It too targeted the protestors. In the early 1970's, the business class in North America and Western Europe launched a massive counterattack against the New Left. One of its weapons was the media.
It happened this way. Lewis Powell, a rich Republican phoned up U.S. President Richard Nixon one day in 1971. "Mr President," Powell said in effect. "I'm really worried. I've been watching television news."
On many t.v. news programs, Powell said, he saw one person after another attack the free enterprise system. "If this goes on," Powell is supposed to have said, " the free enterprise system won't survive.We must fight back." Nixon told Powell to write him a memorandum on his topic. Powell did this and later Nixon appointed Powell to the U.S. Supreme Court..
Some observers doubt this story. Yet soon in the early 1970's, the U.S. media switched sharply to the right. To be fair most media outlets have usually pushed right wing views. Most media in North America and elsewhere are owned by rich powerful families. For instance 'The Montreal Star' way back in 1960 endorsed the very right wing Union Nationale in the 1960 Quebec provincial election. 'The Star' was owned by the wealthy McConnell family. 'The New York Times' and most other media in the U.S. supported the Vietnam War and the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq. Most Canadian newspapers and some t.v. stations came out for Conservative leader Stephen Harper in the 2015 Canadian election.
The social media also seemed to have helped elect right wing governments including the very conservative presidency of Donald Trump. Still, from time to time, parts of the media gave space to left wing activists. In the 1970's this trend vanished. Right wing think tanks sprang up denouncing publicly funded medicare, trade unions and social spending on the poor. Media moguls like the Australian Rupert Murdoch and Canadian Conrad Black gobbled up one newspaper after another and turned the papers into right wing propaganda machines.
As far as t.v. goes, the conservative critic Robert Fulford said, "Television is the most conservative media of all." In the 1970's, t.v. just became even more conservative. Giant t.v,. outlets like, ABC, CBS, and NBC. stopped putting out mildly liberal stuff. Soon they idolized conservative presidents like Ronald Reagan and the two Bush presidents.
"PBS stands for the Petroleum Broadcasting Service," said U.S. activist Ralph Nader. Nader claims that PBS, the so-called public broadcasting service is just another right wing station. Nader is totally correct. PBS programs like 'The McNeill Lehrer News Hour, and the the Jim Lehrer News Hour rarely put on any progressives. The experts it used were right wing thinkers and pundits..
The power of the media also helped defeat part of the aims of the New Left. It too targeted the protestors. In the early 1970's, the business class in North America and Western Europe launched a massive counterattack against the New Left. One of its weapons was the media.
It happened this way. Lewis Powell, a rich Republican phoned up U.S. President Richard Nixon one day in 1971. "Mr President," Powell said in effect. "I'm really worried. I've been watching television news."
On many t.v. news programs, Powell said, he saw one person after another attack the free enterprise system. "If this goes on," Powell is supposed to have said, " the free enterprise system won't survive.We must fight back." Nixon told Powell to write him a memorandum on his topic. Powell did this and later Nixon appointed Powell to the U.S. Supreme Court..
Some observers doubt this story. Yet soon in the early 1970's, the U.S. media switched sharply to the right. To be fair most media outlets have usually pushed right wing views. Most media in North America and elsewhere are owned by rich powerful families. For instance 'The Montreal Star' way back in 1960 endorsed the very right wing Union Nationale in the 1960 Quebec provincial election. 'The Star' was owned by the wealthy McConnell family. 'The New York Times' and most other media in the U.S. supported the Vietnam War and the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq. Most Canadian newspapers and some t.v. stations came out for Conservative leader Stephen Harper in the 2015 Canadian election.
The social media also seemed to have helped elect right wing governments including the very conservative presidency of Donald Trump. Still, from time to time, parts of the media gave space to left wing activists. In the 1970's this trend vanished. Right wing think tanks sprang up denouncing publicly funded medicare, trade unions and social spending on the poor. Media moguls like the Australian Rupert Murdoch and Canadian Conrad Black gobbled up one newspaper after another and turned the papers into right wing propaganda machines.
As far as t.v. goes, the conservative critic Robert Fulford said, "Television is the most conservative media of all." In the 1970's, t.v. just became even more conservative. Giant t.v,. outlets like, ABC, CBS, and NBC. stopped putting out mildly liberal stuff. Soon they idolized conservative presidents like Ronald Reagan and the two Bush presidents.
"PBS stands for the Petroleum Broadcasting Service," said U.S. activist Ralph Nader. Nader claims that PBS, the so-called public broadcasting service is just another right wing station. Nader is totally correct. PBS programs like 'The McNeill Lehrer News Hour, and the the Jim Lehrer News Hour rarely put on any progressives. The experts it used were right wing thinkers and pundits..
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