We Say Fight Back!

Call for Papers – Developing a Radical, Alternative Philosophy of Education in Theory and Practice [Heathwood Journal, Issue 4]

Education has become a core institution of capitalist colonialism and a highly politicised cultural practice. People fight for, against and with education in struggles for dignity, autonomy and humanization – from grassroots movements harnessing organized learning for democracy and ecological revolution to the abolition of schooling as an authoritarian and colonizing practice; from the occupation of schools and universities as resources for justice and refuges for dissent, to the creation of autonomous learning communities providing shelter from institutions. Now, as individuals and movements across the world strive to create new epistemic and economic foundations for fundamental social transformation and post-capitalist futures in conditions of unprecedented capitalist colonization, educational issues are central critical-theoretical concerns.  www.heathwoodpress.com/call-for-papers-new-horizons-a-radical-alternative-philosophy-of-education-heathwood-journal/

Above, an anti-war panorama at San Diego State(rare)

This article accompanies release of the Field of Vision film Concerned Student 1950, directed by University of Missouri students Adam Dietrich, Varun Bajaj, and Kellan Marvin.

IN NOVEMBER 2015, student protests at the University of Missouri (“Mizzou”) became a leading national news story. Led by a group of African-American students calling itself “Concerned Student 1950,” the campus protests were triggered by a series of racist incidents — including the university’s African-American student body president enduring racial epithets — and catalyzed by the hunger strike of graduate student Jonathan Butler.

As so often happens, the national media narrative focused on a highly selective sliver of those events, rendering the coverage misleading, distorted, and utterly lacking in nuance. A new documentary released today by First Look Media’s Laura Poitras-led Field of Vision, titled Concerned Student 1950, is the perfect antidote to those gaps. Filmed in real-time by three Mizzou juniors who had full access to the protest movement, the documentary enables viewers to observe how and why these students were galvanized to action, and to understand on both an intellectual and visceral level the rationale that drove them.  theintercept.com/fieldofvision/concerned-student-1950/

Attack on University of Hyderabad – a photo-report on the first day incidents

many more photos:  raiot.in/attack-on-university-of-hyderabad-a-photo-report-on-the-first-day-incidents/

Congratulations to Bill Mullen for:

Cspan Video: Book Discussion on Imbeciles Adam Cohen talked about his book Imbeciles: The Supreme Court, American Eugenics, and the Sterilization of Carrie Buck  www.c-span.org/video/?405281-1/adam-cohen-imbeciles

Karl Marx Voted Greatest Thinker of the Millennium

Marx took the top spot by a wide margin followed by Einstein, Newton, and Darwin, in second, third and fourth places.

Revolutionary writer Karl Marx has topped a BBC News Online poll to find the greatest thinker of the millennium.

The nineteenth century writer won September’s vote with a clear margin, pushing Albert Einstein, who had led for most of the month, into second place.

The top 10 included philosophers Immanuel Kant and Rene Descartes as well as twentieth century scientist Stephen Hawking.  theredphoenixapl.org/2011/09/16/karl-marx-voted-greatest-thinker-of-the-millennium/?utm_content=buffer8af6d&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

The Little Red Schoolhouse

Taxpayers to bail out Corinthian Ponzi College The now-defunct Corinthian Colleges is still in hot water, but there’s relief in sight for students defrauded at its 91 former campuses nationwide, the U.S. Department of Education announced Friday.

Students now “have a clear path to loan forgiveness” thanks to the results of an investigation done in conjunction with multiple state attorneys that showed the company misrepresented job placement rates to enrolled and prospective students.

The move comes two days after a San Francisco judge ordered the now-defunct, for-profit higher-ed company to pay a restitution of $820 million for students and civil penalties of more than $350 million for its illegal advertising practices according to the Los Angeles Times.

The judgement, handed down Wednesday, cited Corinthian for providing the misleading graduate job placement information, as well as promoting degree programs that it didn’t offer, according to the newspaper.

Court documents obtained by the LA Times show it had unlawful debt collection practices, such as preventing students from going to class if they were behind on loan payments. Another claim found that the company had illegally used U.S. military seals in advertisements.

California Atty. Gen. Kamala D. Harris filed suit against the Santa Ana, Calif.-based company in 2013, claiming the company unfairly targeted low-income students, the newspaper reports.

According to the DOE statement, students who attended Corinthian schools operated under its Everest and WyoTech brands may apply for relief packages here.  college.usatoday.com/2016/03/25/former-corinthian-colleges-to-pay-over-1b-for-defrauding-students/

At UC Berkeley, promises of a crackdown on sexual misconduct are met with skepticism by students

Thirteen female students accused a UC Berkeley sociology professor of unwanted sexual advances, including hugs and attempted kisses. One of them said he offered a higher grade if she would sleep with him; another said he wrote a negative letter of recommendation when she rebuffed his advances.

University officials found Abdelbaki Hermassi responsible for sexual misconduct, suspended him without pay for one quarter and placed the findings in his personnel file. Outraged students found those sanctions inexcusably lenient and mobilized campuswide sit-ins and protests.

The year was 1980.

More than 35 years after UC Berkeley’s first sexual harassment case, the campus seen as a bastion of progressive politics and social-justice activism is still struggling to get it right.
The reaction that is happening now is a very Berkeley thing. We don’t just lie down when something unjust is happening. — Sloan Patrice Whiteside, a leader of the Boalt Hall Student Assn. at Berkeley

The school now finds itself embroiled in three sexual harassment cases involving faculty members in the highest echelons of the university. Law school Dean Sujit Choudhry, famed astronomer Geoff Marcy and vice-chancellor of research Graham Fleming have resigned under pressure in the last year amid widespread controversy over the handling of their cases.

And last week, campus officials fired assistant men’s basketball coach Yann Hufnagel after finding he had sexually harassed a reporter by sending her explicit and threatening text messages. Hufnagel’s former boss, head coach Cuonzo Martin, is now under review for his handling of the situation. (LATIMES)

Far from having learnt any lesson from the suicide of Rohith Vemula, the University of Hyderabad is institutionalising the use of excommunication as an administrative strategy

The events unfolding at the University of Hyderabad are extremely painful, to put it mildly. The sudden and silent entry of the vice chancellor, Podile Appa Rao, into the campus triggered a massive protest among the largest section of students. It also led to a clash between the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) students and university administration on the one hand and the protesting students on the other. This was quite unexpected because the university had settled into an uneasy calm after the crisis triggered by the suicide of Rohith Vemula and the academic session was near closing for the year.

The first we saw of this was television news reports of brutal handling of students and the few teachers with them by lathi wielding police. After this there was just a repetition of this footage, and news that close to 30 students and three faculty members had been taken into custody. Drs Tathagatha Sengupta and K.Y. Ratnam were among those arrested. There were several eyewitness accounts of police beating up Dr. Ratnam even while he was trying to intervene and salvage a bad situation.  thewire.in/2016/03/24/urgent-notes-from-a-university-in-crisis-25859/

Assistant Professor Esra Mungan was put into solitary confinement in Bakırköy Women’s Prison

Assistant Professor Esra Mungan from Bosphorus University is among the 1128 academics who had signed the declaration, titled “We Will Not Be Party to This Crime.” She is among the three academics who were arrested for signing the declaration. Dr. Mungan was put into solitary confinement in Bakırköy Women’s Prison. By the end of the three days long short stay period it was expected that Esra Mungan would be transferred to the ward. The Prison Administration decided that “she is fit to stay in solitary ward.”

‘IT IS ALL SEGREGATION CONDITIONS’

Mungan’s attorney Meriç Eyüboğlu, said that this decision is definitely unacceptable and that “solitary confinement” means her client is subjected to segregation.

Eyüboğlu noted that Mungan was put into the section reserved for those convicted prisoners with aggravated life imprisonment. “It is all segregation conditions. She has 1,5 hours long right to get fresh air. She is again alone here. She does not meet anybody,” said Eyüboğlu.

OBJECTIONS SUBMITTED

Eyüboğlu noted that it is not clear whether Mungan will be given the right of free visitation once a week, since she is being held in the section where prisoners with right of free visitation once a month are staying. Eyüboğlu said that legal appeals and objections were submitted.

HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATED

Eyüboğlu noted that the treatment towards Mungan is against law. But beyond that it is against the most basic human rights and that all initiatives at national and international levels will be taken, she added.

ACADEMICS FOR PEACE ARE ALSO STEPPING IN

Eyüboğlu noted that the decision of the prison administration was “inhuman isolation.” Eyüboğlu also added that ‘Academics for Peace’ are also decisive to initiate all kinds of support and solidarity for not leaving their friends alone.  www.gitinitiative.com/2016/03/assistant-professor-esra-mungan-was-put-into-solitary-confinement-in-bakirkoy-women-s-prison.html

Military spouses back Common Core as key to improving kids’ education    A group of military spouses is taking on the issue of the quality of education in schools, promoting Common Core State Standards as the best chance to raise the bar for military children — and all children.

Fifteen people, including primarily spouses of active-duty and retired service members from all branches of service, have launched Military Families for High Standards. Active-duty members and government civilians are also part of the group.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity to organize military spouses to support the kind of educational opportunities their children deserve,” said Christi Ham, chairwoman of the organization. A former teacher, she has moved 26 times over the 38-year military career of her husband, retired Army Gen. Carter Ham. Their two children are grown, with children of their own.

Military Families for High Standards contends that the Common Core will bring high consistent standards that ensure students can transfer easily from one school to another without penalty.   www.militarytimes.com/story/military/family/2016/03/25/military-spouses-back-common-core-key-improving-kids-education/82256086/

The International Hot War of the Rich on the Poor

A World War has Begun: Break the Silence

by John Pilger

In 2009, President Obama stood before an adoring crowd in the centre of Prague, in the heart of Europe. He pledged himself to make “the world free from nuclear weapons”. People cheered and some cried. A torrent of platitudes flowed from the media. Obama was subsequently awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

It was all fake. He was lying.

The Obama administration has built more nuclear weapons, more nuclear warheads, more nuclear delivery systems, more nuclear factories.  Nuclear warhead spending alone rose higher under Obama than under any American president. The cost over thirty years is more than $1 trillion.

A mini nuclear bomb is planned. It is known as the B61 Model 12. There has never been anything like it. General James Cartwright, a former Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has said, “Going smaller [makes using this nuclear] weapon more thinkable.”

In the last eighteen months, the greatest build-up of military forces since World War Two — led by the United States — is taking place along Russia’s western frontier.  Not since Hitler invaded the Soviet Union have foreign troops presented such a demonstrable threat to Russia.

Ukraine – once part of the Soviet Union –  has become a CIA theme park.   www.counterpunch.org/2016/03/23/a-world-war-has-begun-break-the-silence/

The U.S. military is moving into these 5 bases in the Philippines

A new agreement between the United States and the Philippines clears the way for a new permanent American military presence across five bases that will support rotational deployments near the contested South China Sea.

The bases include:

Antonio Bautista Air Base. Located near the capital of the island province of Palawan, which is strategically located near the contested Spratly Islands in the South China Sea.

Basa Air Base. Located about 40 miles northwest of the Philippines’ capital, Manila, the air base was originally constructed by the U.S. Army Air Corps before the Second World War.

Fort Magsaysay. Located on the northern Island of Luzon, Fort Magsaysay is the largest military installation in the Philippines, and is one of the primary training areas of the Philippine Army.

Lumbia Air Base. Located on the southern island of Mindanao, the air base is connected to a civilian airport. Local media reports say construction of a new U.S. facility will begin soon.

Mactan-Benito Ebuen Air Base. Located on Mactan Island of the coast of Cebu in the central Philippines. It was originally built by the U.S. Air Force before the American pullout in the early 1990s.

www.militarytimes.com/story/military/2016/03/21/us-plans-use-five-new-bases-philippines/82072138/

A Force Unto Itself
A Military Leviathan Has Emerged as America’s 51st and Most Powerful State
By William J. Astore

In the decades since the draft ended in 1973, a strange new military has emerged in the United States. Think of it, if you will, as a post-democratic force that prides itself on its warrior ethos rather than the old-fashioned citizen-soldier ideal.   As such, it’s a military increasingly divorced from the people, with a way of life ever more foreign to most Americans (adulatory as they may feel toward its troops).  Abroad, it’s now regularly put to purposes foreign to any traditional idea of national defense.  In Washington, it has become a force unto itself, following its own priorities, pursuing its own agendas, increasingly unaccountable to either the president or Congress.

Three areas highlight the post-democratic transformation of this military with striking clarity: the blending of military professionals with privatized mercenaries in prosecuting unending “limited” wars; the way senior military commanders are cashing in on retirement; and finally the emergence of U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) as a quasi-missionary imperial force with a presence in at least 135 countries a year (and counting).

The All-Volunteer Military and Mercenaries: An Undemocratic Amalgam
www.tomdispatch.com/blog/176118/

Marines in Iraq technically not in combat but still getting some

Who says there are no U.S. combat troops in Iraq?

From their newly established firebase at Makhmour, Marines are providing artillery support for both U.S. and Iraqi forces in the run up to the Iraqi offensive to retake Mosul from Islamic State terrorists.

About 700 Marines are serving in Iraq, of which between 100 and 200 Marines and sailors from the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit are assigned to Task Force Spartan at Firebase Bell, according to the task force in charge of the war against the Islamic State group.  The base has come under attack at least twice. Staff Sgt. Louis Cardin was killed by a Katyusha rocket March 19. Two days later, devil dogs at the firebase repelled an attack from a squad-sized element of Islamic State terrorists.

Exporting (Hillary’s)Jihad

The Arab Spring has given Tunisians the freedom to act on their unhappiness.

there were few of the idle young men who gather so conspicuously in the streets of working-class Arab neighborhoods. Thirteen residents of a single block had been killed fighting in Syria and Iraq, Mohamed said. He pointed to a small side street: “Two weeks ago, thirty people disappeared from here.” They were on the run from the police, and were believed to have joined the Islamic State, or isis, in Libya—an increasingly common destination for Tunisian jihadis. The families of Salafis seldom report these departures, fearing harassment by the authorities. “It’s a surprise when they leave, but we know who’s contemplating it,” Mohamed said. The main reasons for leaving, he added, were “marginalization and joblessness.”  www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/03/28/tunisia-and-the-fall-after-the-arab-spring

The International Economic War of the Rich on the Poor

The U.S. has 540 billionaires, more than any other country in the world.  It’s followed by mainland China with 251 (Hong Kong has another 69) and Germany with 120.  Russia has 77, ten-figure fortunes, 11 fewer than last year, while Brazil is down 23 to 31………….(Sixty-two people hold as much wealth as the bottom 3.6 billion (half the world’s population) www.forbes.com/billionaires/

“I have a sense that she’s one of the more competent members of the current administration and it would be interesting to speculate about how she might perform were she to be president.” —Dick Cheney

“I’ve known her for many years now, and I respect her intellect. And she ran the State Department in the most effective way that I’ve ever seen.” —Henry Kissinger

Nobody Beats This Record

• She says President Obama was wrong not to launch missile strikes on Syria in 2013.
• She pushed hard for the overthrow of Qadaffi in 2011.
• She supported the coup government in Honduras in 2009.
• She has backed escalation and prolongation of war in Afghanistan.
• She voted for the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
• She skillfully promoted the White House justification for the war on Iraq.
• She does not hesitate to back the use of drones for targeted killing.
• She has consistently backed the military initiatives of Israel.
• She was not ashamed to laugh at the killing of Qadaffi.
• She has not hesitated to warn that she could obliterate Iran.
• She is not afraid to antagonize Russia.
• She helped facilitate a military coup in Ukraine.
• She has the financial support of the arms makers and many of their foreign customers.
• She waived restrictions at the State Department on selling weapons to Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Oman, and Qatar, all states wise enough to donate to the Clinton Foundation.
• She supported President Bill Clinton’s wars and the power of the president to make war without Congress.
• She has advocated for arming fighters in Syria.
• She supported a surge in Iraq even before President Bush did.  hillaryisaneocon.com/

www.bankingtech.com/460082/rise-of-the-megabanks/

Critics Aghast at ‘Disgusting Speech’ Clinton Just Gave to AIPAC

Palestinian and human rights advocates were aghast over remarks made by Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton at the annual American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) convention on Monday, saying that her speech represented “everything that is bad” with U.S. imperialism and policy in the Middle East.

During the address, Clinton vowed to take the U.S.-Israel relationship to “the next level”—a level which seemingly includes more war and imperialism, few, if any, rights for Palestinians, and definitely no economic boycotts of Israel. www.commondreams.org/news/2016/03/21/critics-aghast-disgusting-speech-clinton-just-gave-aipac

 

The Emergence of Fascism as a Popular Mass Movement

More than 12 punished for mistaken hospital attack

More than a dozen U.S. military personnel have been disciplined — but face no criminal charges — for mistakes that led to the bombing of a Doctors Without Borders hospital that killed 42 people in Afghanistan last year, U.S. defense officials say.

The punishments, which have not been publicly announced, are largely administrative. But in some cases the actions, such as letters of reprimand, are tough enough to effectively end chances for further promotion. The military has previously said some personnel were suspended from their duties but has given no further details.

The disciplined include both officers and enlisted personnel, but officials said none are generals.

The officials, who were not authorized to discuss the outcomes publicly and so spoke on condition of anonymity, said the disciplinary process is nearly complete. It is derived from a military investigation of the Oct. 3, 2015, attack, the results of which are expected to be made public in a partially redacted form in coming days.

The hospital, run by the medical charity Doctors Without Borders in the northern city of Kunduz, was attacked by a U.S. Air Force special operations AC-130 gunship, one of the most lethal in the U.S. arsenal. Doctors Without Borders called the attack “relentless and brutal” and demanded an international investigation, but none has been undertaken.  www.militarytimes.com/story/military/2016/03/16/more-than-12-punished-mistaken-hospital-attack/81874234/

Solidarity for Never

When is a ‘Strike’ not a Strike? or maybe a Strike… CTU Press release talks about the April 1 ‘Day of Action’ — barely about a ‘strike’… As majority of teachers notice that the union’s ‘allies’ will not be doing a strike on April 1, 2016 — only apparently the city’s teachers….

It may be further information that the attempt by Karen Lewis and a faction of the leadership of the 28,000-member Chicago Teachers Union to do a one day “strike” on April 1, 2016, is faltering. Late on March 22, 2016, the CTU issued a press release, noting for the media that the union’s House of Delegates will be meeting on March 23, 2016.

Two press release went out from the Chicago Teachers Union between midnight and ten a.m. on March 23, 2016. Both highlighted the fact that the union’s 800-member House of Delegates was meeting on the afternoon and early evening of March 23, and both stated that the union would be holding a press conference at 6:30 (without mentioning that the meeting might take longer than that, given the seriousness of the issues currently dividing the union’s members and the importance of the debate).  www.substancenews.net/articles.php?page=6191&section=Article

Spy versus Spy

Long time listeners, first time callers….

A Spymaster Who Saw Cyberattacks as Israel’s Best Weapon Against Iran  A bit more than three years after Meir Dagan was forced to end his long tenure as director of Israel’s intelligence service, the Mossad, he showed up at a discussion of the Middle East filled with contempt for the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who he feared was on the cusp of bombing Iran’s nuclear facilities.

“There is no one to stop him anymore,” Mr. Dagan told me at Harvard University in spring 2014.

Mr. Dagan had long argued that by pushing him and other intelligence and military leaders out of office, Mr. Netanyahu was seeking to silence those who argued that there were better ways to deter Iran from getting the bomb than attacking the country’s facilities.

At best, Mr. Dagan said at Harvard, an Israeli bombing run would provide an illusory solution, temporarily flattening those facilities, only to have them return, this time deep underground. The result, the spymaster and former soldier argued, would be disastrous for the state of Israel.

Mr. Dagan, who died on Thursday     www.google.com/#q=dagan+israel&tbm=isch&imgrc=nJdvUzxdth94hM%3A

 

CIA-armed militias are shooting at Pentagon-armed ones in Syria

Syrian militias armed by different parts of the U.S. war machine have begun to fight each other on the plains between the besieged city of Aleppo and the Turkish border, highlighting how little control U.S. intelligence officers and military planners have over the groups they have financed and trained in the bitter 5-year-old civil war.

The fighting has intensified over the past two months, as CIA-armed units and Pentagon-armed ones have repeatedly shot at each other as they have maneuvered through contested territory on the northern outskirts of Aleppo, U.S. officials and rebel leaders have confirmed.

In mid-February, a CIA-armed militia called Fursan al Haq, or Knights of Righteousness, was run out of the town of Marea, about 20 miles north of Aleppo, by Pentagon-backed Syrian Democratic Forces moving in from Kurdish-controlled areas to the east.

“Any faction that attacks us, regardless from where it gets its support, we will fight it,” said Maj. Fares Bayoush, a leader of Fursan al Haq.  www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-syria-militias-us-cia-islamic-state-20160326-story.html

The Magical Mystery Tour

Parasitical Mystical Monarch Still at it:

The Queen gives 90 men and 90 women traditional Maundy Thursday coins to represent her landmark birthday in a traditional ceremony at St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle

www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFed4m55PrY

The Best and Worst Things in the History of the World

A cadaver dealer accused of selling infected body parts to researchers was ordered jailed today for violating the conditions of his bond..

U.S. District Court Judge Paul Borman locked up Grosse Pointe businessman Arthur Rathburn for contacting his estranged wife when he wasn’t supposed to.

Rathburn had sent his wife a birthday note and package, a revelation that was made last week when his wife pleaded guilty to her role in the case.

Elizabeth Rathburn pleaded guilty to transporting infected human remains to an anesthesiology conference in Washington, D.C., in 2012.

At her guilty plea hearing, she disclosed that her husband had sent her a birthday package and it made her nervous. She is free on bond.

Arthur Rathburn will remain locked up pending trial.  www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/wayne/2016/03/24/alleged-cadaver-dealer-locked-up-contacting-wife/82207686/

So Long

On Hiatus for a bit.