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United Front Against Austerity
UFAA FB Page
I recently discovered a very interesting commentator named Brandon Turbeville, who, like myself, is not a predictable lefty or righty, has similar notions about the plutocracy, and who is trying to point the way to intelligent organizing and action, which can change things in the real world. (You know, as opposed to just documenting what is wrong, discussing it endlessly, all while continuing to circle down the drain.)
He wrote an article in December of 2012, called “It’s Time for the Aware to Take Action”
Thankfully, this model has already begun to appear in at least two locations across the world with at least some degree of success. The first, the Syriza party of Greece, represents a grouping of political parties, activist organizations, unions, and other arrangements that alone counted for nothing in terms of political clout. When united under a common front – the Syriza party – these organizations were able to accumulate over 40% of the vote in the first election campaign. (sic) exhibited several necessary ingredients to the formation of a successful coalition, most notably that of a program that spelled out the steps and requirements to end austerity measures in Greece and repair the damage done to the Greek economy by the banker-dominated government at home and in Brussels.
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.Fortunately, there are some who have learned the lessons of Syriza here in the United States and, as a result, a coalition has been organized and developed within our own borders. Based on the Syriza model, the United Front Against Austerity (UFAA) has itself constructed a set of demands and a program of political solutions. The UFAA is currently working to agitate alongside a variety of organizations that have themselves been splintered by stealthy politics and propaganda on the part of the oligarchy. The UFAA is attempting to build its own base and circle of influence.
The UFAA’s program is one that stands against austerity measures and the cutting and gutting of the social safety net. It is one which exhibits the best aspects of the New Deal, while drastically improving upon the economic rejuvenation features of that historical program. The program also demands Medicare For All, the de-militarization of police, the restoration of civil liberties to the American people, an end to foreign wars, and a more enlightened approach to health and medicine that includes holistic and alternative methods.
Looks like UFAA has only been around since August of 2012, judging by their Facebook timeline. Thus, it makes sense not to be too pessimistic about their small number of meetup.com groups (about 7) – yet. :-)
16 Comments
I never tire of your self-puffery. You, and now Mr. Turbeville, shine like beacons to us all. May you ever guide us as we require.
Well, that’s quite a contribution! Being whiney, personal, and deliberately myopic will doubtless be well appreciated by the whiney, personal, and deliberately myopic faction of the myFDL community.
We can’t tell whether or not you’re impressed by SYRIZA’S 40% showing (which compares very favorably with the Green Party’s Jill Stein’s 0.36% showing in 2012), nor whether you think that UFAA’s particular implementation of the SYRIZA stategy is promising; of course, any reasoning, from you, behind such an assessment is a non-starter.
We do know, however, that you’re unhappy. Poor, poor UCT1! Must really suck to be you, huh?
My right wing leaning cousin dismissed a different posting of this via joking that he was wondering what the “old hippies” were doing these days.
Mental fluff, whether it comes from a righty or a lefty (or independent, for that matter) is not what’s needed to solve serious problems. However, for whiners, and especially narcissistic whiners, whining is its own ‘reward’, I suppose. No need to think about anything, beyond verbalizing some pointless whine to make it sound like there may be some objective value to the whine.
On its face this seems like a good organization, but featuring Webster Tarpley very prominently … and Alex Jones makes an appearance … Mr. Tuberville seems similarly deluded.
Paranoid conspiratorial thinking is a disaster if you want to build a mass movement. You’re not paranoid if they’re really out to get you, but if there’s not necessarily a conspiracy against us because there doesn’t have to be, that’s a different matter. It’s not a matter of ‘right joins left against the corporate-run state’, it’s more that we need the non-nutjobs on our side too.
What is Alex Jones’ connection to UFAA? I didn’t notice any link.
What conspiracy “delusion(s)”, specifically, does Tuberville share with Tarpley?
The phrase “conspiracy theorist” has been deliberately demonized by Mandarins of the ruling class. E.g., there is so much evidence that JFK was assassinated, via conspiracy, that you could drive a truck through it. And, indeed, the public generally agrees – elected officials almost never voicing similar convictions has to do with careerism, which depends on them not getting savaged by the mainstream media. The “mighty Wurlitzer” mainstream media is the weapon, par excellence, for controlling the public mind and framing ‘debate’. (Framing stunted debates contributes to the illusion of a free society.)
Before Oliver Stone’s excellent film JFK was even released, it was being savaged in the media by people who hadn’t seen it. Oliver Stone, they declared, was a “conspiracy theorist”; why listen to anything he had to say?
The main problem I have with “conspiracy theories” in politics is the fact that the demonization has been relatively successful – thus, you lose potential supporters who have other main issues, that you don’t necessarily have to lose. We apparently agree on this point.
Where we disagree is in you accepting the framing of “paranoid conspiracy theorist”, vs. John Q. Public being ignorant of facts pointing to conspiracy.
Then, too, sometimes the proof for conspiracy rises to the level of “proven in court”. E.g., the false flag bombings and murder of innocent civilians by NATO and US intelligence related political goons in Italy (Operation Gladio); and also the assassination of Martin Luther King involved conspiracy by “governmental agencies”, as was determined in King Family versus Jowers and Other Unknown Co-Conspirators.
Here’s Coretta Scott King,
(emphasis mine)
In your view, is Coretta Scott King a “paranoid conspiracy theorist”?
A conspiracy is not necessary in the U.S. system. We have a very simple and non-secret deal here in the U.S.: corporations and the rich pay our politicians to do their bidding. So why do we need to conjecture “conspiracy” on top of that?
Of course, likely many or some of the conspiracy theories will turn out to have been true. But that future will make no difference to a right now movement to overthrow the current system (see paragraph 1). For many many Americans, all that ‘unproven conspiracy theories’ do is to tag those that hold them as easily dismissed nutjobs.
If something is proven in court, like the FBI harassment of the civil rights and anti-war movements, that’s not a conspiracy theory, it’s a fact. Obviously it’s useful to current movements to know the truth about Cointelpro or the FBI harassment of MLK Jr, but it’s not a central issue. For the key issues, see paragraph one, and add the post-democratic security state, the huge unemployment rate, and the austerity crusade.
As for Brandon Tuberville, just go to Activist Post. I personally don’t see a conspiracy against homeschoolers in the proposed bill. I don’t see FDA’s easy approval of GM foods as part of a govt “agenda taking shape whose ultimate goal is the total proliferation of GM food the world over.” OTOH I think he and others have a point about the growing ‘nationalization’ of local police forces. It’s possible, but seeing that the case has received no coverage at all anyplace other than ‘Activist Post’, I don’t think Katerina Jeleva is the object of a long-term conspiracy to deprive her of her child. I don’t think the “Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation … is instrumental in population reduction initiatives via vaccination programs, abortion and sterilization, and other programs.” And so on.
If you mean “not necessary to damage the rights of common people”, that’s correct. And irrelevant. Murder, credible threats of murder, false defamation, etc. can still make things easier for perpetrators. Such activities are still – thankfully – illegal. (OK, Obama can legally murder Americans; but do you really think every murder in service of the national security state is going to be signed off on by Obama?) Since such acts and threats are illegal, you cannot openly carry out what Noam Chomsky prefers to call “planning”. Once you commit murder, etc., with not even accepted state sanction, you have to plan in secret – i.e., conspire.
The murders of JFK, MLK, RFK don’t fall under the category of state sanctioned. If Noam Chomsky wants to explain to us how the murders of JFK, MLK, and RFK were ‘planned’, but not conspiracies, let him go right ahead. He prefers to duck the issue with logical fallacies, such as arguments from incredulity. A wise decision wrt him not becoming a laughing stock, but not one that speaks well to his moral courage or mental clarity. (To be clear: I’m a Noam Chomsky fan, in spite of his failings wrt “conspiracy theories”.)
Therefore, people who feel compelled to mention “paranoid” and “conspiracy theorist” as some sort of conjoined twins are practicing misleading propaganda, whether or not they’re sincere dupes.
Says Tuberville:
If his interpretation of “effectively a private school” is correct, then the whole sentence is correct. I have a relative who home schools his kids, and they are schooled – wait for it – at home.
Since the proposed legislation is mandating standardized tests (which seems fair, if non home-schooled students have to take the tests), what is the point of any sort of certification by a home-schooling association? IOW, if Tuberville is wrong, and the 50 student minimum doesn’t force a 50 student minimum student body, it still makes little sense.
Unless, of course, some sort of regulations are going to be imposed on the home schooling association, whose real purpose isn’t to ‘certify’ academic mastery (presumably what the standardized tests achieve), but to intrude in what parent preferred was a private affair.
First of all, it should be well known that the FDA suffers from regulatory capture. It’s not even predisposed to making a correct decision that favors the public. Gary Null has a film on this subject, The War on Health – the FDA’s Cult of Tyranny
Secondly, we know that the US government in service of Monsanto went up to the State Department level – it’s not just the FDA which can’t be trusted. From WikiCables: On GMOs, State Department passion
I think it’s obvious that if GMOs are have widely
infectedbeen deployed in the American food supply, and half of us haven’t dropped dead, yet, it should make it easier to sell GMO’s overseas. And selling GMO’s overseas is indeed, part of the job of the State Department.Your tax dollars at work!
Michael Parenti is a thoughtful, articulate lefty who has written on conspiracy theories (and deconstructed Chomsky, in the process).
This is somewhat off topic, but I found his talks on his book The Assassination of Julius Caesar to be fascinating. He frames the subject in terms of class struggle, and it turns out that Roman elites were quite eager to murder reformers who sought to make a better life for the plebes. (Some related talks here.)
So your whining advice to me is to not be whiny, and to refrain from getting “personal” while trying to personally insult me. That lack of self-awareness combined with your full-throttle hypocrisy keeps me and everyone else coming back for more heaping helpings of your long-perfected self-regard.
My advice to you is to stop comparing yourself so favorably to those you think are great men while gratuitously taking erroneous potshots at “the progressive left” while making your conman, Koch-fueled calls to political action. You would garner far fewer negative comments about your goofy, wrong, and self-contradictory statements by allowing people to simply ignore your bombastic drivel for what it is: an obsessive, continuing work of fiction of import to only one person on earth.
Ask yourself how much conspiracy theories about the killing of JFK helped the left in the mid and late 60s. Not at all? A negative? Yeah, that’s about right. And it is still not close to proven whether or not or what kind of conspiracy may have been directed at JFK. Again, good on yah if that’s your hobby, but it’s very unlikely anything definitive will come of the case. IF there is a strong case, make it and … well, you can see that exposing MLK Jr.’s harassment has definitely done … what, exactly? It’s useful for activists to know, but such stuff even when proven doesn’t move the masses. Unproven it alienates most of the people we’re trying to move left. That’s what I care about.
I just googled “homeschooling south carolina” and didn’t find a single news article on the bill or concerns that it was going to shut down homeschooling in South Carolina or whatever the exaggerated rhetoric was. Somehow I don’t think South Carolina, a very right wing state, is going to offend the Christian Right by taking away parents’ right to homeschool their kids. Be reasonable and do some research on the issue
It’s very similar to the case with the mother whose had custodial rights taken away from her.
As for GM foods, maybe I didn’t communicate wrongness of Turbeville’s conspiratorial thinking. He sees a _government_ agenda “whose ultimate goal is the total proliferation of GM food the world over.” But that’s perhaps several large corporations’ agenda (though I’d guess their real-est goals are much more short-term). The government doesn’t actually care one way or another if all natural or all GM is what the world eats. Here’s how it works: whatever the corporations find more profitable at the moment is transmitted to their government ‘employees’, who’ll fight to make that so all over the world. No conspiracy, just a simple robotic system of marching orders transmitted through monetary donations. That diabolical government with its “ultimate” goals will switch on a dime with proper monetary incentives.
You didn’t defend his quote about the Gates Foundation, so I hope that means you agree that one was a sign of paranoia or conspiracy thinking.
Your whine is a post that basically has nothing to do with subject of this diary. And you still have nothing of interest – or relevance – to say either about SYRIZA or UFAA’s attempt to mimic their strategy. I’m not sure whether you are using personal insults to derail this particular diary; OR (more likely, I suspect) trying to demoralize me to from posting about other subjects which your tender mind cannot process, such as science pointing to NON-catastrophic climate change, or meta subjects about the degree of corruption of science, where the real $$ in the climate change debate, or the manifest blindness by well-meaning lefties, of how they have been veal penned. Or perhaps some other motivation.
What I do know is that, at face value, in your petty mind, this post is all about me. You continue to disrespect the subject of this post.
Obsessed much? If you don’t care about the subject of this diary, why not simply get lost?
I would question that, and furthermore, make the obvious point that details matter. JFK felled as a result of a conspiracy is a majority opinion. I doubt that the RFK or MLK conspiracies, are, but when has any activist group done a particularly good job of educating the public, when they are frozen out of the mainstream media?
In any event, my objection is to the framing implicit in “paranoid conspiracy theories”. Unless you’re willing to say that Corretta Scott King, and most of the American public, are paranoid, you should probably just stick with utilitarian arguments, not implicit, perjorative value judgements.
You’re not a good googler:
http://www.wyff4.com/news/columbia-statewide-news/Changes-could-be-coming-for-South-Carolina-s-home-schoolers/-/9324106/18461390/-/item/0/-/akk7jo/-/index.html
Methinks you’re quibbling. I have identified the hidden aspect of conspiracy as essential. Although I focused on the illegal aspects, collusion on immoral agendas, if they’re hidden, also qualify as conspiracies.
Ask yourself why it took wikileaks to reveal the US State Department shoving GMO’s down the world’s throat? Why doesn’t the US State Department brag about what they’re doing, if it’s on the up and up?
If you don’t like the word “conspiracy” to denote hidden coordination by 2 or more parties to perform an illegal or immoral act, what word do you prefer?
I don’t follow the Gates thing, and so didn’t care to comment. You prompted me to look, though. This article indicates that Gates’ comments were mis-interpreted.
Your whine to me is a post that basically has nothing to do with subject of this diary. And you still have nothing of interest – or relevance – to say to me either about SYRIZA or UFAA’s attempt to mimic their strategy. Thanks for saying that for me, old chum. I notice that you again have failed to address my criticism of you and your dishonest representations about every subject you choose to write about. I don’t disrespect the subject of this post — I disrespect you, a proven liar. In my opinion, you are untrustworthy on any subject, and I feel that others should be aware of this fact. I say that having read the majority of your writing here. The fact that you attempt to belittle others with generic and empty phrases such as “petty mind” does not elevate you in any degree; it is pompous rhetoric that is easily ignored. Why not simply get lost? I invite you to follow your own advice, once again. And once again, I predict you hypocritically will not follow your own advice. Now carry on as you wish, against your own advice or not. I’m amused just to read your descriptions about how smart you are. I savor them, as do others.
(emphasis mine)
Wow! So my “lies” are not just little white lies, they are “proven lies”. No reference to my “lies” are needed, we have it on UTC1′s authority. This is the same UTC1 who agrees with “many” of Frank33′s points in his most histrionic slime-a-palooza directed against me, ever.
Frank33 is the author of the following, confused, vile, verbal vomit:
In this thread, UCT1 “backs up” some of the smears of Frank33:
You remind of the nastier creeps of JREF, who are legends in their own minds. At JREF, BTW, they constrain discussion of “climate change” to a single thread. Since the whole world is supposedly threatened by the trace gas CO2, you’d think they’d be a little more eager to confront the ignorant hordes. Strange, eh?
While UTC1 seems much more intelligent than Frank33, he does not appear any more honest, to me. That’s problematic for somebody who is accusing somebody else (me!) of being “untrustworthy on any subject”.
Well, perhaps Margaret will want to choose to respect your and Frank33′s smears. After all, she’s told her own bald faced lie about me. Thus, I don’t think she’s going to be too discerning as to whether your smears of me have any credibility. She’s quite capable of dishing out her own smears.
Here’s Margaret’s bald faced lie about me.:
(emphasis mine)
What is it about climate catastrophists that compels them to make bald faces lies, or attempt categorical smears of other people who don’t share their religious beliefs? You apparently lied through your teeth when you made up a story about Alex Bojanowski, here. You sort of admitted to an error, but “I should have said that Geraldo Rivera is the Alex B of journamalism.” sounds no less innocent, nor less made up, than
“Today’s main attraction is Alex B, a geologist (non-climatologist) known as the Geraldo Rivera of German journamalism.” A clumsy lie, if you will, to obscure another lie.
I suspect that more than tribalism is involved, here. I can’t help wonder if some of that huge disparity of cash that flows into the climate catastrophe establishment hasn’t gone into paying online smear merchants.
Gee whiz, now what could have prompted this conspiratorial thinking?
Well, in your ‘honor’, I should post a diary about how well paid some of the climate catastrophists are. Michael Mann, I hear, sometimes fetches $10,000 for a speech; I’ve also read that he got $400,000 in “economic stimulus” funds. A FOIA inquiry regarding James Hansen also shows a well-paid activism. The Sierra Club taking tens of millions from natural gas concerns, and then a spokesman of theirs accusing Marc Morano of being finance by Chevron and Exxon, but fails to mention their own gas boodle. Oh, and Al Gore sold Current to Al Jazeera, which probably wouldn’t exist without Qatar’s oil money. Not sure how much of the take he took – I’ll have to look that up, along with other referenced facts, for my diary.
Exxon, Exxon – where have I heard that name, before? Oh, right: they recently surpassed Apple Computer, and are currently the largest corporation in the world. And yet, where is their education program to teach Americans about climate science that doesn’t involve omitted variable fraud? Why don’t they pay for Nir Shaviv to go on a speaking tour in US colleges?
Exxon-Mobil is the dog that didn’t bark. For anybody who wants to understand why, I suggest reading Denis Rancourt. Histrionic smear merchants tend to prefer you believe that all scientists who dissent from CO2 climate catastrophism are somehow corrupted by Exxon-Mobil, the dog that doesn’t bark.
Perhaps they will amuse us, someday, by describing in what fashion they remunerated Chinese scientists who have found the the Medieval Warm Period did indeed extend to China*. Or how (and why), they are all crazy. Or liars. Or whatever crap they can make up.
*MWP: Higher temperatures, but lower CO2. And that’s only about a thousand years ago. Say, what?