Chris Harman 1942-2009

The death of socialist activist and author Chris Harman is a sad loss to the international socialist movement. Chris died yesterday in Cairo having suffered a cardiac arrest. He was a tireless activist, writer and creative thinker. His books introduced thousands to Marxist economics and history with their clear and accessible style. He will be sorely missed, my condolences to his family and friends.

Chris wrote many fine books, my favourite is A People’s History of the World. Selected by the Independent on Sunday as one of the Top Ten History Books. If you have never read any of Chris Harman’s work then check out Bookmarks The Socialist Bookshop or the Marxist Internet Archive.

The best way to celebrate Chris’s contribution to socialist activism is to redouble our efforts to build socialist and trade union organisation around the world. 

Oxfam gets it wrong on Afghanistan

“There should be unified NATO command for all international forces in Afghanistan,

with a permanent mechanism to monitor operating standards of all units, ensure all

detainees are treated in accordance with international humanitarian law, including

those transferred to the custody of Afghan authorities, and strengthen coordination

with Afghan forces.”

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/resources/policy/conflict_disasters/downloads/afghanistan_priorities.pdf 

Is it just me who finds Oxfam’s position on Afghanistan profoundly misjudged? The organisation has had an office in Afghanistan since 1992 (e.g. it was able to operate under previous regimes). It currently takes a position of supporting the occupation of Afghanistan. Surely a humanitarian organisation should simply seek to operate where it can, not take a position on the rights and wrongs of George Bush’s inherited foreign policy?

 

Narco prof slams m'perialists

October 2009- Chomsky on 'unipolar world'

"The turnout for this event was truly extraordinary, and I think it’s a testament to how much Professor Chomsky’s ideas chime with our challenging times,” said Dan Plesch, Director of the Centre for International Studies

watch recording here

A mans word is his...oh sod it.

It's good to know that in these days of distrust and scepticism that there is one shinning light that radiates through the black clouds of parliamentarian self interest. Three cheers for bold David Cameron, the future prime minster of Great Britain, who took a valiant stand in 2007. Telling the nations' favourite daily that he will change the course of British politics and made 'a cast iron garantee' that he would call a referendum on "any" EU treaty on the table. 

David Cameron 26th September 2007 

"Today, I will give this cast-iron guarantee: If I become PM a Conservative government will hold a referendum on any EU treaty that emerges from these negotiations." 

Those tiresome lefties that harp on about the Conservatives being the home of shameless worshipers of money and power have met their nemesis!

Into the Storm: Churchill on the Jewish involvement in the Russian Revolution

In 1920, Churchill wrote a full page article for the Illustrated Sunday Herald detailing the Jewish involvement in the Russian revolution:

"This movement amongst the Jews (the Russian Revolution) is not new. From the days of Spartacus Weishaupt to those of Karl Marx, and down to Trotsky (Russia), Bela Kuhn (Hungary), Rosa Luxembourg (Germany) and Emma Goldman (United States), this world wide conspiracy for the overthrow of civilization and the reconstruction of society on the basis of arrested development, of envious malevolence, and impossible equality, has been steadily growing. It played, as a modern writer, Mrs. Nesta Webster, has so ably shown, a definitely recognizable part in the tragedy of the French Revolution. It has been the mainspring of every subversive movement during the Nineteenth Century; and now at last this band of extraordinary personalities has gripped the Russian people by the hair of their heads and have become practically the undisputed masters of that enormous empire. There is no need to exaggerate the part played in the creation of Bolshevism and in the actual bringing about of the Russian Revolution by these international and for the most part atheistic Jews. Moreover, the principal inspiration and driving power comes from Jewish leaders."

When it came to the conduct of the Civil War in Russia Churchill personally warned White Army General Denikin, whose forces Britain was funding and equipping and who were undertaking pogroms against Jewish communities, that “my task in winning support in Parliament for the Russian Nationalist cause will be infinitely harder if well-authenticated complaints continue to be received from Jews in the zone of the Volunteer Armies“. General Denikin ignored Churchill’s warnings, and the pogroms continued.