From: Francisco Paulo Cipolla (cipolla@UFPR.BR)
Date: Mon Aug 01 2005 - 15:29:18 EDT
Maybe an electronic toast! Too bad we could not be together to celebrate! Jerry I enjoy you writing the places you are going through. I will try to check on a map. Paulo glevy@PRATT.EDU wrote: > Several brief interventions: > > 1) Re the length of the working day > The public debate on the 8 hour day occurred during Marx's > lifetime and his theory of absolute surplus value could be seen, in > part, as an intervention in that struggle and a reply to both > reactionary opponents of the 8-hour-day and liberal and "utopian" > advocates who justified support for the 8-hour-day in moral terms > (i.e. what was "fair"). > > 2) Re conspiracy theories and Marxism > A futher thought: Marxists attempt to put the question of > whether or not there are conspiracies in historical context. For > instance, they attempt to look for historical and structural > patterns. A couple of examples: after the coup in Venezuela, > most radicals (Marxists included) charged that the coup > was planned by the US and the CIA, etc. The US government, of > course, denied any role or advance knowledge. Even in the > absence of "beyond a reasonable doubt" proof, radicals and > Marxists were _right_ to make this claim (and further evidence to > that effect has been revealed in the last couple of years). > In other words, given the existing pattern and history of the > US in terms of its relations with radical governments in Latin > America that it dislikes, this claim was justified. Another > example: in New York City, they are saying that the NYPD is going to > have "random checks" of backpacks and bags of subway and > mass transportation riders. I will claim -- in the absence of > any hard proof -- that the City _will_ nonetheless use this > occasion to have _non_-random searches of people who fit > their (racist and discriminatory) profile and/or radicals. > In making this claim, I am not being paranoid. Rather, this > belief is informed by a _history_ of other occasions of > police (and mayoral, and gubanatorial, and federal) abuse of > civil liberties. > > 3) Query > September 5 will be the ***TENTH ANNIVERSARY OF OPE-L!*** > Do you have any ideas about how we should celebrate that occasion? > > In solidarity, Jerry > Peaks Island and Portland
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