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I wish to apologize for taking time to respond to you. I was immersed in a lot of commitments and struggled to find time to develop a befitting response. You will also pardon me as I fail to address you properly, your pen name, as well as the picture attached to your News24 account makes it impossible for me to determine your gender.

Your reply to myself, which was published online by News24 on 3 January 2017, is interesting for me. Following your confession that you have read a few of my articles has shown me that your critique extended beyond the article in question. I will therefore respond with that in mind. Here under please receive my points in reaction to your arguments;

In Paragraph 3, you make interesting observations about the inextricable relationship between states (you narrowly refer to governments) and owners of production, which in this case is a few individuals. But you immediately distort this observation by blaming governments (or states), for the problems of the world.

This observation is problematic in that it assumes that all governments, or states, operate in isolation from external players. The observation is also weakened by the contradiction contained in the statement; The problems of the world are caused by weak governments that are caught up in capitalism.

Looking at your post, it is unclear if you apportion the problems of the world to capitalism, due to weak governments being involved or being affected by capitalism, or whether the problems of the world are caused by weaknesses within governments themselves. But later on, you argue that I must not blame capitalism. The contradiction is loud here.

In your reply, you have been unable to counter my argument that capitalism has failed to solve the problems of the world. This is because there can be no scientific, credible argument to counter my claim. It is impossible to prove how capitalism has improved the lives of the people.

The capitalist project has been characterized by crises since time immemorial. Prabhat Patnaik, Professor Emeritus at the Center for Economic Studies and Planning at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, wrote the following in 2016; The thirty-year crisis of capitalism, which encompassed two world wars and the Great Depression, was followed by a period that some economists call the Golden Age of capitalism. Today, however, capitalism is once again enmeshed in a crisis that portends far-reaching consequences. I am not referring here to the mere phenomenon of the generally slower average growth that has marked the system since the mid-1970s. Rather, I am talking specifically of the crisis that started with the collapse of the U.S. housing bubble in 2007-8 and which, far from abating, is only becoming more pronounced.

The current economic crisis, which started in the US, is not accidental, but is a by-product of the fundamental nature of capitalism. The system of capitalism promises all and sundry that all problems will be solved by some invisible hand. That invisible hand was literally invisible when the housing bubble exploded in US in 2007-08. Instead of the market correcting itself, the US government spent millions of dollars to rescue private firms that were affected by the crisis. The US government, in so doing, was involved in a process of nationalization of debt.

Capitalism has failed to solve the problems of inequality, poverty and unemployment. South Africa is a clear case study. Many amongst us are fed the lie that we need a certain level of economic growth in order for the economy to create jobs. That is a lie. Capitalism does not care about alleviating poverty, or creating jobs, or reducing inequality. In all the three cases, capitalism vies for the opposite.

Ina sheer display of the monstrosity of capitalism, in 2015/16 financial year, Shoprite CEO Whitey Basson earned an annual basic salary of R49.7 million, plus a performance bonus of R50 million, leaving him with an annual pay of R100 million. This when ordinary employees of Shoprite take home about R500 per week. We dont care that Basson has worked in that company for 45 years, but this pay is an insult to the many employees, who serve the company as slaves, only for one greedy person to enjoy the fruits of their sweat. This is capitalism.

In UK, it is reported that the FTSE 100 average CEO is paid 129 times more than an average employee. The US, as the ultimate model of capitalism, is the worst. This is where capitalism and its failures can be studies without fail.

Even the educated people you are reffering to, who you state choose capitalism, are slaves of the capitalist project. The all sell their labour to their masters, and receive meagre wages. You can be an investment Broker, Engineer, etc., as long as you sell your labour, you are a slave of the capitalists. Through your labour, companies like PHG make trillions of dollars every day. The cars, houses, expensive watches they flash are nothing but tools of enslaving them further.

You enquired why socialism has not worked. This assertion is flawed and exposes your gross misinformation. Cuba is a socialist country and the system is working, not only for Cubans but for the world. Given its highly advanced education system, Cuba teaches medicine to some Americans who offer medical support in poor communities, thanks to state subsidies. Cuba has doctors, engineers and other professionals working all over the world, including in South Africa. In Cuba, there are no street people, like is the case in America, UK, South Africa and elsewhere.

Another example is China, where communism is practiced. The state, through legislation, policy and intervention, is in charge of the economy. There is no claim of an invisible hand in China as the hand is directly from the Communist Party of China. China is about to surpass US as the worlds largest economy.

The fall of the Soviet Union was not because the system had failed. It was mainly because of the weakening of the party and its infiltration by external elements.

I still maintain, Capitalism has never, and shall never, solve the problems of the world. Socialism is a worthy alternative. Socialism shall replace the greedy, selfish and exploitative character of capitalism

Disclaimer: All articles and letters published on MyNews24 have been independently written by members of News24's community. The views of users published on News24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent the views of News24. News24 editors also reserve the right to edit or delete any and all comments received.

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A reply to No Ohno: On Socialism and Capitalism - News24

Hillary Clinton, who had a national approval rating of 58% as recently as 2014, was not able to defeat the historically unpopular Donald Trumpeven with a 2.8 million popular vote advantage. That speaks to Clinton and her partys deficiencies far more than it does Trumps message or agenda. Dealing with this colossal defeat should be the paramount duty of the Democratic Party. And they have a golden opportunity in the ghost of the Sanders campaignan opportunity in socialism.

Yet because the entire party infrastructure has revolved around the Clinton machine for the past two decades, acknowledging that fact is impossible for the Democratic establishment. It may mean accepting inter-establishment change, an unacceptable proposition to Democratic elites in the party and their surrogates in the media.

A two decade feedback loop of money, influence, and star power has made it so that, when faced with a colossal defeat like the one on November 8, the partys internal defense mechanisms must begin to whirr and clatter as the establishments collective intelligence works to ensure that it wont be taken apart. They are entrenched and resistant to change, introspection, or challenge. So theyve chosen to focus news reporting on conspiracy theories and Russophobic hyperbole.

The Rachel Maddow Show spent the first twenty minutes of its show on Monday obsessing over a conflict between Russia and Belarus and working to tie that conflict to the White House. Its hardly the first time as Norman Solomon wrote in Countepunch last month, the liberal soul of MSNBC has left reporting aside for agenda-driven conjecture and illogic.

The entire Democratic media establishment has spent the past three months ballooning criticisms of Donald Trumpinto ever-more preposterous conspiracy theories that would be more at home on, say, The Alex Jones Show (pre-election) than the mainstream media.

Joy Reid leads off an article for The Daily Beast by naming Trump Moscow Don because it avoids addressing the fact that the Clinton campaign stopped union activists from traveling to Michigan to get out the vote before the election. Clinton surrogates like Neera Tanden, Brian Fallon, and John Podesta can appear on Sunday shows to pontificate about how Trump is a Putin plant just as long as they dont have to address the campaigns inability to produce a message that resonated with the America that has been subject to neoliberal economic policies for three decades.

Russia influencing US election to put Trump in power is bigger than Watergate, David Corn of the misnomered Mother Jones magazine tweeted on December 9, conveniently ignoring the inability of the Clinton campaign to visit Wisconsin and Michigan in October.

The party is so entrenched in its behaviors that House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi shot down a charismatic young man at a CNN town hall for suggesting the party adopt more socialistic policies.

First of all, were capitalist, Pelosi said, and thats just the way it is.

What a wasted opportunity on the stage of a major media outlet. Millennials dont care about Russia. The youth of America doesnt see capitalism as a generally good thing. Socialism is more popular than its been in a generation.

Almost a decade of attacks on Obama as being a socialist led to a candidate for president in one of the two major parties present himself as such and gain a large amount of support. Part of this is due to the fact that Bernie Sanders campaign spoke to a lot of Americans. But part of it also has to do with the relentless hammering of a young, popular president as socialist. Thats how poll after poll for almost a decade shows the political ideology growing in popularity among the younger generations.

Poll after poll indicates growing support for socialism especially among young people. Socialist Alternative is working toward forming a new socialist party, based on Marxist politics. The movement we are building will need a clear anti-capitalist, socialist force within it that argues for a working-class-centered struggle against Trump and the entire system, which has totally outlived its usefulness.

If the Democratic Party wants to grow, it will have to accept a changing conversation around economic justice. Obsessing over Russia and conspiracy theories is not the way to build an alternative to Trumpin fact, its a recipe for future defeat. That may not matter for career politicians and media personalities in the Clintonite Democratic establishment whose only function and purpose is to hold onto power during a rocky political moment, but it should matter to the rest of us.

You can reach Eoin Higgins on Facebook and Twitter.

More here:
Russian Conspiracy? Yes. Socialism? No. - Paste Magazine

The rose is the most widely used symbol among socialists. Courtesy of DSA

In trend with the Democratic Socialists of Americas (DSA) rise in national popularity, UTSA will have a DSA chapter in its city.

San Antonio joins a list of cities with a newly recognized DSA by becoming Texas tenth chapter.

Riley Metacalfe, UTSA graduate student, organized the chapter and established recognition from the DSAs national office.

I wanted to be part of a chapter here but the nearest one was in Austin, Metacalfe said, after Trump got elected I decided to start ours in San Antonio.

You could literally see the moment Trump was declared winner, DSA National Director Maria Svarv said in a message to new sign-ups.

Metacalfe organized thirteen invested members, many UTSA students or alumni, and now wants to extend the opportunity of membership to the San Antonio community.

The DSA reported a rise from 6,500 members in May to over 15,000 today. The rise in membership was found in Texas as well; Austins DSA reported over 400 new members in the month of Jan.

The associations visibility has Senator Bernie Sanders and his presidential campaign much to thank.

Across the country, Senator Bernie Sanders 2016 presidential campaign ignited a spark within the millennial generation,

Drew Galloway, executive director at MOVE San Antonio, said, Young people heard about issues that matter most to us: student debt relief, criminal justice reform, access to higher education, environmental justice and economic equity just to name a few.

When you think of the stigmatization against socialism, Bernie Sanders removed that, Metacalfe added.

The socialism stigmatization had subsided since the Cold War. In Nov. 2012, the Gallup survey found 39 percent of Americans had a positive reaction to socialism, including 53 percent of Democrats.

The San Antonio chapters first public meeting will be held on Sunday, Feb. 19 at Geekdom downtown.

The first step is organizing. Recruiting people and seeing what kind of numbers we have and what kind of outreach we can do. Metacalfe said, The DSA is the biggest socialist organization in the country, it unites the left-democrats, communists, anarchists Its about recognizing that in this country we need to start uniting those with a shared anti-capitalist ideology.

What appeals to me about the DSA is their big tent and the San Antonio members willingness to help lead social activism in San Antonio, Kristine Robb, Texas State graduate student, said, I want to channel my frustration into positive outcomes in the San Antonio community. The DSA is a good place to converse and organize people with the same goals.

Recruiting is an uphill challenge for new organizations, but Metacalfe intends to use the opposition to the Trump presidency as an opportunity for the chapter.

People in the middle will see that the (DSA) are the real opposition to Trump in the next four years. Weve already seen that the Democrats have done poorly in resisting him and I think the people who lean middle-left are sick of it, Metacalfe said.

To find out more about the San Antonio DSA chapter, visit their Facebook page at facebook.com/sanantoniodsa/?fref=ts

See the rest here:
Democratic socialism debuts on campus - UTSA The Paisano

posted at 11:25 pm on February 7, 2017 by John Sexton

This debate had a strange premise: Two Senators arguing over a health care lawthat neither one of them believes in.

Bernie Sanders is supportive of Obamacare in thesame way someone who wants to climb to the roof is supportive of a step ladder. It wont get you there but its moving the direction you want to go. Frequently during this debate when Obamacare was thrown under the bus by Cruz or by an audience member asking a question, Sanders simply sidestepped it and refused to defend the law.

For instance, should all plans, including those for older women beyond child-bearing age, mandate maternity care? Sanders agreed that was something to look at and consider changing. Is it fair to charge people a fee for not buying insurance? Sanders refused to defend the mandate directly. Are plans with a $13,000 deductible really offering anything to the people who are forced to buy them? Sanders says its ridiculous (Im paraphrasing but the gist was to throw up his hands and agree it was terrible).

Sanders came not to defend Obamacare but to argue for his Medicare-for-all plan. He focused on income inequality, high CEO salaries and the need to tax the wealthy much more. His most repeated line may have been the one about healthcare being a right, i.e. something you are automatically granted by the state.

Meanwhile,Ted Cruz wants Obamacare repealed and replaced in favor of something with more flexibility and competition. He talked about the failure of socialist medicine abroad, stifling regulation and moving away from theconcept of government control of health care.

No doubt partisans on each side will feel their guy won but, despite the fight night style billing, this wasnt the type of debate with knock-out punches being thrown. There was some direct confrontation by both Sanders and Cruz but they kept it relatively respectful throughout.

What I think we saw tonight was evidence that the debate over Obamacare is really just partof a broaderdebate about capitalism versus socialism. Those are the two poles toward which our politics seem to be moving, as evidenced by Sanders and Cruz doing so well in the primaries. Frankly, Democrats didnt want to have that debate in 2009 because they knew it was deadly to their goals, but its the debate we should have been having all along.

Theres some extraneous material at the beginningso just skip forward about 8 minutes.

Go here to read the rest:
Obamacare debate between Sanders and Cruz often boils down to socialism vs. capitalism - Hot Air

On Sunday, the University of Central Florida Knights for Socialism held an event titled Self-Defense Clinic: Boxing to teach students to defend themselves and BASH THE FASH, under a Donald Trump presidency.

According to the Knights for Socialism event page, the clinic is being held in response to the record number of hate crimes against Latinos, Immigrants, Muslims, Women, the LGBTQIA+ community, Jews, African Americans and other minorities since the rise of Donald Trump and other Alt-Right Neo-Nazis.

Chairman of the Knights for Socialism, Sophomore Dylan Tyer has stated that these events are crucial and that he himself has been threatened here at UCF.

I have gotten threats [at UCF], Ive been told Id be shot by a right-wing death squad. Ive been told as a protestor, as someone who organizes mass actions and protests that I should be run over, gas chambers, you name it. Its absolutely disgusting; there are really people on this campus that are really honestly sociopaths, Tyer said.

During the event, local amateur fighter Adrian taught the group how to properly throw a jab and followed by giving everyone a chance to put on a pair of boxing gloves and test their skills. Participants enjoyed the experience and felt that they really learned something.

I think this is a useful skill to have. Like if you are out somewhere and someone tries to hurt you. But other then that I think its something to add to your repertoire, freshman Physic student Joe Walsh sad.

Though this event was classified as a public event on Facebook, This event is open to everyone and anyone, EXCEPT REPUBLICANS, was written in the about section.

Conservatives at UCF expressed concern about being excluded from the event.

I think the organization needs to revue the UCF Golden Rule if they want to continue to be an official organization on campus, Chairwomen of the College Republicans Karis Lockhart said.

Their exclusive and divisive language on their Facebook event goes against the UCF Golden Rule and what UCF stands for. The event goes further to prove that they do not want to have an educated discussion about the issues, as they much rather host an event that blatantly excludes fellow Knights that have a different politically ideology than them, Lockhart said.

Tyer believes these concerns about Republicans being excluded are unwarranted.

There are people who say in response to the rise of SJWs (Social Justice Warriors) that they are going to start conceal carrying on campus, which is blatantly illegal. Thus, I dont think any concerns about us are warranted, Tyer said.

This was The Knights for Socialisms first of many planned self-defense seminars. If you are interested in hearing more about Knights for Socialism or attending there next self defense clinic, you can follow Knights for Socialism on Facebook for details.

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Knights for Socialism Hold Self-Defense Clinic to Bash The Fash ... - KnightNews.com