I am including the following short conversation on Facebook about the assassination of General Qasem Soleimani of Iran by the United States military.
A question: Do you think that those who remain uncritical of the power of employers as a class, when push come to shove, would oppose war perpetrated by their own country? Cory Bryan’s response to the assassination may aid in answering that question.
Global Day of Protest
Saturday, January 25
No War On Iran!
On Saturday, January 25 in cities across the globe, there will be protests against a new war in the Middle East. Please join us.
Cory Bryan Really!!!, Iran will take us out in a minute, if given the chance. This is the only thing I stand by Trump for,, and if they retaliate the Country should be wiped up !!!!,,,,period .
Fred Harris The American government has been a terrorist government for decades. Failure to recognize this then leads to such views as expressed by Cory Bryan. For example, in Guatemala in 1954, the CIA aided in the overthrow of the democratically-elected government of Jacobo Arbenz, which eventually resulted in the slaughter of over 200,000 Guatemalans by the Guatemalan military.
Of course, those who talk of “fair contracts,” “decent work,” and the like also contribute to such views as expressed by Cory Bryan because they idealize the American (and Canadian) economy.
Those who oppose war should, logically, oppose the power of employers as a class since foreign policy is linked to such power. However, social democrats who oppose particular wars (such as the possible war with Iran) illogically idealize the kind of society in which we live.
Cory Bryan Fred Harris Sorry Fred I am a vet, been to fight and peace keeping. I did answer the call was in their land seen their ways and felt their brutality and views come from what I learned and seen as a young soldier, make no mistake Iran doesn’t care for or about any of us. If you think they are free and want peace !!, is a fool when we where there in the 80’s to deal with the devil and take him out , we should of continued to take Iran a government mistake because of oil ,,,
Fred Harris The American government does not care for any of us. American workers are not free.
In Canada, around 1,000 workers die at work every year, with over 600,000 injuries. Unrecognized casualties of the dictatorship of employers.
Furthermore, see the following work (quoted from my blog–the author is American) (oh, is American freedom not so great so that “we” would defend such freedom with our lives? Fools are those who fail to look at the social and economic context of their own lives):
Elizabeth Anderson, in her book Private Government: How Employers Rule Our Lives (and Why We Don’t Talk About It) questions the assumption of the social-democratic or reformist left by pointing out how the power of employers resembles the power of communist dictators (pages 37-39):
Communist Dictatorships in Our Midst
Imagine a government that assigns almost everyone a superior
whom they must obey. Although superiors give most inferiors a
routine to follow, there is no rule of law. Orders may be arbitrary
and can change at any time, without prior notice or opportunity
to appeal. Superiors are unaccountable to those they order
around. They are neither elected nor removable by their inferiors.
Inferiors have no right to complain in court about how they
are being treated, except in a few narrowly defined cases. They
also have no right to be consulted about the orders they are given.
There are multiple ranks in the society ruled by this government.
The content of the orders people receive varies, depending
on their rank. Higher- ranked individuals may be granted
considerable freedom in deciding how to carry out their orders,
and may issue some orders to some inferiors. The most highly
ranked individual takes no orders but issues many. The lowest-ranked
may have their bodily movements and speech minutely
regulated for most of the day.
This government does not recognize a personal or private
sphere of autonomy free from sanction. It may prescribe a dress
code and forbid certain hairstyles. Everyone lives under surveillance,
to ensure that they are complying with orders. Superiors
may snoop into inferiors’ e- mail and record their phone conversations.
Suspicionless searches of their bodies and personal
effects may be routine. They can be ordered to submit to medical
testing. The government may dictate the language spoken
and forbid communication in any other language. It may forbid
certain topics of discussion. People can be sanctioned for their
consensual sexual activity or for their choice of spouse or life
partner. They can be sanctioned for their political activity and
required to engage in political activity they do not agree with.
The economic system of the society run by this government
is communist. The government owns all the nonlabor means
of production in the society it governs. It organizes production
by means of central planning. The form of the government is
a dictatorship. In some cases, the dictator is appointed by an
oligarchy. In other cases, the dictator is self- appointed.
Although the control that this government exercises over
its members is pervasive, its sanctioning powers are limited. It
cannot execute or imprison anyone for violating orders. It can
demote people to lower ranks. The most common sanction is
exile. Individuals are also free to emigrate, although if they do,
there is usually no going back. Exile or emigration can have
severe collateral consequences. The vast majority have no realistic
option but to try to immigrate to another communist
dictatorship, although there are many to choose from. A few
manage to escape into anarchic hinterlands, or set up their own
dictatorships.
This government mostly secures compliance with carrots.
Because it controls all the income in the society, it pays more to people who follow orders particularly well and promotes them
to higher rank. Because it controls communication, it also has
a propaganda apparatus that often persuades many to support
the regime. This need not amount to brainwashing. In many
cases, people willingly support the regime and comply with
its orders because they identify with and profit from it. Others
support the regime because, although they are subordinate to
some superior, they get to exercise dominion over inferiors. It
should not be surprising that support for the regime for these
reasons tends to increase, the more highly ranked a person is.
Would people subject to such a government be free? I expect
that most people in the United States would think not.
Yet most work under just such a government: it is the modern
workplace, as it exists for most establishments in the United
States. The dictator is the chief executive officer (CEO), superiors
are managers, subordinates are workers. The oligarchy that
appoints the CEO exists for publicly owned corporations: it is
the board of directors. The punishment of exile is being fired.
The economic system of the modern workplace is communist,
because the government— that is, the establishment— owns all
the assets,1 and the top of the establishment hierarchy designs
the production plan, which subordinates execute. There are no
internal markets in the modern workplace. Indeed, the boundary
of the firm is defined as the point at which markets end and
authoritarian centralized planning and direction begin.2
Most workers in the United States are governed by communist
dictatorships in their work lives.
Fred Harris In addition, you may want to check out the book “Void where Prohibited: Rest Breaks and the Right to Urinate on Company Time,” by Ingrid Nygaard and Marc Linder. They show how many American workers do not even have the legal right to urinate on company time–such is the freedom of the American worker.
Tina Robin Faibish
Statement on Assassination of Qasem Soleimani and its AfterMath
Fred Harris And Trump is not bad? Should he not be assassinated? What of Ronald Reagan? When I was in Guatemala in 1980, one of my Spanish teachers was afraid that he would be elected. He was–and she was right to be afraid. In 1981 and 1982, the Guatemalan military began to slaughter the indigenous population–and suppress in various ways any opposition. Reagan was a mass murderer.
Tina Robin Faibish Cory Bryan it’s not about the leader it’s about the innocent people including women and children who will be collateral damage. We must always fight for those with no voice!
Cory Bryan Tina Robin Faibish I do believe that; yes. But if you watch the protest and marches many of those that would be in harms way. Really don’t care bout you and me, we are collateral to them as well even the women and children feel this way bout westerns Canadian or Americans
The Abolitionary 