La Llorona, a Guatemalan Film on Guatemala’s Genocide–Sort of

Introduction My wife (who was born in Guatemala) and I went to see the film La Llorona last night. The showing of the film was sponsored by The Leo Panitch School for Socialist Education and the Socialist Project. Here is what the advertisement says: FilmSocial Presents: La Llarona Wednesday, October 30 / 7:00 pm - 9:00 … Continue reading La Llorona, a Guatemalan Film on Guatemala’s Genocide–Sort of

Socialism, Part Ten: What It May Look Like, or Visions of a Better Kind of Society Without Employers: Child Support Laws, State Oppression and the Left

Introduction Mr. Gindin, a self-proclaimed socialist in Toronto, claims that the state in a socialist society will expand its services rather than wither away--in opposition to Marx's and Engels' views on socialism (from Socialism for Realists): The expectations of full or near-full abundance, added to perfect or near-perfect social consciousness, have a further consequence: they … Continue reading Socialism, Part Ten: What It May Look Like, or Visions of a Better Kind of Society Without Employers: Child Support Laws, State Oppression and the Left

School Rhetoric: Ideological Use of the Concept of Social Justice, Part One

Social justice has now become a buzzword these days. There is social justice this and social justice that, here a social justice, there a social justice, everywhere a social justice. This buzzword forms the ideology of the social-democratic left, for example, as well as the conservative right. After all, who is against social justice? The … Continue reading School Rhetoric: Ideological Use of the Concept of Social Justice, Part One

Socialism, Part Nine: Inadequate Conception of the Nature of Freedom and Necessity, or Free Time and Necessary Time, Part Four: Art

Leer este post en español This is the conclusion of a series of previous posts on the subject. In a previous post, I criticized Mr. Gindin's claim that the expansion of educational services would involve scarcity and therefore would require external or extrinsic motivation of some sort. (Mr,. Gindin is (or was) head of the … Continue reading Socialism, Part Nine: Inadequate Conception of the Nature of Freedom and Necessity, or Free Time and Necessary Time, Part Four: Art

Co-optation of Students at School Through We Day, Or School Indoctrination, Part One

I thought it appropriate to post a couple of comments on WE in light of the WE scandal. Justin Trudeau, prime minister of Canada, supported WE, and his wife personally participated in it--and his mother was paid by WE. However, rather than looking at the scandal, it is better to look at WE itself since, … Continue reading Co-optation of Students at School Through We Day, Or School Indoctrination, Part One

Defense of Aggressive Wars and Idealization of Capitalist Society Often Go Hand in Hand

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 … Continue reading Defense of Aggressive Wars and Idealization of Capitalist Society Often Go Hand in Hand