posted 05/14/12
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Published bimonthly since 1986, AGAINST THE CURRENT is a Solidarity-sponsored analytical journal for the broad revolutionary left. The May/June 2012 issue features a Marxist reflection on patriotism and flag fetishism by Bertell Ollman. Malik Miah examines the murder of Trayvon Martin, James Clark discusses the Occupy movement, Bill Balderson and Claudette Begin lay out the problems and potential around the California Millionaires Tax campaign and Dianne Feeley describes the state takeover of Motor City. ATC’s international coverage includes Alexi Gusev’s perspectives on Putin’s Russia, Joana Mortágua on Portuguese workers opposition to austerity policies and an interview with Carl Finamore following his second trip to Egypt during their year of revolution. Subscribe today!
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International Viewpoint is the monthly English-language magazine of the Fourth International. IV is a window to radical alternatives world-wide, carrying reports, analysis and debates from all corners of the globe. Correspondents in over 50 countries report on popular struggles, and the debates that are shaping the left of tomorrow.
05/16/12 01:13
The 30th anniversary of Britain's invasion of the Falklands to remove an occupation force sent by Argentinian military dictator General Galtieri, comes at a time of renewed controversy over the British presence in the region writes Alan Thornett . The islands are adjacent to Argentina but 8,000 miles from Britain. The new controversy has been triggered by the escalating rush for oil and gas drilling, which is now around the Falklands—or the Malvinas as they are known in Argentina,
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IV448 - May 2012
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Britain,
National question
05/16/12 01:09
First of all, a premise. The Malvinas (called the Falkland Islands by the British) are Argentine because they were occupied by force, populated by foreign settlers and maintained under British occupation from the beginning of the 19th century, in 1833. Since then, Argentine governments have regularly denounced this theft. However, the demand for the return of the Malvinas has only been at the forefront of national politics in two periods: in 1982 at the beginning of the death agony of the military dictatorship, when it was being unsettled by strikes, demonstrations and mass movements, and now, under the second presidential term of Cristina Fernandez Kirchner. In fact, she said and did nothing important about this subject during her first term, or when she was a Senator under the presidency of Menem. All the dictatorships from 1955 to 1976, like the governments of Perón and Peronism showed no concern with the Malvinas.
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IV448 - May 2012
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Argentina,
National question
05/13/12 16:47
This article, written obviously before the latest elections, give a picture of the effects of the austerity plans, against which the Greek people protested in their votes on May 6.
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IV448 - May 2012
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Greece
Order these eye-catching buttons to spread the demand for social and economic justice. If you don't have paypal, email us!
Reads Bail out People, not Wall Street!. Around the edge, these 2 1/8" buttons read "Free Health Care," "Defend Public Services," "Living Wage Jobs," "Free Higher Education," "Troops Home Now," "Rebuild the Gulf Coast," and "Affordable Housing."
Brown and black buttons demand: "Bring all the Troops Home Now!" Wear one everywhere to start a conversation about why US occupation can never be a force for liberation, and people's needs should come before the massive military budget.
These 2 1/8" buttons read, in Spanish and English: ¡Alto a las deporaciones - Legalización para todos! Stop the deportations - Legalization for all!
fat and the left
I really appreciated this post because I have recently started to think more about body size bias in the left.
Here are a few things I've been thinking about:
One, while many of us who consider ourselves socialists or radicals are somewhat sensitized to disability, gender non-conformity and other body related issues, it's still pretty acceptable to use "fat" in a derogatory sense (like "oh god, this dress makes me look fat," or "that irritating dude who keeps trying to sell me the paper is so fat and sloppy") Most of us don't stop to think about why we think fat is bad.
Two, many of us take for granted the assumption that body size is an accurate indicator of health. As I understand it, this is not true. There is apparently only a 9% correlation between body size and health outcomes. And even if this were not the case, we (by we I mean mainstream society, but also many leftists) are not disgusted by other presumably unhealthy behaviors.
Maybe fat is bad for people's health and maybe it isn't, but being underweight, getting sunburned, wearing high heels, smoking, drinking lots of alcohol, over exercising, sitting at a computer all day and skipping meals probably are bad for the human body and we generally aren't repulsed by these things.
Three, debates about fatness and the obesity epidemic have everything to do with immigration issues, gender, sexuality, race and class. Discussions about the "obesity epidemic" usually touch on the "problem" of Latina moms feeding their kids fried foreign foods, even though it's been shown that immigrants' health declines as they become Americanized.
Take this excerpt from a NY Times article, which discusses the Manhattan Borough President's release of healthy cookbook targeted at East Harlem residents:
"East Harlem, home to a cornucopia of fried foods that cover a range ethnic tastes — tostones, chicken fried steak, pork rinds, egg rolls, refried beans, cuchifritos, French fries and onion rings, among others — has a bad reputation when it comes to good nutrition.
The neighborhood’s diabetes rate is 10 times higher than that on the Upper East Side; the obesity rate among children is among the highest in the city; and grocery stores that carry fresh fruits and vegetables are few and far between.
But Scott M. Stringer, the Manhattan borough president and a frequent caller at takeout restaurants, is seeking to change the neighborhood’s unhealthy eating habits, starting with a cookbook."
While the article mentions food access issues, it locates the "problem" of E Harlem kids' fatness in the cooking habits of their (presumably fat, poor, immigrant, ignorant) mothers.
I won't even get started on Mayor Bloomberg's holy war against trans-fats that he waged at the same time as he was devising absurd and offensive homelessness policies.
I'm curious to see what other people have to say on this.