On “9/11, ten years on”
Thank you for this fine analysis. Indeed, in the weeks leading up to this anniversary there had been a constant drumbeat of “remember remember remember”—as if for a moment we had been allowed to forget! From the loss of civil rights here, to the loss of life abroad in the name of avenging the acts committed on 9/11, it would be impossible to let slip for even an instant thoughts of the results of that day. The uses to which the attacks have been put by the Bush and Obama administrations are horrific. Those we are asked to forget, those are swept under the rug.
The mawkish prodding at the wounds inflicted on that day is both politically and psychologically sick—from NPR’s (so-called bastion of leftish thought) yearly-repeated 2006 interview with a child about the pain of losing his grandfather in one of the towers, to the relentless exposure of the other victims and their families to the harsh reliving of their personal losses is disgusting. Never allowed to recover, it is as if it has become their duty to live in a constantly renewed state of trauma.
The general population of the US has been, for these past ten years, exhorted to never forget, almost as if a sort of perpetual traumatic stress disorder were being deliberately inflicted so as to divert attention from the current conditions. Be afraid, be very afraid, but do not be thoughtful, do not be observant, and for heavens’ sake, do not be critical!
Christie
Washington, USA
12 September 2011
On “London family subject to brutal police raid speaks out”
Meet the new Gestapo.
Jonathan F
13 September 2011
On “Mass protests in Egypt against US-backed military junta”
It comes as no surprise that the mass protests and strikes continue to plague Egypt, considering that nothing has changed the situation for millions of Egyptian workers and their families. All the power still remains in the hands of the ruling elite under the watchful eye of the US-backed military apparatus, which designated itself the sole governing body of Egypt.
The are certain similarities to February’s Russian revolution in which the ruling provincial government sought to defend the wealth of the Russian elite; strikes were deemed against the law and the eight-hour day was off the table. The same counterrevolutionary methods used after February’s 1917 revolution are now being employed by Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi.
What is lacking in Egypt today is a revolutionary party dedicated to international socialism and the emancipation of the working class. Such a party would find a powerful response among the working class given the political entry of the masses.
The revolutionary party in Russia existed in 1917. That party was the Bolshevik party, which found great support in the working class after the February revolution due to its dedication to Marxism, and more than a decade’s worth of work educating the working class which culminated in the October revolution of the same year.
The Fourth International was born by Leon Trotsky against the bureaucratic degeneration of the Bolshevik party headed by the tyrant Joseph Stalin. Stalinism substituted the program of international socialism for socialism in one country. The Fourth International is the only revolutionary party today seeking for the end of the private profit system.
Egypt is no different to the same problems facing the working class on an international scale. Only by building sections of the Fourth International, the party of world socialist revolution, can the working class be rallied around a revolutionary program to emancipate the working class on a international basis.
Julian H
10 September 2011
On “Southern California power outage exposes decay of US infrastructure”
Thanks for the informative article. You may want to consider a follow-up article regarding food poisoning since the power outage. Stores tried to limit the amount of food they needed to throw out after the blackout. However, I have bought several things from the store on Sunday that was spoiled when I got home including OJ and ham. I had already given my two small children the OJ before I noticed. Thankfully my kids seem OK, but I know several people who are sick with vomiting and diarrhea at the minute and they seem to think it is related to what they bought in the store over the weekend.
Thanks again
Lesley D
13 September 2011