During my research last week I came across an excellent quote from William Lloyd Garrison. He describes Theodore Parker as "a very excellent fanatic, a very good infidel, and a first-rate traitor." Both Parker and Garrison who militant abolitionists who opposed the Fugitive Slave Law and resisted the United States and Massachusets government in the lead-up to the Civil War. They were lions of the social justice movements of the mid-19th century and both called for adherence to a higher law when the law of the state was immoral. Given the current political climate perhaps those on the left should proudly reclaim Garrison’s tongue-in-cheek language…

The McCain campaign has made a lot of Obama’s connections to former Weatherman Bill Ayers and scholar Rashid Khalidi. Both men have been labeled terrorists and the campaign has implied that since they are terrorists then Obama must be one too.

What hasn’t been made much of is McCain’s own links to terrorists. First of all, he has his own ties with Khalidi. As Scott Horton details in his Harper’s article "The New McCarthyism":

McCain and Khalidi appear to have some joint interests, and that fact speaks very well of both of them. Indeed, the McCain–Khalidi connections are more substantial than the phony Obama–Khalidi connections McCarthy gussies up for his article. The Republican party’s congressionally funded international-networking organization, the International Republican Institute–long and ably chaired by John McCain and headed by McCain’s close friend, the capable Lorne Craner–has taken an interest in West Bank matters. IRI funded an ambitious project, called the Palestine Center, that Khalidi helped to support. Khalidi served on the Center’s board of directors. The goal of that project, shared by Khalidi and McCain, was the promotion of civic consciousness and engagement and the development of democratic values in the West Bank.

 Now I would suggest that Khalidi is any sort of terrorist. As far as I am concerned he is a solid scholar of politics, human rights and culture in the Middle East and an heir to Edward Said whose chair at Columbia he occupies. That aside, I think that if Obama is getting flak for having connections to Khalidi so should McCain.

Far more troubling to my mind is McCain’s ties to the dictator Augusto Pinochet. According to an article on the Huffington Post:

In 1985, McCain traveled to Chile for a friendly meeting with Chile’s military ruler, General Augusto Pinochet, one of the world’s most notorious violators of human rights credited with killing more than 3,000 civilians and jailing tens of thousands of others.

And of course there was this piece on Democracy Now a few weeks ago called "McCain Sat on Board of Group Linked to Central American Death Squads":

As Republicans continue to talk about Bill Ayers, McCain himself is coming under new scrutiny for his ties to a group linked to former Nazi collaborators and right-wing Central American deaths squads. During the early 1980s, McCain was a board member of the US Council for World Freedom, which took part in efforts to overthrow Nicaragua’s Sandinista government. The Council later went on to become a major figure in the Iran-Contra scandal. The Reagan administration defied a congressional ban to secretly funnel weapons to the Contras, the US-backed proxy group organized to violently overthrow the Sandinistas. McCain said he resigned from the Council’s board in 1984.

Two of my favorite left intellectuals, Howard Zinn and Noam Chomsky, have endorsed the Obama campaign. Their endorsements are very measured. They both argue that Obama is no panacea and that he represents a segment of the ruling class rather than will of the majority of Americans. For those on the left who have been wavering between not voting, voting for a third party candidate and voting for Obama I think both endorsements are worth a listen. You can view Chomsky’s endorsement here and Zinn’s endorsement here.

Sara and I had a lovely weekend. On Friday I took Emma, Asa and a couple of Emma’s friends to ride the Euclid Corridor on opening day. There’s something really cool about riding a mass transit line on its first day in existence. I found the rapid transit bus quite pleasant and efficient. We were able to get downtown from Little Italy in about 20 minutes.

Friday evening Sara and I went to see Vivre Sa Vie at Cinematheque. I love Godard and the film is one of Sara’s favorites. I hadn’t seen it before but I thought it was brilliant. The cinematography is daring.  The opening scene is a dialogue between two characters in a cafe. Throughout the conversation you only see the backs of the characters. It builds suspense and tension. It also suggests the anonymity and ordinariness of their lives. The structure of the film is also great. Godard divided it into 12 scenes, each of which is proceeded by a title card. The title cards foreshadow what will happen in the scene. This device is reminiscent of a 19th century French novel. But then so is the plot of the movie.

After the movie we went to the B-Side to hear John Tejeda spin. John’s someone I’ve known for close to a decade and it was great to see/hear him again. His DJing has just gotten better over the years and the set he spun was multilayer and rich with textures. There were some subtle Midwest–Columbus, Cleveland and Detroit–references embedded in his track selection.

Yesterday my parents were in town. They took us too Jack’s Deli. As soon as Asa’s ready he and I are going to the Cleveland Art Museum. It’s my Sunday off.

All and all, the sort of weekend that reminds me that I live in a pretty great city.

The McCain campaign has been trying to smear Obama for being a "socialist" because he wants to use taxes to "spread the wealth around." Forgetting for a moment that the purpose of taxes is to spread the wealth around, I want to ask what’s wrong with being a socialist? I come from a long line of various stripes of socialists and I am proud to be one myself (I am a libertarian socialist). My friends and relatives who are or were socialists are or were fine human beings. They have worked in the public schools, struggled for labor rights, human rights, civil rights, organized public radio stations, food cooperatives and helped build pretty much anything else that includes the public good. Looking at the root of the word and the actions of my friends and elders I think it is fair to argue that a socialist is someone who cares about people more than about money. Using that definition I am proud to call myself a socialist.

I will let the reader define capitalism for him or herself.

Oh, and before someone starts a comment thread about all of the horrors done in the name of socialism (Cuba, USSR, etc.) let me just say that the genuine socialists I have known have struggled just as hard against the totalitarian Marxist-Leninist (i.e. Communist) regimes as they have against the injustices of the capitalist democracies. The thugs who often rise to the top of the Marxist-Leninist regimes deserve to be resisted as much as anyone else. I am proud to have among my family friends non-Marxist-Leninist socialists who were dissidents in Czechoslovakia or fought both the fascists and the Communists in Spain or, during the sixties, resisted the intrusion of Marxist-Leninist groups into the New Left while organizing against the Vietnam War and for civil rights.

There was an interesting piece in yesterday’s New York Times that asked the following question: "…which party has been better for American pocketbooks and capitalism as a whole?"

To come up with an answer the author, Tommy McCall, conducts a thought experiment: "imagine that during [the last 80] years you had to invest exclusively under either Democratic or Republican administrations. How would you have fared?

As of Friday, a $10,000 investment in the S.& P. stock market index* would have grown to $11,733 if invested under Republican presidents only, although that would be $51,211 if we exclude Herbert Hoover’s presidency during the Great Depression. Invested under Democratic presidents only, $10,000 would have grown to $300,671 at a compound rate of 8.9 percent over nearly 40 years."

You can view the article here.

CASA has just published a book, Teaching Rebellion, in conjunction with PM Press. The book is being supported by a nation-wide tour, the details of which follow. Here’s a description of the book from CASA’s web-site:

The book offers the chance to listen directly to those invested in, and affected by, what quickly became one of the most important social uprisings of the 21st century. “Once you learn to speak, you don’t want to be quiet anymore,” an indigenous community radio activist said.

In the words of people who bore witness to the movement and the months of intense conflict, Teaching Rebellion captures the shifting atmosphere that could be felt on the streets—from fear to hope, weakness to strength. Accompanied by photography, political art and study guide, the accounts recorded from a cross section of society, tell the story of the movement as it has been lived by the people, shedding light on how deeply Oaxaca society has felt the unfolding conflict.

There will be two tour dates in Cleveland. One, on Nov. 13th, will be sponsored by Mac’s Backs and held at the Society and the other, on Nov. 14th, by IRTF and held someplace on the near West side. Complete information about the tour is available here.

While I was reading a little on the economic crisis today I took a look at Bring the Ruckus’s web-site. While they’ve some sharp analysis by far the most exciting I discovered was a video by Linton Kwesi Johnson. I’d never heard of him before but now I’m hooked. Up there with Gil Scott Heron as one of the great spoken word artists. Once again the embed isn’t working but you can see his piece "More Time" here.

There was a pretty frightening interview with Michael Hudson from the University of Missouri on Democracy Now! today. Listen to it here. Goodman also discusses Nouriel Roubini’s prediction that "the US and global economy is heading towards a near-term financial meltdown." Roubini’s  blog with his latest analysis is worth checking out.

Like a lot of people I have been trying to understand what is going on with the economy. I have decided that I am going to start spending 30 minutes a day of my regular study (usually around 2.75 hours) looking at and trying to decipher the current economic crisis. (more…)