J Surman
Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
imposs1904 wrote:We were recently referred to on facebook as the most boring socialist organisation in the world.
If the cap fits wear it! However it doesn't take much for a lateral thinker to see they mean 'boring' as getting to the nitty gritty of a topic. Isn't that what we always aim to do? And my Oxford concise dictionary places the meaning 'push another competitor out of the way' ahead of 'a dull and uninteresting person or activity'. So, come on , which is it to be?Let's bore I say!
And now, after 6 months of relative 'quiet'?No doubt news of the huge breaking political/corruption scandal in Turkey has reached readers of this forum. However, before that story broke, a protest had been orgainised for yesterday, Sunday, in Kadikoy, the Asian side of the Bosphorous – meant to be along the lines of reinvigorating the Gezi protests of the summer.Here's a link to an article describing what happened at the protest. (I fogot to look at the evening news! If I come across anything relevant I'll add it later)http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/roarmag/~3/eppqgfL4DDQ/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=emailI think at the minute all eyes here are on what's going to happen between Erdogan and the AK party, between Erdogan and Fethullah Gulen, and between Erdogan and the police dept. It's like a satirical ongoing TV drama and no one knows who the victor will be. (Don't expect it to be the people though.)Local elections in the spring. Presidential elections later in the year. General elections 2015.
"Where did yo find theMarx's Nightmare post? "http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2013/mclaren290713.html
Don't hold your breath! For Veolia it will work in relation to the available profits, that's all.Possible? Yes. Likely? Debatable.
Words, terms, labels, interpretations – all liable to be thought of differently by just about anybody! There was a very interesting discussion at this year's Birmingham summer school whether to use 'comrade', with whom to use it, how attendees felt about using it, having it used to address them etc, etc. I believe many of us thought more about it that day than maybe we had for some time. My point being that it comes down to usage – where , when, how ; to habit – you use it or don't; and comfort – what sits comforably for the individual.But to move on to 'workers' and the use thereof. How I think of it is this. Whether or not you are reimbursed for your efforts, if you need to work at something, either a 'job', a 'profession', a 'calling' or at home doing the washing, ironing, cleaning, cooking, rearing offspring, planting, weeding and picking the family plot, fetching firewood, fetching water, picking berries and roots in the forest – it matters not whether you 'earn' a lot, a little or nothing. If you HAVE to do any of these things in this current system because if you didn't you would soon become homeless or hungry or without the means to pay your bills, on whatever level (in your mind compare examples from' developed' and 'developing' or even 'under-developed' world – more labels for misinterpretation!) -then you are of the working class. Those who live off the work of the rest of us, that tiny minority of individuals around the world who don't have to do anything for survival, because the rest of us collectively perform that function, can be labelled 'parasites' or 'capitalists'.Admice said, 'I had to work whilst raising my child' – and that is the position that most mothers and fathers are in. They HAVE to. When we achieve the goal of a truly equitable, fair and impartial world system the pressures will be reduced considerably for all 'workers' – but that's a different topic!Use whatever words sit comfortably but endeavour to be understood as widely as possible. It's the THOUGHT that counts, not the individual words.
imposs1904 wrote:I've been busy last few weeks with getting old Standard articles online. See for yourself on the blog:http://socialiststandardmyspace.blogspot.com/And much appreciated too. I've been tucking in. Thanks, Janet
There's a very interesting and pertinent article here:http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/15078/syria%E2%80%99s-kurds-and-turkeydiscussing the impact of the strength of the Syrian Kurds in the north (bordering Turkey and Iraq) fighting the mostly foreign 'rebels', independently of the Syrian army. They've been left to their own devices for some time now and have a semi-autonomous area, even in control of non-kurdish areas. The writer muses about the possible / probable repercussions for Turkey. The Turkish/Kurdish 'peace talks' have pretty well stalled again and it's anyone's guess where this is headed now.
Guys, I've tried both the addresses given to no avail. It's like they don't want mail! So frustrating.Any other (polite!) suggestions?
gnome wrote:J Surman wrote:Any chance of seeing you again at the 2014 summer school?Off-topic but the delegates at this weekend's ADM unanimously passed a resolution recommending the EC substantially increase the subsidy to the 2014 Summer School to enable more people to attend. Precise details will doubtlessly be available after the EC meets this coming Saturday.
Great news! Look forward to seeing more socialism seekers – both old and new.
SocialistPunk wrote:A couple of questions to get debate going.How has the Socialist Party and WSM companions embraced such powerful, democratic decision making tools?How could digital communication be harnessed to make The Socialist Party and WSM, more democratically inclusive?Found this moments after replying to you on the other thread. Let me suggest to you here as I did there – what, in essence, are your own ideas/answers to the questions you pose?
SocialistPunk wrote:We might be ex members but we are still 100% socialist. I think that once you have your eyes forced open, there's no closing them.I still think the party is under utilizing the power of the internet.Some of the criticisms of the party and it's companions is that they are old fossils, out of touch with the modern world. The party has the potential to ram that right down the throats of the doubters, yet I can't even get anyone from the party to discuss it.Excuse me for shortening what you wrote, but these, for me , are the salient points. I read recently your call for discussion of how to increase the use of the internet. That isn't really something I know much about (except for using the blog site). However, I wonder if you have any ideas in mind, however simple or complicated – things that may spark other ideas from other contributors? Sometimes it's just a matter of getting the ball rolling for a brainstorming session.I can't comment on the average age of party members but I can state that I have been very pleased to see a growing number of younger attendees each year I've attended summer school and how that seems to have invigorated proceedings.
