Wednesday 29 September 2010

(VIDEOS) 'EMANCIPATORY VIOLENCE'? (Final Video)




(VIDEOS) 'EMANCIPATORY VIOLENCE'? (Final Video)
The Only Way to annihilate Violence on Planet Earth is to get rid of Violence by State Order, that is, to destroy that which has the exclusive monopoly of violence.

(Part 11 - THE END) 

By Franz J. T. Lee

Description:

A formal logical, dialectical Closed World Order, a process of exploitative production, dominating history, ferocious class struggle; the destruction of the 'human being, existence and transcendence'. of life on planet Earth.

The opposite of violence is not peace, on the contrary, peace complements violence; dialectically, they form two sides of the very same global class struggle, of the labor process, of history.

When capitalist exploitation of nature and workers is 'peaceful', when nobody is on strike, when the wage slaves have swallowed bourgeois ideology, bait, hook, sinker and shark, when they are docile, submissive and religious, when the process of production, distribution, consumption, profit-maximization and of world power has no limits, when all goes well in the closed system, in the systemic jail, , this is called world peace, democracy, development, progress, globalization. 

However, when capitalism is in severe crisis, is collapsing into mortal economic recession, like now, then the State becomes more bellicose than ever, it then reduces the historic economic gains of workers' struggles to nothing, it murders radicals, Palestinians, Arabs, 'Blacks', gypsies and Marxists, uses its terrorist prerogative, its genocidal monopoly of violence, ... then we see the real grimace of 'democracy', of imperialism; yes, this is real world fascism, true terrorism, the murderous essence of capitalism.

Human emancipation is neither violence nor peace, it transcends both, towards creativity and creation. ... but, ... 

ENJOY THE FINAL VIDEO OF THIS SERIES!



 Part 11 (THE END)



URL: http://www.4shared.com/video/wWxleban/EMANCIPATION_PART_4B.html




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THE END


UPCOMING SOON!
 What is ideology?

Tuesday 28 September 2010

(VIDEOS) 'EMANCIPATORY VIOLENCE'? (Continuation) Exodus: Getting out of the Systen - Exvolution: Getting the System Out of Us! Transcend Thanatos vs Eros: Towards Emancipatory Creation




(VIDEOS) 'EMANCIPATORY VIOLENCE'? (Continuation) Exodus: Getting out of the Systen - Exvolution: Getting the System Out of Us! Transcend Thanatos vs Eros: Towards Emancipatory Creation

(Parts 9 & 10) 

By Franz J. T. Lee

Description:

A formal logical, dialectical Closed World Order, a process of exploitative production, dominating history, ferocious class struggle; the destruction of the 'human being, existence and transcendence'. of life on planet Earth.

The opposite of violence is not peace, on the contrary, peace complements violence; dialectically, they form two sides of the very same global class struggle, of the labor process, of history.

When capitalist exploitation of nature and workers is 'peaceful', when nobody is on strike, when the wage slaves have swallowed bourgeois ideology, bait, hook, sinker and shark, when they are docile, submissive and religious, when the process of production, distribution, consumption, profit-maximization and of world power has no limits, when all goes well in the closed system, in the systemic jail, , this is called world peace, democracy, development, progress, globalization. 

However, when capitalism is in severe crisis, is collapsing into mortal economic recession, like now, then the State becomes more bellicose than ever, it then reduces the historic economic gains of workers' struggles to nothing, it murders radicals, Palestinians, Arabs, 'Blacks', gypsies and Marxists, uses its terrorist prerogative, its genocidal monopoly of violence, ... then we see the real grimace of 'democracy', of imperialism; yes, this is real world fascism, true terrorism, the murderous essence of capitalism.

Human emancipation is neither violence nor peace, it transcends both, towards creativity and creation. ... but, ... 

MORE about this in our NEXT two videos of a series of six.




Part 9



URL: http://www.4shared.com/video/c_bpXXry/EMANCIPATION_PART_3C.html




Part 10




URL: http://www.4shared.com/video/ufIVY2PO/EMANCIPATION_PART_4A.html



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PART  11 -
THE END


UPCOMING SOON!
 What is ideology?

Monday 27 September 2010

VIDEOS) 'EMANCIPATORY VIOLENCE'? (Continuation) - Partes 7 & 8





(VIDEOS) 'EMANCIPATORY VIOLENCE'? (Continuation)
  A Possible, Cosmic, Creative Human Trinity

(Parts 7 & 8) 

By Franz J. T. Lee

Description:

A formal logical, dialectical Closed World Order, a process of exploitative production, dominating history, ferocious class struggle; the destruction of the 'human being, existence and transcendence'. of life on planet Earth.

The opposite of violence is not peace, on the contrary, peace complements violence; dialectically, they form two sides of the very same global class struggle, of the labor process, of history.

When capitalist exploitation of nature and workers is 'peaceful', when nobody is on strike, when the wage slaves have swallowed bourgeois ideology, bait, hook, sinker and shark, when they are docile, submissive and religious, when the process of production, distribution, consumption, profit-maximization and of world power has no limits, when all goes well in the closed system, in the systemic jail, , this is called world peace, democracy, development, progress, globalization. 

However, when capitalism is in severe crisis, is collapsing into mortal economic recession, like now, then the State becomes more bellicose than ever, it then reduces the historic economic gains of workers' struggles to nothing, it murders radicals, Palestinians, Arabs, 'Blacks', gypsies and Marxists, uses its terrorist prerogative, its genocidal monopoly of violence, ... then we see the real grimace of 'democracy', of imperialism; yes, this is real world fascism, true terrorism, the murderous essence of capitalism.

Human emancipation is neither violence nor peace, it transcends both, towards creativity and creation. ... but, ... 

MORE about this in our NEXT two videos of a series of six.



Part 7



URL: http://www.4shared.com/video/wbZX8IkR/EMANCIPATION_PART_3A.html




Part 8



URL: http://www.4shared.com/video/rO1QESOd/EMANCIPATION_PART_3B.html  



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UPCOMING SOON!
EMANCIPATORY VIOLENCE
PARTS 9 & 10

DO NOT MISS THE NEXT VIDEO.

Saturday 25 September 2010

Is HAARP again at work in Venezuela?


Is HAARP again at work in Venezuela?

By Franz J. T. Lee

NEWLY UPDATED VERSION: September 26, 2010 -
2.00 pm local time.

Every time when there are decisive elections in Venezuela, whether they take place in December or September, suddenly, for days, the country is being assaulted by  floods, like in the past case of Vargas.

Definitely, here is currently sabotage at work, combined with the floods which are killing people, destroying their houses, and damaging infrastructures; the very elections are in danger of being affected in their proper development. It cannot be ruled out that we will have sporadic electricity 'black-outs' too.

We warned about HAARP in the past: obviously, what is happening here now has all the characteristics of a covert military operation of the HAARP type of geophysical weapons. These types of attacks seem like natural disasters, and it is very difficult scientifically to prove their real origins. However, it is precisely an attribute of the new arms of mass destruction that their application and destruction seem to be identical to those of natural disasters, they appear like earthquakes, droughts or floods. Out of ignorance some even believe that this new military technology, that these attacks are divine punishments.

At the moment we should be very careful. The devastating global crisis that sweeps across all countries is a reflection of the decomposition of capitalism. We can expect anything from the USA and their NATO allies in the region. Venezuela is the major military target of corporate imperialism.

 One thing is sure, no matter what we criticize about the Bolivarian Revolution and the democratic government of President Chavez, there must be a reason why they are  under permanent attack since their very inception. It is also interesting to note who and what are attacking Venezuela. Why it is a 'failed society', part of the 'axis of evil' and is practically classified as a 'rogue state'.

The alternative to the Bolivarian Revolution is national and continental fascism. This is not ideological wishful thinking, this the aftermath of the military coup of 2002 has verified sufficiently. This is the very reason why we critically support the Caracas government.

Under normal fair elections there would be no problem to win a two thirds majority in the national assembly. The working peoples of Venezuela, the two thirds majority of emancipatory hope and gains, know pretty well what would happen when the 'Caracazo' administrators should get into power again.

Yes, today HAARP is sowing sabotage wind, it will reap electoral storm, popular victory.

(Videos) The Necessity of global revolutionary praxis and theory - Communist Manifesto - collapse of Capitalism - emancipatory 'exvolution'




(Videos) The Necessity of global revolutionary praxis and theory - Communist Manifesto - collapse of Capitalism - emancipatory 'exvolution'
(Parts 5 & 6) 

By Franz J. T. Lee

Description:

Dialectically, by inter-relating the 'best' that bourgeois, revolutionary capitalism has produced - British national economy, German objectivist idealism and French political practice - Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels created the 'Manifesto of the Communist Party' (1848) as global praxis and theory of proletarian socialist emancipation. It will only become obsolete when capitalism itself has vanished into galactic oblivion.
The opposite of violence is not peace, on the contrary, peace complements violence; dialectically, they form two sides of the very same global class struggle, of the labor process, of history.

When capitalist exploitation of nature and workers is 'peaceful', when nobody is on strike, when the wage slaves have swallowed bourgeois ideology, bait, hook, sinker and shark, when they are docile, submissive and religious, when the process of production, distribution, consumption, profit-maximization and of world power has no limits, when all goes well in the closed system, in the systemic jail, , this is called world peace, democracy, development, progress, globalization. 

However, when capitalism is in severe crisis, is collapsing into mortal economic recession, like now, then the State becomes more bellicose than ever, it then reduces the historic economic gains of workers' struggles to nothing, it murders radicals, Palestinians, Arabs, 'Blacks', gypsies and Marxists, uses its terrorist prerogative, its genocidal monopoly of violence, ... then we see the real grimace of 'democracy', of imperialism; yes, this is real world fascism, true terrorism, the murderous essence of capitalism.

Human emancipation is neither violence nor peace, it transcends both, towards creativity and creation. ... but,

MORE about this in our NEXT two videos of a series of six.




Part 5



URL: http://www.4shared.com/video/k8pNX5xy/EMANCIPATION_PART_2B.html


Part 6



URL: http://www.4shared.com/video/mgg6lQ8E/EMANCIPATION_PART_2C.html




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UPCOMING SOON!
EMANCIPATORY VIOLENCE
PARTS 7 & 8

DO NOT MISS THEM!

(VIDEOS) 'EMANCIPATORY VIOLENCE'? (Continuation) Master and slave relations - racism - Necessity of a new logic, science and philosophy




(VIDEOS) 'EMANCIPATORY VIOLENCE'? (Continuation) Master and slave relations - racism - Necessity of a new logic, science and philosophy
(Parts 3 & 4) 

By Franz J. T. Lee

Description:

WHAT DID KARL MARX, LEON TROTSKY, MAURICE MERLEAU-PONTY, GEOGES SOREL, FRANTZ FANON AND CHE GUEVARA CONSIDER 'EMANCIPATORY VIOLENCE' TO BE?

The opposite of violence is not peace, on the contrary, peace complements violence; dialectically, they form two sides of the very same global class struggle, of the labor process, of history.

When capitalist exploitation of nature and workers is 'peaceful', when nobody is on strike, when the wage slaves have swallowed bourgeois ideology, bait, hook, sinker and shark, when they are docile, submissive and religious, when the process of production, distribution, consumption, profit-maximization and of world power has no limits, when all goes well in the closed system, in the systemic jail, , this is called world peace, democracy, development, progress, globalization. 

However, when capitalism is in severe crisis, is collapsing into mortal economic recession, like now, then the State becomes more bellicose than ever, it then reduces the historic economic gains of workers' struggles to nothing, it murders radicals, Palestinians, Arabs, 'Blacks', gypsies and Marxists, uses its terrorist prerogative, its genocidal monopoly of violence, ... then we see the real grimace of 'democracy', of imperialism; yes, this is real world fascism, true terrorism, the murderous essence of capitalism.

Human emancipation is neither violence nor peace, it transcends both, towards creativity and creation. ... but,

MORE about this in our NEXT two videos of a series of six.




Part 3




URL: http://www.4shared.com/video/YjMLxM3H/EMANCIPATION_PART_1C_.html




Part 4



URL: http://www.4shared.com/video/tNUwwZJX/EMANCIPATION_PART_2A.html


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UPCOMING SOON!
EMANCIPATORY VIOLENCE
PARTS 5 & 6

Friday 24 September 2010

(VIDEOS) WHAT DID FRANTZ FANON UNDERSTAND BY 'EMANCIPATORY VIOLENCE'? - - (A Series in 12 Parts) - By Franz J. T. Lee





(VIDEOS) WHAT DID FRANTZ FANON UNDERSTAND BY 'EMANCIPATORY VIOLENCE'?
(A Series in 12 Parts)
By Franz J. T. Lee

Description:

WHAT DID KARL MARX, LEON TROTSKY, MAURICE MERLEAU-PONTY, GEOGES SOREL, FRANTZ FANON AND CHE GUEVARA CONSIDER 'EMANCIPATORY VIOLENCE' TO BE?

The opposite of violence is not peace, on the contrary, peace complements violence; dialectically, they form two sides of the very same global class struggle, of the labor process, of history.

When capitalist exploitation of nature and workers is 'peaceful', when nobody is on strike, when the wage slaves have swallowed bourgeois ideology, bait, hook, sinker and shark, when they are docile, submissive and religious, when the process of production, distribution, consumption, profit-maximization and of world power has no limits, when all goes well in the closed system, in the systemic jail, this is called world peace, democracy, development, progress, globalization. 

However, when capitalism is in severe crisis, is collapsing into mortal economic recession, like now, then the State becomes more bellicose than ever, it then reduces the historic economic gains of workers' struggles to nothing, it murders radicals, Palestinians, Arabs, 'Blacks', gypsies and Marxists, uses its terrorist prerogative, its genocidal monopoly of violence, ... then we see the real grimace of 'democracy', of imperialism; yes, this is real world fascism, true terrorism, the murderous essence of capitalism.

Human emancipation is neither violence nor peace, it transcends both, towards creativity and creation. ... but,

MORE about this in our first two videos of a series of six.




Emancipation Part 1




URL: http://www.4shared.com/video/ufB2flCT/EMANCIPATION_PART_1A.html



Emancipation Part 2




URL: http://www.4shared.com/video/MKSS-vPB/EMANCIPATION_PART_1B.html



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UPCOMING SOON!
EMANCIPATORY VIOLENCE
PARTS 3 & 4

DO NOT MISS TO ENJOY THEM.

Wednesday 22 September 2010

Venezuela, Will we cast our vote for the French Revolution or for the Paris Commune?

Venezuela, Will we cast our vote for the French Revolution or for the Paris Commune? 

By Franz J. T. Lee

On the eve of the parliamentary elections in Venezuela which will take place next Sunday, September 26, 2010, it is pertinent to ask whether Bolivarian Socialism still considers the class struggle as an anti-capitalist transhistoric necessity.

Do 'socialist' democratic elections form part of the current violent class struggles on a global scale, inter alia, in Iraq, Afghanistan, China, Greece, France, USA, Palestine, Gaza, Cuba, Bolivia, Colombia or South Africa? Is the Great Depression or the Mega-Recession part of global class struggles? These are theoretical, philosophic questions which yearn for praxical answers.

However, especially for our Venezuelan comrades, for the Socialist United Party of Venezuela (PSUV), we will just illuminate dialectically just some aspects of the concepts 'class' and 'struggle'.

Why?

Generally it is not known that if something loses its negation, its opposite, it also begins to perish. If socialism as a possible mode of creative emancipation cannot be materialized on a world scale, out of necessity capitalist reality will also perish. After the 'communist' hoax failed, now  desperately world imperialism is trying to create an artificial negation, a black sheep, Bin Laden, terrorists, etc. Similarly, socialism as Negation of capitalism has to transcend, otherwise it will also perish in Orwellian, capitalist barbarism.

Not everything that is called socialism necessarily is radical anti-capitalism. We do not have an easy task of creating human emancipation!

Always the Venezuelan government, especially President Hugo Chavez himself, points out that the 'socialist revolution' in Venezuela is 'peaceful' but, at the same time, it is an 'armed' revolution. In other words, we in Venezuela have our own particular ideas about peace or arms, also our own meanings of 'socialist revolution'; we make and think a socialism and a revolution sui generis.

So far, so good.

Venezuela has the birth right, the sovereignty, to liberate and emancipate herself as she pleases. Elsewhere we should practice this free  self-determination. Emancipation starts at home, or in the fight, in the class struggle to obtain a home, a true motherland, a real "Matria", a decent, humane, human Life.

However, when it comes to learning from other social revolutions the matter is different. Among other things, if we study the Paris Commune, the October Revolution, the Chinese Revolution, the Vietnam Revolution, the Cuban Revolution and the Revolution of Guinea Bissau, we discover that all of them could not escape the profound, violent contradictions of modern history, of the history of class struggles. For centuries, we did not invent violence, we are born into, live in and will die in capitalist violence, of which the State has the monopoly. In Venezuela, the 'Caracaso' is an example; lately Faluja and Gaza were other examples of fascist State violence, verification of the international class struggle.

In dialectics, in knowledge and truth, it takes at least two to tango the violent class struggle, a terrorist, atheist, opulent master and a docile, lean, genuflecting slave; in the last analysis, dialectically their social relation form the inexorable class struggle.

Now, let us activate our theoretical neurons and look at the concept 'class struggle' in a more profound manner.

What is the historic, philosophic context of class struggle, seen as the dynamic, dialectical generator of labor, capital, competition, concentration, accumulation and globalization? More precisely for us, for Humania South, for Venezuela, class struggle concerns economic exploitation, political domination, social discrimination, military genocide and total dehumanized alienation.

Let us answer some of these significant questions in a very simple manner. This does not mean that we will resort to simplistic jargon. On the contrary, simplicity, as class conscious action, is the social mother of emancipatory beauty.

What is struggle?

Scientifically, what do concepts like 'fight', 'conflict', 'strife', 'antagonism', 'revolution', 'contradiction' and 'war' denote? Over two and a half millennia ago, the dialectical key to open this bellicose Pandora Box was already presented to us by a famous hylozoistic, materialist philosopher of Greek Antiquity, by Heraclitus of Ephesus.

In the closed, geocentrist, formal logical slave-holding world order, determined and defended by the two systemic, philosophic titans, Plato and Aristotle, "agon", strife, motion and "sphairos"  repose, rest ... governed the 'cradle of civilization'.  The two systemic, philosophic guardian angels formal logically counterpoised 'A' and its derivation 'Non-A'. The whole world of antiquity was dancing 'two step', only two possibilities were accepted as being socially 'correct': good and no-good, truth and no-truth, that is, these were the only two sides of 'absolute truth'. The ruling class struggle was directed against contradiction, against political resistance, against dialectics. Already during the age of Thales of Miletus, of the founder of philosophy, rebelling slaves were already burnt at the stake. The class struggle of the exploited slaves was yearning for the Christian dissension, for Luciferean heavenly fire.

Till today, working class contradictions, relations, that is, true thinking and real thought are all suppressed or forbidden. Freedom of thought, of speech, are myths. Surely, one can freely think what one feels like, however, one should just not voice it, not say it aloud! For wage slaves, in the superstructural, ideological class struggle, dubito, cogito, ergo sum, I doubt, I think, therefore, I am, is not valid. And yet, the Marxist philosopher of Hope, Ernst Bloch, affirming global class struggle stated categorically: Denken heisst Überschreiten, Thinking is Venturing Beyond.

In reality, in the ideological superstructure of simple accumulation of capital, in the ancient Greek poleis, city-states, for example, in Miletus and Lydia, philosophically a universal mind and thought control, a Mental Holocaust, was already launched against any physical or intellectual resistance coming from the under-dog toiling classes. In no way this is different today, quod erat demonstrandum, in Apartheid South Africa, Nazi Germany, Iraq, Afghanistan and Gaza.

Parmenides of Elea postulated the hen kai pan, the eternal one and only, the future coming Roman Catholic God (A). This expresses the perverse, unilateral relation Ruling Society versus Exploited Nature, the labor process, class struggle, history.

On the other hand, Heraclitus postulated everlasting motion, his panta rhei, his 'everything flows' (Non-A).

Both philosophies together form dialectics, a contradiction, a struggle, motion; they form two antagonistic sides of the same thing, of (A). Internally, in (A) rages a merciless class struggle, dialectics.

Concerning the current international class struggle against world fascism, what does this mean?

Concretely, this means that the following are two sides of the very same thing, of the same process: revolution and counter-revolution, the French Revolution and the Paris Commune, the February Revolution and the October Revolution in Russia. One is pro-capitalist (A), the other is pro-socialist (Non-A).
Surely, according to President Chavez of Venezuela, the Bolivarian Revolution is anti-capitalist, is directed against North American imperialism. Obviously, global capitalism is imperialism and imperialism is global capitalism. The modern social father (the 'Patria') of capitalism is the agonizing French Revolution, logically, the future natural mother (the 'Matria') of socialism is the living Paris Commune.

The above we have to bear in mind when we go to the polls next Sunday.

Next Sunday, will we cast our vote for the French Revolution or for the Paris Commune?

For Orwellian Barbarism or Human Socialism? Are we for the flowing river of life or are we already peaceful, resting in peace?

Concerning the above, Heraclitus himself confirmed: 'Change alone is unchanging'. In other words, eternal Rest and everlasting Motion are identical things. The class struggle is history, is the labor process, is exploitative production. Creation, creativity and emancipation are made of other kinds of galactic star dust. About this more in a next commentary.

  Ruling ideas became the ideas of the ruling classes; via 'ideas' the class struggle entered the philosophic domain.

In his doctrine of ideas Plato elevated the One of Parmenides to sublime heights, to the summum bonum, the 'Highest Good', to total 'Rest', to 'Rest in Peace'. Later the neo-Platonists and religious Stoics gave it a more simple theologian magic touch. As part of the bourgeois heliocentrist enlightenment, formal logical mind and thought control, obsolete feudal structures, expressed as religion, credos, catechisms, beliefs and revelations, were tumbled by Reason, by the objectivist, dialectical Absolute Idea of G. W. F. Hegel, by the weltgeist, by advancing, struggling Capital.

On the other hand, like elsewhere in Arabia, Africa or China, very early the pre-Socratic panpsychic philosophers were trying to introduce dialectics, the science of motion, into ancient European thought. The philosophic materialist tradition of Heraclitus, as negation of Platonic idealism, went across Arab-African philosophers to medieval Italy, and as part of the Renaissance entered bourgeois mechanical materialism, into modern capitalist production, globalization, patriarchal world wars and genocidal human extinction.

Heraclitus gave us two more keys to create openmindedness, to understand universal, historic class struggles.

Firstly, he explained the patriarchal, bellicose essence of our world order: "War is the Father of All Things". Therewith he elevated Struggle to a central dialectical concept. Intrinsically, in everything alive, in motion, is strife, is a dynamo (possibility). However because of systemic limits, because of the closed universal cage, possibility (Negation) is limited to a class reality (A). Motion, Change, can only come from within, by means of 'peaceful' ways. Anything (B or Z) that goes beyond Parmenides and Heraclitus, beyond (A) and (Non-A), beyond rest and motion, simply is denied any existence. It is forbidden to think or act anything that is not (A) or (Non-A). Anything that goes beyond the third law of formal logic (and of dialectics) is 'terrorism' or 'communism'. Capitalist Education and Socialization are the age old butchers of dialectics, of contradictions, of Life.

The corporate and imperialist ruling classes, who as a small elite, monopolize private property, capital, violence and power, as an international global and globalized ruling class, are armed to their teeth, and in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine and Gaza they annihilate brutally any struggle of the oppressed outcasts, of the modern exploited 'speaking tools'. This herrenvolk  discriminates minorities, gypsies, Marxists or 'camel-drivers'.

Never in the process of capitalist production, of modern history, was class struggle so continental and international as at the beginning of this millennium. In fact, historic reality reveals that class struggle in an island, in one country, in a region, on a single continent, is not enough. Capital, capitalism is global, is globalized, hence, its negation, class struggle, socialism, has to be worldwide.

Barbarism is already worldwide; our Hobson's choice, as a meager possibility,  is now either global socialism or human extinction.

Finally, what did Heraclitus advise us to do in such an apocalyptic super-depression and mega-recession, in the epoch of the global collapse of capitalism?

For what exactly Venezuela will be voting the coming Sunday?

Heraclitus, across 25 centuries advises that it should be 'voted' by the workers for the Truth, by means of global Praxis and Theory, that is, by means of human emancipation. Nothing really new can become obsolete, out of date, neither Jose Marti nor Simon Bolivar, neither Marx nor Rosa Luxemburg.

Heraclitus has the last word:

'To think healthy is the greatest perfection;
Wisdom is to tell the Truth, to act according to Nature, to listen to her.'

*****
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Monday 20 September 2010

(Videos) The Relevance of the Class Struggle in the Epoch of Globalization, of World Fascism - (In Three Parts)


(Videos) The Relevance of the Class Struggle in the Epoch of Globalization, of World Fascism - (In Three Parts)



PROF. DR. FRANZ J. T. LEE EXPLAINS THE CLASS STRUGGLE

DOES THE CLASS STRUGGLE HAVE ANY CONTEMPORARY SCIENTIFIC AND PHILOSOPHIC RELEVANCE?

Let us answer this significant question in a very simple manner. This does not mean that we will resort to simplistic jargon. On the contrary, working class simplicity, as class conscious action is the social mother of emancipatory beauty. Enjoy the following videos in their optimistic militancy.
See and listen To More:
http://www.franzlee.org.ve/pandemonium01483.html



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Saturday 18 September 2010

Where was Osama bin Laden on September 11, 2001? - BP's "Cloak of Silence": Geology is "Fractured", Relief Wells May Fail


Where was Osama bin Laden on September 11, 2001? - BP's "Cloak of Silence": Geology is "Fractured", Relief Wells May Fail


By: Washington's Blog
September 18, 2010       

(Short Commentary:
We should not be bamboozled by BP, Obama or Murdoch. In the Gulf of Mexico and elsewhere the "
fractured, subsea salt geology will make it difficult to permanently kill the oil leak using relief wells".

The Santa Barbara channel seeps "are still leaking, decades after the oil well was supposedly capped." Hence, the leaking oil wells near the USA are there to stay for many decades to come. The lethal chemical soup, toxic brew and methane gas explosions could outlive capitalism, and, if we are not careful, they may even usher in the 'after people' epoch.
   
Franz J. T. Lee.)

Global Research, August 21, 2010

Washington's Blog - 2010-08-20


Few people in the world know more about oil drilling disasters than Dr. Robert Bea.

Bea teaches engineering at the University of California Berkeley, and has 55 years of experience in engineering and management of design, construction, maintenance, operation, and decommissioning of engineered systems including offshore platforms, pipelines and floating facilities. Bea has worked for many years in governmental and quasi-governmental roles, and has been a high-level governmental adviser concerning disasters. He worked for 16 years as a top mechanical engineer and manager for Shell Oil, and has worked with Bechtel and the Army Corps of Engineers. One of the world's top experts in offshore drilling problems, Bea is a member of the Deepwater Horizon Study Group, and has been interviewed by news media around the world concerning the BP oil disaster.
Washington's Blog spoke with Dr. Bea yesterday.

WB: Is BP sharing information with the government?

Bea: No. BP is using a "cloak of silence". BP is not voluntarily sharing information or documents with the government.

In May, for example, Senator Boxer subpoenaed information from BP regarding footage of the seafloor taken before the blowout by BP's remotely operated vehicles (ROVs). We still have not received a response 12 weeks later.

[Bea subsequently clarified that he's not sure whether BP has failed to release the information, or Senator Boxer's committee has sat on the information. My bet is on BP. Indeed, BP has refused to answer some very basic written questions from Congressman Markey, chair of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming. See this and this. Indeed, it is unclear whether BP is sharing vital details even with Thad Allen, Secretary of energy Chu, or the Unified Command].

WB: Might there be problems with the relief wells? I know that it took a couple of relief wells to finally stop the Ixtoc leak, and it has taken as many as 5 relief wells to stop some blowouts.

Bea: Yes, it could take repeated attempts.

WB: Are there any conditions at BP's well which might make killing the leak with relief wells more difficult than with the average deepwater oil spill?

Bea: That's an interesting question. You have to ask why did this location blow out when nearby wells drilled in even deeper water didn't blow out.

You have to look at the geology of the Macondo well. It is in a subsalt location, in a Sigsbee salt formation. [For background, see this and this]

The geology is fractured.

Usually, the deeper you drill, the more pressure it takes to fracture rock. This is called the "fracture gradient".

But when BP was drilling this well, the fracture gradient reversed. Indeed, BP lost all pressure as it drilled into the formation.

WB: Is it possible that this fractured, subsea salt geology will make it difficult to permanently kill the oil leak using relief wells?

Bea: Yes, it could. The Santa Barbara channel seeps are still leaking, decades after the oil well was supposedly capped. This well could keep leaking for years.

Scripps mapped out seafloor seeps in the area of the well prior to the blowout. Some of the natural seeps penetrate 10,000 to 15,000 feet beneath the seafloor. The oil will follow lines of weakness in the geology. The leak can travel several horizontal miles from the location of the leak.

[In other words, the geology beneath the seafloor is so fractured, with soft and unstable salt formations, that we may never be able to fully kill the well even with relief wells. Instead, the loss of containment of the oil reservoir caused by the drilling accident could cause oil to leak out through seeps for years to come. See this and this for further background].

WB: I know that you've previously said that you're concerned that there might be damage to the well bore, which could make it more difficult for the relief wells to succeed.

Bea: Yes, that's still a concern.

WB: I have heard that BP is underestimating the size of the oil reservoir (and see this). Is it possible that the reservoir is bigger than BP is estimating, and so - if not completely killed - the leak could therefore go on for longer than most assume?

Bea: That's plausible.

WB: The chief electronics technician on the Deepwater Horizon said that the Macondo well was originally drilled in another location, but that "going faster caused the bottom of the well to split open, swallowing tools", and that BP abandoned that well. You've spoken to that technician and looked into the incident, and concluded that “they damn near blew up the rig.” [See this and this].

Do you know where that abandoned well location is, and do you know if that well is still leaking?

Bea: The abandoned well is very close to the current well location. BP had to file reports showing the location of the abandoned well and the new well [with the Minerals Management Service], so the location of the abandoned well is known.

We don't know if the abandoned well is leaking.

WB: Matthew Simmons talked about a second leaking well. There are rumors on the Internet that the original well is still leaking. Do you have any information that can either disprove or confirm that allegation?

Bea: There are two uncorroborated reports. One is that there is a leak 400 feet West of the present well's surface location. There is another report that there is a leak several miles to the West.

[Bea does not know whether either report is true at this time, because BP is not sharing information with the government, let alone the public.]

WB: There are rumors on the Internet of huge pockets of methane gas under the well which could explode. I've looked into this rumor, and have come to the conclusion that - while the leak is releasing tremendous amounts of methane - there are no "pockets" of methane gas which could cause explosions. Do you have any information on this?

Bea: I have looked into this and discussed methane with people who know a tremendous amount about it. There is alot of liquid and solid methane at the Macondo site, but no pockets of methane gas.

WB: That's good news, indeed.

Bea: But there was one deepwater leak I worked with where tremendous amounts of hydrogen sulfite were released. We had to evacuate two towns because of the risk. [I didn't ask Dr. Bea if there were any dangerous compounds which could be formed from the interaction of the crude oil and methane with chemicals in the ocean water or dispersants].

And with the Bay Charman oil leak, more than 50% of the oil stayed below the surface of the ocean. [As I've previously pointed out, the US Minerals Management Service and a consortium of oil companies, including BP, found that as little as 2% of the oil which spill from deepwater wells ever makes it to the surface of the ocean. And the use of dispersant might decrease that number still further].

WB: I have previously argued that nuking the well would be a bad idea. What do you think?

Bea: [Bea agreed that nuking the well would be counter-productive. He told me a story about a leaking deepwater well that he was involved in killing. A nuclear package was on its way to the well site but - fortunately - the well stopped by itself before a nuke was deployed. I'm not sure whether this is classified information, so I won't disclose the name of the well. Bea also discussed alternatives in the form of high-pressure, high-temperature conventional explosives, echoing what Bill Clinton said recently].

WB: Thank you for your generous time and for sharing your expertise with us, Dr. Bea.

Bea: You're welcome.

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Friday 17 September 2010

Fidel Castro Ruz: We are Living Through an Exceptional Moment in Human History

World Focus: We are Living Through an Exceptional Moment in Human History
Posted on Wednesday, September 15 @ 19:52:14 AST
Topic: Fidel Castro
Fidel CastroBy Fidel Castro Ruz
September 15, 2010 - cubadebate.cu


The deadlines established by the United Nations Security Council for Iran to yield to the demands imposed by the United States regarding nuclear research and uranium enrichment for medical purposes and to generate electricity will be expiring in these days.

This is the only nuclear use that has been documented in Iran.

The fear that Iran is looking forward to producing nuclear weapons is only based on an assumption.

With regard to this delicate issue, the United States and its western allies, among them two of the five nuclear powers with veto power -France and the United Kingdom- supported by the richest and most developed capitalist powers of the world, have promoted an increasing number of sanctions against Iran, a rich, oil-producing Muslim country. Today, the measures adopted include the inspection of Iran’s merchant vessels and severe economic sanctions aimed at suffocating its economy.

I have been following very closely the grave dangers that may result from that situation, because if a war breaks out in that region, it could very quickly go nuclear, and this will have lethal consequences for the rest of the planet.

In referring to such danger I was not looking for publicity or sensationalism. I just wanted to warn the world public opinion hoping that, being advised of such grave danger it could contribute to avoid it.

At least we have managed to draw attention to a problem that was hardly mentioned by the big world media.

This has made me use part of the time scheduled for the launching of this book, on which we worked diligently. I did not want this to coincide with the dates of September 7 and 9. September 7 marks the end of the 90 days term established by the Security Council to know whether Iran complied or not with the requirement of authorizing the inspection of its merchant vessels. September 9 marks the expiration of the three months term fixed by the Resolution adopted on June 9. Quite possibly the establishment of this last term was what the Security Council intended to do originally.

So far we have only had the weird statement made by the Director General of the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency), the Japanese Yukiya Amano, a man who serves the interests of the Yankees. He added all the fuel to the flames and then, like Pontius Pilate, he washed his hands of the issue.

A spokesperson from the Foreign Ministry of Iran commented his statements with a well earned contempt. According to a news report published by EFE, Amano’s assertion that “‘our friends should not worry, because we don’t believe our region is in the position to engage in new military adventures’ and that ‘Iran was fully prepared to respond to any military invasion’ was an obvious reference to the Cuban leader Fidel Castro, ‘who warned about a possible Israeli nuclear attack against Iran with the support of the United States’”.

News on this topic are pouring and get mixed with others of remarkable repercussion.

The journalist Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic magazine, already known by our people, has been publishing some excerpts of the long interview he made me. He has been discussing some interesting aspects of it before he finally writes a future and long article.

“There were many odd things about my recent Havana stopover, [...]“, he wrote, but one of the most unusual was Fidel Castro’s level of self-reflection [...] but it seemed truly striking that Castro was willing to admit that he misplayed his hand at a crucial moment in the Cuban Missile Crisis [...] that he regrets asking Khrushchev to nuke the U.S.” It is true that he addressed the topic and he asked me that question. Literally, as he wrote in the first part of his report, his words were the following: “I asked him: At a certain point it seemed logical for you to recommend that the Soviets bomb the U.S. Does what you recommended still seem logical now?” He answered: “After I’ve seen what I’ve seen, and knowing what I know now, it wasn’t worth it all.”

I had thoroughly explained to him -and there is written evidence of that- the content of that message: “…if the United States invades Cuba, a country with Russian nuclear weapons, under such circumstances Russia should not allow to be dealt the first strike, as the one dealt against the USSR on June 22, 1941, when the German army and all European forces attacked the USSR.”

As can be observed from that brief reference to the issue, from the second part of his report to the audience on that news, readers could not realize that “if the United States invaded Cuba, a country with Russian nuclear weapons”, under such circumstances, my recommendation was to prevent the enemy from launching the first strike; nor the profound irony embedded in my response - “…and knowing what I know now…”, which was an obvious reference to the betrayal by one Russian President who saturated himself with some ethylic substance and revealed to the United States the most important military secrets of that country.

Further on Goldberg wrote about another moment of our conversation: “I asked him if he believed the Cuban model was still something worth exporting.” Obviously, that question implicitly suggested the theory that Cuba exported the Revolution. So I responded: “The Cuban model doesn’t even work for us anymore”. I said this to him without any bitterness or concern. And now I laugh at the way he literally interpreted what I said and how, according to him, he consulted it with Julia Sweig, a CFR analyst who accompanied him and worked out the theory he described. But the truth is that the meaning of my response was exactly the opposite of the interpretation made by both American journalists of the Cuban model.

My idea, as everybody knows, is that the capitalist system does not work anymore either for the United States or the world, which jumps from one crisis into the next, and these are ever more serious, global and frequent and there is no way the world could escape from them. How could such a system work for a socialist country like Cuba?

Many Arab friends worried when they knew I had met with Goldberg, and sent some messages describing him as “the staunchest advocate of Zionism.”

From all of these we can infer the big confusion that exists in the world. Therefore I hope that what I am telling you about my thoughts could be useful.

The ideas I expressed are contained in 333 Reflections -see what a coincidence. The last 26 refer exclusively to the problems affecting the environment and the imminent danger of a nuclear war.

And now I should very briefly add something.

I have always condemned the Holocaust. I my Reflections entitled “Obama’s Speech in Cairo”, “A Swipe Waiting to Happen”, and “The Opinion of an Expert” I expressed this very clearly.

I have never been an enemy of the Jewish people, which I admire for having resisted dispersion and persecution during two thousand years. Many of the most brilliant talents, such as Karl Marx and Albert Einstein, were Jews, because that was a nation where the most intelligent managed to survive by virtue of a natural law. In our country and in the whole world they were persecuted and slandered. But this is just pat of the ideas I defend.

They were not the only one who were persecuted and slandered for their beliefs. Muslims were attacked and persecuted for their beliefs by the European Christians for much more than 12 centuries, just as the first Christians were in ancient Rome before Christianity became an official religion of that empire. History should be accepted and remembered just the way it happened, with all its tragic realities and its fierce wars. I have spoken about that and that is why I have all the more reason to explain the dangers jeopardizing humankind today, when wars have become the biggest suicide risk for our fragile species.

If we add to this a war against Iran, even if it were of a conventional nature, the United States would rather turn off the light and say goodbye. How could the US put up with a war against 1.5 million Muslims?

For any true revolutionary, defending peace does not mean to renounce to the principles of justice, without which human life and society would be meaningless.

I still believe that Goldberg is an excellent journalist who is able to set out, in an enjoyable way and masterly way, his views, which promotes debate. He does not invent phrases; he transfers them and interprets them.

I will not refer to the content of many others aspects of our conversation. I will respect the secrecy of the issues we discussed and I eagerly await his future long article.

The current news that have started to pour from all sources make me to complement his presentation with these words whose essence is contained in the book “La contraofensiva estratégica” (The Strategic Counteroffensive), which I have just presented.

I believe that all peoples have the right to peace and enjoy all the goods and natural resources of the planet. What is currently going on with peoples in many countries of Africa, where there are millions of emaciated children, women and men out of lack of food, water and medicines is a shame. We feel astonished by the images we see from the Middle East, where Palestinians are deprived from their lands, their homes are demolished by gigantic equipment, and men, women and children are bombed with white phosphorus and other extermination means; the Dantesque scenes of families exterminated by the bombs dropped over Afghan and Pakistani towns by drones; the Iraqis who are dying after years of war; and the more than one million lives lost in that conflict imposed by a US President.

The last we could expect to see were the news about the expulsion of the French gypsies, who are victims of a new sort of racial Holocaust. The strong protest by the French is only logical. At the same time, the millionaires restrict French citizens’ rights to retirement while reducing the possibilities to get a job.

From the US we have heard the news of a pastor in Florida that intends to burn the Holy Book of the Quran in its own church. Even the Yankee and military chiefs engaged in punitive war missions were disturbed by the news which they believed would put their soldiers in jeopardy.

Walter Martínez, the prestigious journalist who conducts the Venezuelan TV program Dossier, was amazed at such madness.

Yesterday, Thursday 9th in the evening, some news asserted that the pastor had relinquished his idea. It might be necessary to know what the FBI agents who visited him told him to “persuade him”. That was a colossal media show, a chaos. Those are things proper of an empire that is sinking.

I thank all of you for your attention.

September 10, 2010.

Source: cubadebate.cu

Thursday 16 September 2010

Franz J. T. Lee: Can Contemporary Marxists with scientific precision predict future historic world events? - Two decades before it actually happened, we foresaw the Imperialist Demolition of Apartheid and the betrayal of the South African Revolution

Can Contemporary Marxists with scientific  precision predict future historic world events? 

Two decades before it actually happened, we foresaw the Imperialist Demolition of Apartheid and the betrayal of the South African Revolution


By Franz J. T. Lee



Document - Explanatory Note:

Without consulting the obeah man, the witch-doctor or the priest,  is it possible to foresee, to predict coming revolutionary events?

Can Contemporary Marxists with scientific  precision predict future historic world events?

Could we forecast the coming nuclear wars, the barbarism of world fascism? Yes, we could, if we know how to relate praxis with theory, with world emancipation. The following is an excellent example of how to do and think the future, future world events.

Only as such we can make and think the future of Venezuela, Cuba or South Africa.

The following epilogue reprinted below was originally written to be part of the conclusion of my Ph. D thesis in political science presented to the University of Frankfurt am Main in December 1970. However due to its scientific anticipatory nature I could only publish it later as epilogue of my book "Suedafrika am Vorabend der Revolution" (ISP-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main, 1976, pages 170 - 180). The book, later translated by the famous Africanist Wilfried F. Feuser, was immediately banned by the fascist, 'white' Apartheid regime in South Africa. It was right to fear its revolutionary contents, which indicated what would happen, at the latest, after 1990 in Southern Africa.

More than two decades before the demolition of the apartheid system and its replacement by a neo-liberal, neo-colonial capitalist state, ruled by an African elitist petit-bourgeois clan, we explained the political economic forces which would lead to the current social fiasco. Much of our elaborations are still valid today, and my writing is more actual than ever. Is South Africa at another 'eve of revolution'? At last, are we getting to 'class struggle'? Enjoy the following document as an excellent example of collective assessment and emancipatory approximation. Special thanks to our comrades who across the decades provided us with invaluable information directly from South Africa.

Furthermore, over the last decade we warned, mainly in VHeadline.com and in Aporrea.org, about the coming of the current Super Depression and how it would lead to an Orwellian 'One World Government', to global fascism, to globalized barbarism, to nuclear wars. We warned about imminent global barbarism, that is, the collapse of the capitalist world order, but we could not imagine what this really would mean ... all across the globe as 'breaking news', we are witnessing the collapse of the current world order, throwing all countries into its maelstrom of natural and social destruction.

We also underlined the external and internal  dangers which are still threatening the Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela. Nonetheless, Corporate Fascism is sowing terrorist hurricanes and earthquakes everywhere, again, for the last time, we better should reap the 'Winds of Change', magnify the storms on the Bastille, and take over the Winter Palace!

English Translation: http://www.franzlee.org.ve/sa01_index.html
German Original: http://www.franzlee.org.ve/einband.html





Here is the unique epilogue which predicted the betrayal of the South African Revolution to Corporate Imperialism:



1976 - Soweto Massacre on the Cover

Epilogue

"A focal point of this whole strategy of the South African government is the creation of a submissive black bourgeoisie among the various African "nations". These elite classes are used to broaden the base of the South African capitalist state. They will all try to conquer and preserve "their own" “national" market in their rural (and partially urban) ghettos. They will represent the economic base and the last resort for the ideology of "nationalism" of the Xhosa, Zulu, etc.. To create such a class requires prudence, time and stability. Even parts of the liberation movement and some of its charismatic leaders will be used in this process, even when they have to repatriate them from exile or release them from the concentration camp Robben Island. " (Franz J. T. Lee, 1976)


ABOUT THE FORMULATION OF A REVOLUTIONARY THEORY FOR SOUTH AFRICA

1. Economic structural change since the 60’s

As we have seen, the South African Republic had its origin in a British colony. For the economy, this meant an extreme foreign dependency, because as a colony, an area is of high interest to its motherland due to a few but important raw materials to be exchanged for manufactured goods.

Now, the Republic of South Africa has been a sovereign country for several decades, but its economy is still stuck to the old structures from the colonial period. This is all the more important than it has to pay high freight rates for the trade with the developed countries because of its geographical location.

For the conversion of the economy from the export of raw products to industrially manufactured goods, the Republic of South Africa requires a high degree of imports of capital goods, which it covered during a long period with gold exports. But meanwhile, the South African gold mining is decreasing, and the trade deficit has seen a growing trend. (1)

For the Republic of South Africa, which is more a police state than a republic, apart from the gold and diamond mines, there is a second source of wealth: the Apartheid. Originally intended as a support of the white workers in competition with their African colleagues, the various 'race' laws or proclamations, such as the "Industrial Conciliation Act” (1924), the "Bantu Labor (Settlement of Disputes) Act. No. 53" of 1953, the “Industrial Conciliation Act No. 28" of 1956, etc., finally were a good chance to employ about 80% of the population at wages that do not even cover the minimum subsistence. In the early 60’s the white rulers finally transformed South Africa in a "democratic police state" (Heribert Adam), in a huge prison for African slave laborers, temporarily even undercutting the minimal cost of reproduction of cheap labor, that is, 60% of the black wage-workers vegetated on the bare physical (not civilized) subsistence level and partially even below it. The generation of an identity between economic super-exploitation and political discrimination (Apartheid) has enabled the "crisis-free” and continuous expansion of economic growth.

The apartheid laws not only cause the extremely low wage level, but also guarantee, in relation with the contract worker system and the "Bantustans", a labor market, which the industrial nations have not seen for a long time. Especially countries with long-lasting shortage of manpower, as the Federal Republic of Germany - now No. 1 trading partner of the South African Herrenvolk (master race) State - are keen to exploit this favorable situation in South Africa through the outsourcing of production sites.

Thus, for example "the direct investments of the Federal Republic of Germany in South Africa are currently the largest, and they also have the highest growth rates.” The West German investments rose from “60 million DM in 1956, to 630 million DM in 1968. So they showed an increase of about 950 percent." (2)

The Federal Republic of Germany, which as one of the strongest industrial nations does not possess own colonies since the First World War, due to its traditional relations with Southern Africa, is especially committed there. Meanwhile, over 100 West German companies have branches in the apartheid State. (3)

Much closer than in the field of direct investments are the economic ties between the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and South Africa in the field of trade relations: only in the last eight years, the FRG-exports to South Africa tripled - it increased by a total of 1.2 billion DM in 1967 to 3.6 billion DM in 1974 (in the crisis year of 1975 there was a slight decline to 3.4 billion DM). (3a)

On the other hand, of course also the United Kingdom , the United States of America and France have strong ties with the Republic of South Africa. (4)

One could assume that by the investment boom during the 60’s, the differentiation in salary levels in South Africa would be repealed. Just the opposite is the case, because the large reserves of labor have not been exhausted at all. The direct consequences for the African population are well known, malnutrition, disease and an infant mortality, which is up to ten times higher than that of the 'whites' in South Africa. (5)

In this way, Africans are increasingly relegated to a "lumpen-proletariat", which has no more opportunities to determine their own destiny through political activities. This makes the social-revolutionary work of emancipation movements very difficult. The "master race" however is enabled by the racist laws to hold, expand and consolidate its own position.


2. "Consultation" and "dialogue policy”

In the early 70’s, the Republic of South Africa called the politically independent African states to a "dialogue" about a possible collaboration, and offered them the opportunity to establish diplomatic relations. This seemed inconsistent with the threats of the "Unholy Alliance" (South Africa, Rhodesia and Portugal) raised in 1970 against members of the Organization of African Unity (OAU). This "alliance" was born out of common economic and political interests of the 'white' minority governments.

In order to prevent the spread of the influence of these liberation movements and to stabilize the "inner peace" that foreign investors appreciate so much, the military cooperation of the "alliance" and a military expansion seemed necessary.

The objective of a "dialogue" between South Africa and "Black Africa", which found acceptance in some African countries (Ivory Coast, Ghana, Malawi, Madagascar, Central African Republic and Uganda), but was rejected by the OAU, had then (as now) concrete economic reasons.

With an increasing level of accumulation, the capital of the Republic of South Africa meets the borders of the internal market. The rapid "development" contrasts with the purchasing power of African wage earners. The establishment of always newer production capacities leads to an ever-increasing mass of use values, which at some point in the national context can only realize its exchange value, if the effective, that is, the solvent demand is increased.

If the current unjust distribution of the total product of the country between labor (wage earners) and capital (companies) does not want to be changed, there is only one solution: increasing the size of the market and thus of the demand by regional expansion.

South Africa’s need for such an expansion was reflected in the efforts to establish a "Common Market of Southern Africa". The "new" policy of President J. B. Vorster (1974/75) towards countries like Liberia, has to be seen under this aspect, too. It is clear that the South African economy (and thus the one of Rhodesia) permanently finds itself in crisis, which it overcomes only with the help of a larger African market.

At the end of the 60’s South Africa found itself in the following position: on one hand, the long-term decline in export prices led to an ever-increasing trade deficit. From 1965 till 1969, it expanded to an annual average of 312 pounds sterling. (6)

This deficit could be covered during some time by gold exports. In 1960, gold worth of 309 million pounds sterling was exported, in 1969 it was for 473 million pounds sterling. But the goldmines are exhausted: "The gold production in 1969 was only 0.5% higher than 1968. It is expected that production will begin to fall from mid-1970."

Exactly this was the case since then. Far more threatening than the production decline, now even live threatening for the South African economy is the current price decline. The gold price boom at the beginning of the world economical recession and as a result of the global currency crisis, where the price increased to over $ 200 per ounce and where the then South African Minister of Finance loudly announced a future price of 250-300 dollars, was followed by an incredibly sharp price decline to $ 100 per troy ounce Gold in the middle of 1976; a further decline to $ 80 is expected. This threatens the existence of the current gold production in South Africa - the productivity of the often obsolete equipment is low, which means in some cases at current prices: they no longer work profitable; as a result, in 1976 there was a rapid drop in prices of mining shares (in the first half of 1976 the rates were halved). (6b)

This current crisis in the gold production, which is the lifeblood of the South African economy has a contrary effect on the "reasonable" positions of industrial circles to loosen the policy of apartheid and to increase the consumption capacity of the masses through higher wages: the low wages in the gold mines are urgently required if profitability is not to be further limited.

The very low incomes of the Africans thus restrict the demand and with it the market of the South African industry, which in turn did not allow a cost-reducing mass production. As a South African study showed, only a common market in southern Africa could help the Republic of South Africa with its trade balance dilemma, that was not solved until today.

But what would be the implications for African countries with economic relations to the Republic of South Africa?

The history of Western Europe and North America shows that industrialization in a capitalist country always means the economic exploitation of other countries. It is always the economically and militarily stronger state, which first absorbs his "partner’s” food and raw materials (whether by theft or by trade), then appropriates the production factor of labor through outsourcing of industries or migrant workers and, finally, acquires the monopoly for the distribution of its own manufactured goods in the exploited country.

Thus, Rhodesia’s industry was not able to develop because of the close connection with South Africa. Only the Central African Federation made it possible for Rhodesia to protect itself against this economic pressure. With the decline of the Federation and the binding to the "Alliance" Rhodesia fell again in the wake of the South African economy. (7)

The 60-year-long commitment of Namibia to the Republic of South Africa has as a result that the economy of this country is based solely on mining, agriculture, fisheries - i.e. primary production - and a little tourism.

Similarly, the consequences are catastrophic for the "Bantustans" Transkei, Lesotho, Botswana and Swaziland. Migrant workers from these "independent" African countries but also from countries such as Mozambique and Malawi, are an inherent part of the South African strategy to create an economic metropolitan area in southern Africa. Because of its economic dependence the new FRELIMO government in Mozambique is forced to surrender the already traditional 200,000 migrant workers to the apartheid system of economic exploitation in the mines of South Africa, in spite of its revolutionary victory, otherwise threatens a very dire economic crisis in the country; also the internationally very controversial Cabora Bassa Barrage project is (still) running at full speed with the approval of FRELIMO and will supply electrical power to South Africa as it had been agreed with the Portuguese colonialists. A very expensively won political-military emancipation from Portuguese colonialism by a bloody 15-year guerrilla struggle appears at first to fail due to the international economic system and to end in an economic dependence on the Republic of South Africa.

One can summarize the general situation as follows: "relaxation" and "Bantustan policy” are two sides of the same counter-revolutionary strategy. Looking at the "relaxation" as a ‘purely’ political step, then it’s clear that it represents nothing else than an attempt by the Boer National Party to break out of the international isolation, that various international organizations had been imposed on South Africa after its withdrawal from the Commonwealth.

 As shown above, the motive for this policy results from economic and domestic political constraints. The Republic of South Africa is a sub-imperialist metropolis and forms the center of an economically integrated and / or associated association of countries of Southern Africa (from Zaire, Zambia, Mozambique to Zimbabwe and other countries). Some of these countries, for example Zambia, for political reasons have previously opposed themselves to the entry of goods and capital from South Africa. However, as was made clear, the capitalist South African economy depends on the search for new export markets for products, mining technology, mining capital, etc.. Global inflation has enabled some of the South African products to compete in African markets, so that the sub-Saharan countries see themselves obliged to trade with the apartheid regime. Social problems (e.g. monocultures) or social unrest have forced countries such as Zambia and Zaire to trade with South Africa.

The problems of the national liberation movements in southern Africa, but also the obvious failure of some of them (such as the ANC or the UNITA) made it necessary and possible for countries like Zambia, to find means and ways with which to test the theories of the Lusaka Manifesto. Certainly the timely isolation from the "white South" carried out for political reasons by the ruling elite of Zambia, brought about many “victims".

 The drive to find markets in Africa, required an expansion of the internal market, which simply means the full integration of the African consumers into the "Western" consumer pattern of the "white" South Africa. Shortage of skilled workers, irregular and decreasing immigration of whites, rising economic expectations and the evolving political consciousness of the urban black workers have forced the Vorster government to allow them former inaccessible professions and raise their wages so that they can buy the products launched from the conveyor belts of the consumer goods industry.

Apart from the fact that this questioned seriously the heart of apartheid – namely job reservation (the reservation of qualified professions for whites) - and threatened the electoral base of the ruling Nationalist Party, it is of great importance for the revolutionary theory: millions of African workers reach thus the same socio-economic development stage, which the Boer and British workers had acquired immediately before and after the Second World War, which will result in comparable political consequences.



3. Bantustan policy and "anti-Communist alliance" in Southern Africa


The Bantustan policy has maintained basically the function of the reserve system, that is, keeping ready cheap African labor for the purpose of increased exploitation, while satisfying at the same time the growing political demands of an urbanized black working class (e.g. in Soweto) without undermining the white capitalist hegemony.

Converting the urban blacks to strangers in the "white" South Africa and giving them "civil rights" in pseudo-"States", the Bantustans, is a magnificent trick.

These "states" will forever remain mere vassals and slums of the South African metropolis - as seen on the development of Lesotho, Swaziland and Botswana. The total economic and political-military power will remain in the hands of the white ruling class in South Africa.

In the coming decades of "peaceful" development and stability - if this will ever be the case; the events in the summer of 1976 speak another language - the Africans in South Africa will be regarded as foreigners, they themselves indeed will feel and be treated as such. Therefore, the structure of social apartheid can gradually be eliminated and the world will be rid of the stinking smell of apartheid. But whatsoever, only a very thin layer of the black middle-class had access to the troughs of the "white and Western civilization" in South Africa; the overwhelming majority of Africans has vegetated on the edge of subsistence. For these millions, it is irrelevant whether there is social apartheid or not, the class barriers show them their place. As long as the whites are not set under pressure by a looming expansion of a militant black working class, apparently they need not mourn the softening apartheid. A focal point of this whole strategy of the South African government is the creation of a submissive black bourgeoisie among the various African "nations". These elite classes are used to broaden the base of the South African capitalist state. They will all try to conquer and preserve "their own" “national" market in their rural (and partially urban) ghettos. They will represent the economic base and the last resort for the ideology of "nationalism" of the Xhosa, Zulu, etc.. To create such a class requires prudence, time and stability. Even parts of the liberation movement and some of its charismatic leaders will be used in this process, even when they have to repatriate them from exile or release them from concentration camp Robben Island.

But here arise the problems for the strategy of the ruling class. The events in Angola, Zimbabwe and Mozambique offered the white rulers a brilliant opportunity to show their counter-revolutionary tactics as a broad pan-African anti-communist alliance of South African countries, that are allegedly threatened by the "Russian-Cuban imperialism”.

Economic necessity, ideological pressure and the challenge of working class and student unrest in their countries have led the governments of countries such as Zambia, Malawi and Botswana, to join in fact this alliance.

This development has a dialectical effect on the domestic policies of the government in Pretoria. Because Kaunda & Co. must be considered anti-communist in their own countries, without giving up their "anti-apartheid" attitude. This means that increased pressure is exerted on the domestic junta to throw over board the offensive aspects of apartheid in the eyes of the West (so as the liberal circles in the "first world" understand it), so that for the agents of neo-colonialism in South Africa it is possible, as blacks to maintain some credibility with their people.

Another factor of great importance in the near future is the urgent need of Vorster to keep the armed struggle away from South Africa. Therefore it is urgent to defuse the situation in Namibia, even if this means that the territory is handed over to any 'Africanist', pro-capitalist black government. A similar situation is developing in Zimbabwe (Rhodesia). What is happening actually in Namibia, is a main rehearsal for what is planned in the Republic of South Africa. The ideologues of the Nationalist Party know that if they abolish the appearance form and certain obvious aspects of apartheid, they sooner or later have to do the same in South Africa. This is an additional means by which the white ruling class tries to prepare the white electorate for the acceptance of an arrangement of black pro-capitalist elements in the various liberation movements of this region and with their "homeland puppets” Matanzima, Buthelezi and Co. This overall strategy has adopted concrete forms only since the early seventies, and it has to be dealt with carefully at the level of revolutionary theory.

So we can summarize:

Vorster's detente policy, which now also controls Zambia, more and more seems to aim at chaining economically the whole of Africa south of Sahara to the "sub-metropolis" of South Africa and to turn politically independent countries into "Bantustans"; the late capitalist super-colonialism, which operates by means of imperialist sub-centers in the former colonial world, shows its "new" face: it is the same old, only with cosmetic changes. This sub-metropolis of the western world in Africa has the historic task of protecting the international capital militarily and economically. The international conflict in Angola, 1975/76, which once more is reflecting precisely the various world movements: Western capital interests, the division of international communism, the nationalist liberation movements that have got into the political and strategic calculations of the superpowers, and the total disagreement and hopelessness of the formal politically independent African states. This conflict was only the revolutionary prologue to the all-decisive drama in the Republic of South Africa itself in the coming years.

Written in Summer, 1976.
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Footnotes:
(1) Entwicklungspolitik, Frankfurt/Main, Nr. 11/12, 1971, p. 51
(2)  Informationszentrum Dritte Welt: Die Unterstuetzung des suedafrikanischen Nazismus durch Westdeutschland, eine Studie ueber Wirtschaftsbeziehungen BRD-Suedafrika, Dokument des Konsulats der Republik von Zambia, Freiburg/Br. 1970. See also: United States Corporate Investments and Social Change in South Africa, unpublished study, 1972; Morrison: Westdeutschlands wirtschafliche Verkettung mit der Apartheid, in: Pan African Journal (aus: Africa and the World, London), Jan/Feb. 1972
(3) See: Dritte Welt Information, Frankfurt/Main July 1972, "Apartheid und neokoloniale Expansion garantieren Gewinne", by Franz J.T. Lee, p.2
(3a) Commerzbank, Aussenhandelsblaetter. See also: Die Wochenzeitung, Was tun, Nr. 118/120, 26.8.1976
(4) Ueberblick ueber Aussmass und Bedeutung nordamerikanischer Investitionen in dem unter weisser Herrschaft stehenden suedlichen Afrika, ORK Unit II, Dokument Nr. 3, Cunene Dam Symposium, 1972.
(5) See: Franz J.T. Lee, Anatomy of Apartheid in Southern Africa, New York 1966, pp. 13f.
(6) See the extensive study: Robert Molteno, Africa y South Africa - Economic Background of South Africa's Outward Looking Policy, London 1971, p.19f.  Also: Franz J.T. Lee, Hintergruende des Dialogs Suedafrika - Schwarzafrika, in: Afrika im Westdeutschen Fernsehen, Hannover 1972, p. 46-50.
(6b)  See: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 24.8.1976, Kurssturz der suedafrikanischen Goldminen-Aktien.
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