And if also 98% of californians voted for the two uncle’s men, no change appears possible unless one enlightens these people ab. what the 2% is actually not only doing but also saying.

Amers, methinks, ought to be enlightened mostly ab. simplicities that even a seven yr-old cld understand.
What do the following simplicities mean: colatteral damage, unameicanism, defense of US interests, war on terror, democracy in US, flag, constitution, cults, greatness of america, threats to liberties, basic human rights?
Electing a new governor for california is, of course, a noble cause. But if s/he ignores to any degree the elucidation, i’m doubtful that a positive change wld come.

The key to it all had been everywhere clerico-patrician disinformation. If that continues unabated, once again one can see a 98% vote for the 003% to 2% of the people.
It makes no that much difference whether Obama, clinton, clooney, or rooney gets in.
The 180 US aggressions wld still presage another ten or 20 US aggressions.
tnx

Richard Oxman writes …

. C’mon, Deadbeat, if you want to help the Palestinians what possible reason could you have for not getting behind the boycott, sanctions and divestment that is at the top of TOSCA’s agenda?

Richard, reading your 10 points didn’t specify that BDS as the top of TOSCA agenda. What is at the top of the agenda of TOSCA is a haphazard plan to run an electoral campaign for Governor. In addition I am rather skeptical that BDS could possibly be at the top of TOSCA’s agenda since Noam Chomsky and Norman Finkelstein are both against any boycott of Israel and you’ve seem to want to recruit for TOSCA along with same-old lefty icons who seem rather tepid on the issue of confronting Zionism.

But essentially that is an assumption on my part. Perhaps you’ll be able to convince Chomsky to alter his position but Chomsky symbolizes the confusion that TOSCA appears to be and over the past 30 years I seen enough muddled strategies, disappointments and betrayals.

Action that leads to some sort of strategic goal is admirable. Action just for the sake of action is a waste of time and energy. Also should TOSCA fail in its efforts it could rather than advance BDS it could suck the oxygen and seriousness out of the campaign.

For example the recent article by Naomi Klein which appears to provide a critical analysis of the recent conference on racism in Durban was a textbook example of sophistry. The critique by Joel Kovel of Ms. Klein article is yet another indictment of how NOT to help the Palestinian cause. Klein appears to now thrust herself in as a “leading” spokesperson for the Palestinian cause and Israeli boycott with the signature campaign protest of Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) — and her recent appearance on Democracy Now! Is she really helping or DIVERTING?

And that is my question regarding TOSCA. Is TOSCA really helping or DIVERTING from what is really needed especially in this time of economic and political crisis. IMO and in my assessment it is a diversion as it will not achieve its goal and will waste precious time and money and consume much of the needed oxygen needed to build solidarity and the kinds of strategies needed to confront the system.

I hope I am wrong but 30 years of Left-wing politics tell me otherwise.

. C’mon, Deadbeat, if you want to help the Palestinians what possible reason could you have for not getting behind the boycott, sanctions and divestment that is at the top of TOSCA’s agenda?

Richard, reading your 10 points didn’t specify that BDS as the top of TOSCA agenda. What is at the top of the agenda of TOSCA is a haphazard plan to run an electoral campaign for Governor. In addition I am rather skeptical that BDS could possibly be at the top of TOSCA’s agenda since Noam Chomsky and Norman Finkgelstein are both against any boycott of Israel and you’ve seem to want to recruit for TOSCA along with same-old lefty icons who seem rather tepid on the issue of confronting Zionism.

But essentially that is an assumption on my part. Perhaps you’ll be able to convince Chomsky to alter his position but Chomsky symbolizes the confusion that TOSCA appears to be and over the past 30 years I seen enough muddled strategies, disappointments and betrayals.

Action that leads to some sort of strategic goal is admirable. Action just for the sake of action is a waste of time and energy. Also should TOSCA fail in its efforts it could rather than advance BDS it could suck the oxygen and seriousness out of the campaign.

For example the recent article by Naomi Klein which appears to provide a critical analysis of the recent conference on racism in Durban was a textbook is sophistry. The critique by Joel Kovel of Ms. Klein article is yet another indictment of how NOT to help the Palestinian cause. Klein appears to now have thrust herself in as a “leading” spokesperson for the Palestinian cause with the boycotting of Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) — and her recent appearance on Democracy Now! Is she really helping or DIVERTING?

And that is my question regarding TOSCA. Is TOSCA really helping or DIVERTING form what is really needed especially in this time of economic and political crisis. IMO and in my assessment it is a diversion as it will not achieve its goal and will waste precious time and money and consume much of the needed oxygen needed to build solidarity and the kinds of strategies needed to confront the system.

I hope I am wrong but 30 years of Left-wing politics tell me otherwise.

If you ask Deadbeat what he’s doing about this little litany of creating a kind of people power over the elite system; of a “leftist agenda” (to paraphrase), you’ll probably get a deafening silence…at least I always have.

And if you ask Max Shields what he is doing to make the American public aware of Zionist influence in the United Sates you’ll get deflection. Silence would be much better than deflection because deflection maintain the same sorry narrative that has been offered from the Left for the past 30 years and which has now resulted in Gaza and the incresed level of oppression of the Palestianians was well and the raison d’etre of the war machine today (War on Terror).

“The struggle is our existence on a planet that provides us with everything we need..”

And indeed, that has been the reality of the planet for thousands of years, however the problem is like Karl Marx that the history of the world has been a history of a dictatorship of the elites exploiters over the exploited majority. And the wealth of the planet has always been kidnapped and stolen by a few, while the majority can only get the crumbles that the elites give us. That has been the history of the world.

In the words of the great old warrior and Ku Klux Klan member, Senator Robert Byrd: “We are truly sleepwalking through history.” To be more precise, we are sleepwalking into the beginning of a vast world war whose purpose is to achieve a larger hidden global agenda. Or rather, there is nothing new about this World War — it is a continuation of the Thousand Year War which has been known as the Crusades

A poignant out-cry about exitence that is universal and non-ideological. The human struggle against all odds. The human condition is a PROBLEM. If we tackle the problem piecemeal, we create ever more problems, worse than the original.

The struggle is our existence on a planet that provides us with everything we need, if only we understood it to its core. It is a biological existence where mind and body are one, a kind of phenomenology.

Our material society is light-years away from any kind of connection, with but a few exceptions. H. Miller’s Air Conditioned Nightmare might better describe or collective existence in the US of America.

But in the simplest sense it is confronting the world, realizing that to receive what the planet has to offer, one must fully engage it, not hide from it or disappear into technology of one sort or another.
Some might state that the act of solidarity, the action of solidarity, creates this “going on”. I think that’s wishful.

What’s in it for people of color? How is this or that agenda going to guarantee that racism is not tolerated? For starters, initial contact is all about providing a number of litmus tests in that regard. Does the P&F agenda satisfy?

Best,
Ox

I’m waiting for your response to the question I posed especially with regards to outreach to communities of color and how do you plan to safeguard against betrayal.

You wrote the following …

You invoke the name of Beckett with your facile reference to Godot. Beckett said over and over again: “Fail. Fail again. Fail again better.”

From what I’ve seen and experience the problem was not “Failure”. It has been very successful if the goal is sabotage, misguiding, misdirection and betrayal. This is again why I’m asking specifically the question of TOSCA outreach to communities of color. Since they have experienced betrayal by the Left on the issue of race and class this will be a great test of the VERACITY of Tosca. Also having an ideological underpinning will provide TOSCA with the basis of why people should put their asses on the line.

It is one thing to say you are going to take over California but what are you going to do with it there after and for whom? Such lofty rhetoric has been spewed going all the way back to the Progressive Era yet racism was still the dividing line that weaken these movements. So I think you have a lot of convincing to do.

The Left for these past 30 years has drifted away from class and race analysis. Marxism is finding a resurgence but what is missing IMO is outreach on an ideological level that can inspire people to take OFFENSIVE measures rather than defensive. TOSCA could have that possibility but right now it seem to me to be defensive and another “Green Party”/”New Party” effort. Good Luck!

.

Going back to previous sentiments expressed, I wanted to add that the American Revolution didn’t have the majority of the people on board. The public was not “ready” for that either.

Do not speculate respecting what others will or won’t do. Do your own thing in a healthy way as best you can, but do not forget that eventually we will all have to congregate, come together on looking at matters communally. The problem we have in this regard is getting ahead of ourselves mentally. Our brains get overwhelmed with our limited notions about “human nature” and precedents from history and current all-too-obvious trends.

I recommend taking one step on your own whilst keeping eyes and heart out for recruiting others on a one-on-one basis.

So like you said that unless the prices of foods at most fast food restaurant goes up people won’t go back to the kitchen. But sooner or later we will see many fast food joints going banrupt because with the economic recession americans will be forced to get back to the kitchen.

.

“You say the working class is tired. But then you say that cooking at home is easy. Cooking at home is NOT easy, it requires time and energy to shop, to prepare and cook the food, and to clean up after. And to do this day after day after coming home from work and maybe before going off to a second job..”

And indeed, cooking 3 whole meals a day (Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner) is truely hard, it requires lots of physical energies. Domestic chores are real exhausting indeed. Since most people need 3 meals a day, many are forced to eat 2 of those meals at home and 1 at a restaurant.

.

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It is never “time” though. When my wife Sylvie and I put on One Dance: The People’s Summit http://www.counterpunch.org/mickey02102004.html …Stan Goff, Michael Parenti, Cynthia McKinney and a host of people (who very sweetly gave of themselves) all pointed out how the time wasn’t right for the national demo we were proposing, the new kind of action we were begging them to support proactively. Not saying anything bad about them; we were happy to have them with us to the extent that they participated. HOWEVER, it is NEVER… “time.” People are NEVER ready to move in solidarity. It is ALWAYS, on the other hand, the right time to dig into the earth and make a patch for oneself. No argument when it comes to the bleak horizon of workers et al. AND no argument regarding the fact that there’s a huge value to doing something directly impacting on one’s life in a healthy way; that’s where one has to start no matter what. BUT… there’s still too much “theory” being bandied about… too much talk about where people are, etc. Too much analysis. Chomsky goes on forever with analyses BUT his focus for readers and audiences is always on WHAT THEY CAN DO, trying to motivate people to do something. To not remain atomized. Talk and writing is atomizing after a point. Obviously.

People of color. I have been trying forever to recruit people of color. I can remember being broken-hearted (and angry) when Stan Goff criticized One Dance because so few people of color were in the audience over the three nights. To this day, I can only explain stuff like that away by focusing on how everyone, particularly people of color perhaps, are caught up with immediate survival issues… and couple that with the “bad history” with others vis-a-vis organizing and the like. Still trying to find out why people of color AND OTHERS do not even do me the courtesy of responding in so many cases… even when I ask them to join hands with us in solidarity ON A BASIS THAT WILL SUIT THEIR PURPOSES. Even when I offer to have them write their own ticket.

It is VERY important for all of us to address that fact of life… which represents momentum which is — for all practical purposes — culminating in a kind of Invasion of the Body Snatchers scenario, if you know what I mean.

Rather than address each and every point that people have contributed here*, I’d like to close for the moment by pointing out that whatever you’ve said here… you still can send a single person of color… a single union person… a single anyone… my way… asking them to get in touch with me at TOSCA.2010 [ATAT ATat] ya HOO . COm immediately. THAT is what TOSCA’s fundamentally about. Getting people to gather mentally in a new way. ALL of the existing organizations that I know about… all of the solidarity options available to people… are without powerful enough potential. I agree with the person who said that first we have to give up this and that. YES. But in doing so there’s nothing to keep us from exploring NEW ground vis-a-vis solidarity.

TOSCA may not have what it takes. But its starting point is absolute frustration with the other options. And its heart is focused on the solidarity that it encourages coming up with SOMETHING that’ll be better than the Hell on Earth which is fast taking hold. One person from you will do. Personal contact info from you will do.

Please note that although I want people to give me their total heartbeats… TOSCA can serve their purposes with the most minimal set of heartbeats. Like… ten minutes total over the next year… as per http://oxtogrind.org/archive/364.