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What
Should School Workers Do Before World War Three? The
path of knowledge
that walks from the fabricated dainty-yet-tough heroic image of blond
freedom-fighter Jessica Lynch, to the degenerate thumbs-up reality of
Christian
crucifer Lynndie England, was made possible by the interaction of the
inherent
weakness of the US military, and the perseverance of violent Iraqi
resistance.
Reality was shot into the open by a non-existent military that faced
down,
paralyzed, and exposed the counterfeit superpower. The
task at hand is to
examine what is, and to look for who can change it, and how. The
mirror of the Lynndie
There
have been many
instances in the past when an ethic of community was established that
made
systematic torture (recognized within the interesting division of
thinking that
capital can set apart as different from the mass murder of commonplace
warfare)
largely unacceptable. That ethic of community was not necessarily
dropped from
the sky (though sometimes it was), but based on the notion that the
troops were
surviving because of the support of the people, that troops on the
other side
were a vital potential part of that support, and torturing them would
not only
make it difficult to turn them around, but make their buddies fight
harder.
Moreover, this ethic was established by looking back from the future,
what
people hoped they were building, a real commune where people could be
free and
creative and caring—and knowing from this vantage point looking back,
that they
could poison their own well. Now at
hand, perhaps, is
the mid-point of the end of the empire, begun by the real heroism of
Vietnamese
freedom fighters who chased the The With
no weapons of mass
destruction discovered, no hints of democracy, and photographic proof
of the
barbarity of the Hart
is wrong. The logic
of the war is there. The logic is imperialist social control, now
focused on
oil. The logic of the war will persist because the thirst for oil
persists in
industry and in the military. The The
post-September 11th invasions which treat a crime as a war,
rushed the Comparisons
to 1968 and The The
processes of
capital, ever fickle, are now in search of new suitors. Capital’s
unquenchable
demands for more (profits, cheap labor, raw materials, speedier
technology,
communication and exchange, etc.), and capital’s inherent
destructiveness,
crises of overproduction and war, now prepare to leave the
self-surrounded
failure in the US, and to move elsewhere to survive and prosper. The US
has already lost
the war in the world, though it will have to win the war in Iraq, and
perhaps
in Afghanistan. US ruling classes cannot afford to withdraw for
military and
economic reasons. The US
cannot withdraw
for military reasons, since a withdrawal would clearly expose the US as
what
Mao Tse Tung once called a “paper tiger.” Touted
as the greatest
superpower in the history of the world, the US military has been fought
to a
standstill by non-existent states with unsupplied phantom non-troops.
Crack
Army Rangers, Seals, Green Berets, and their privatized counterparts,
mercenaries
from the dregs of the worlds failed fascist regimes like South Africa
and
Rhodesia, fully outfitted, well-fed, in science’s finest bullet-proof
kevlar
outfits, protected by silent drones in the skies, and mile-high B52’s
raining
terror from above, entered strange territory and lost the fight.
Walking in
their own filth of depleted uranium, US goon squads were unable to make
friends, close connections, and all of the highest technology of human
development could not match the power of deep human ties and knowledge
of the
ground. People in rags, accustomed to privation, halted US might in
their
cities and on their mountain ranges. There
are officially
137,000 US troops in Iraq, not including more than 20,000 mercenaries
(NYTimes
April 19 2004) and an untold number of paramilitary “supply” personnel,
back-up
troops serving the war machine on the payroll of private companies like
Haliburton-Brown and Root. Extending the tour of duty by three months
for
nearly 20,000 troops on April 15 means that the real numbers of
fighting forces
are close to 175,000—this to control a country with a population of
about 27
million, less than California, with no military and no air force,
people fighting
with small arms. It is
impossible to
estimate the mercenary and formal military forces in Afghanistan,
largely a
secret war. However, the US controls only Kabul, another strategic
failure in
the making. Trapped
by greed and
hubris, for the US to withdraw now would concede US domination of the
world’s
natural resources, peoples’, markets, cheap human labor: the sources of
profits
which sate those in power, the rich. The US
cannot withdraw
from Iraq or Afghanistan for economic reasons. Iraq holds the world’s
second
richest oil fields. Afghanistan’s grounds form the base for every
projected oil
and natural gas pipeline from the Caspian Sea region, potentially the
fourth
richest range. In
2001, the dollar
traded against the euro at $.80 to 1.00 euro. Prior to the wars on the
Iraqi
and Afghan oil centers, middle-eastern oil barons toyed with the idea
of a
shift to a euro-based economy, as a wedge against the US. Now the
dollar trades
against the euro at $1.00/.80 euro. A shift of dramatic consequence in
terms of
both money and power. Should the US lose the Iraqi oil fields, and
military
bases in the middle east, the switch to the euro would demolish the US
economy—teetering on the brink anyway as the Chinese consider a
euro-based yen. The
relationship of oil
and military power is clear. The military cannot move without oil,
petroleum,
and petroleum based products. This is true of every military in the
world, and
all the conservation of consumer petrol will not override that fact in
the
coming decades. In
addition, no military
can sustain itself without massive industrial might behind the lines.
Oil moves
the machinery. Conservation on highways will do nothing about that as
competing
imperial powers, like China, Japan, Russia, Germany, all must itch for
a
limited supply of oil-and enter the game. Despite
claims that
there are openings for the UN and “coalition partners,” The US ruling
classes
cannot allow armies from potential competitors to get too close to the
oil
fields in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere, even if the other powers
operate
under NATO or UN flags. Trapped
economically and
militarily, hung on its own petard, the US can only respond to
escalating Iraqi
resistance with massacres-the logical outcome of racist, religious,
imperial
warfare: annihilate them. All of
this rebounds on
US might, now organizing its own decay. Billions in war spending, which
creates
nothing of value, fuels inflation-likely to be in part a reason for an
increase
in interest rates which in turn will cut back consumer spending, and
cut off
margin purchases in stocks. The US economy, based 67% in consumer
spending with
working class debt exceeding the annual income of families, will spiral
downward—especially against productive industrializing China. The
message of
these wars, learned by every imperial rival, but misread by US citizens
is
this: The US ruling classes are weak. The US
cannot retreat
from its 732 military bases around the world, not from any one of them;
yet it
cannot afford to keep them and cannot sustain the myth that the troop
on the
bases are not raping the locals, but are comrades. It is hard to
imagine a
regime like the US growing to be more hated than it is, but such is the
circumstance. The
military budget (40%
secret) will escalate, the US economy will decline, but capitalism
itself which
cares nothing about who is running it, as long as it is producing
profits from
labor, must be fully elated. For the US, this is a terminal circle, no
escape.
For capital’s processes, a vast company store, an international casino
hiding
its key tenet—you lose—nourished by destruction and running amok; it’s
an orgy. Generals
from imperial
competitors, especially Chinese war-gamers, must be tempted by US
strategic and
tactical failures in Iraq, perhaps whispering to their masters that the
next
battle can be theirs. All
the major players
are headed toward the oil fields—China, Russia, Germany, France,
England, etc.
China in particular has a deep craving for the oil which must be
satisfied in
order to continue the frantic industrial production which, by
extension, eats
up its grain fields and threatens Chinese food production. Meanwhile,
Venezuela, Colombia, S. Africa, are all in flux, forcing the US to
watch events
in some places that the US just does not have the resources to invade
anymore.
The US-led coup in Venezuela fell flat. Wild-card
states, like
Israel, North Korea, Pakistan, or India, all with nuclear power, could
easily
enter the fray, by design or accident, and throw into motion events
that would
go at the double, more unpredictably, but more deadly. All of
this takes place
in the context of an international war of the rich on the poor,
escalating
everywhere. Poor and working class people of all lands and religions
fighting
what Marx called the “enemies of their enemies.” These people are drawn
together-and thrown apart— in battle, largely because they have no
capital. The
bulk of US soldiers dying in Iraq are youth from dead-end cities,
facing dead
end jobs. Their spouses at home are on food stamps and in expensive
cities like
San Diego, they cannot find homes. In the volunteer army, even the
military’s
marquee player, Jessica Lynch, said she enlisted because there was
nothing else
for her to do. Now
the US has little
left to motivate its citizens or troops beyond sheer opportunism, or
fear. Most
grunts are no longer even presented with the legend that they are
fighting for
democracy, or even god. They are told, “shoot them or they will shoot
your
buddy, and if your buddy goes, you go.” The promise held out to special
ops troops,
of being a well-paid mercenary someday, may wear thin as mercenaries
are ground
up in Iraq. US
citizens, once so
fearful of Marx and put off by ideas about class struggle, now cannot
but
witness class war. Even conservative communities applaud denunciation
of the US
as a “fascist state,” and calls for revolution (San Diego speech of
author
Chalmers Johnson, SDSU, 4/24/04). Still,
habit,
selfishness, greed, racism, mysticism, racism, sexism, nationalism,
every
requisite element of capital that divides people in its deadly service,
and
enforces its centrifugal pull, remain more powerful than polite
applause at a
university. The death throes of empire still have the prongs of
seduction and
barbarity. What
changes this? What
marks the path of what is to what may be? Schools
in the US are
now centers of power, and social control. In de-industrialized North
America,
no institution is more influential than schools, none more vital to
elites’
boundless needs for bodies and minds. Three million school workers in
unions
represent the largest organized force left in the de-industrialized,
de-unionized, US. This
is the primary
reason for the intense regimentation of what is taught, and how it is
taught—what youth know and how they come to know it. And it is the
reason that
the key regulation, the federal No Child Left Behind Act, contains
provisions
that open the schools to incessant military recruitment. NCLB
and state
regulations nearly eliminate the study of history in schools,
redoubling a
movement in place since the US military fled Vietnam. Eliminating
history means
students become unable to locate themselves in their historical moment.
Unable
to abstract how things change, imagination of a better future, and the
courage
to fight for it, are extinguished. Unable to abstract a sense of
history into
the future, students are then unable to look back from the possibility
of a humane
and equitable society, and judge their own times. Nor are they
encouraged to
test their own society with the obvious test of any society: How does
it treat
the majority of people-its working people and its poor? Instead,
students are
trained as technicians, whose ethics vacillate with their incoherent
world
views. Students are taught two lies, which cause intellectual suicide. They learn that they cannot comprehend the world, but are victims within it. They learn they cannot act on the world, and if they try, they will be tormented. They then conclude that they do not like to learn, that it is self-defeating and unpleasureable. The bulk of their tenured teachers, now the second generation turned back into schools who have had little or no sustained comprehension of history, are now propelled by cowardice (proctoring vicious exams, which are clearly little more than child abuse, without complaint), ignorance (inability to recognize their own potential organized power), racism (ignorance or support for the deepening systematic segregation of every aspect of school--by class and race), and opportunism (dancing for the smallest carrots, allowing the layoff of masses of comrades, accepting bonuses for test scores, making concessions to "save jobs," --clearly like giving blood to sharks). Unethical compliance is not the sole trend, but it is the main one. Among teachers, there is little reason to be found in history to think that most teachers will not be fascists. In early Nazi Germany, the teachers' union was one of the first to volunteer to sign up in mass. These people, clogs in history, are of little consequence. Some educational workers resist. They matter. There is hope in resistance, as Iraq shows. These school workers seek to mobilize students, whose world views are not necessarily set up by their class backgrounds but as much by their prospects for the future--now quite grim-in actions against the regimentation of school life, against the military, instilling in theory and practice a renewed sense of class consciousness. The fact that this is now a small movement ricochets back onto the students who have seen no labor or political uprisings in their lifetimes. The crux of
the resistance must, in our epic, address the personal and social
crises of
capitalism. In the personal sense, capitalism does not have room for
forgiveness anymore.
People who do not understand their circumstances take actions that
define them,
irretrievably. There is no wiggle-room for miscues. This is true in
schools, and out. On the social level, those who seek a more humane way to live with caring connected communities where people can extend their creative lives must go right at the issue of capitalism; overturning it. Fighting for reforms at this date, seeking to make what is really a Master and Slave relationship more humane, when it cannot be humane, simply leads to the lowest forms of opportunism. Overturning capitalism is not immediately at hand. However, that does not mean that the relentless bloody hand of capitalism, imperialism, cannot be exposed while, at the same time for example, urging people to boycott high-stakes standardized tests--which can only be understood within the processes of capitalism anyway. Key to
capitalism is the use of the government as a weapon of those who hold
power, that
is, the rich. Social inequality is the reason for the existence of
government, to enforce
privilege. It follows, that, as in the pedagogical linkage of testing
and capitalism, exposing
the maneuvers of government, as an enemy of masses of people, would be
significant. For
example, to urge
people to organize action on the job, where the geography of power
favors
working people who create all value in any work place, makes better
sense than
to urge people, like education workers, to vote for John Kerry, who
openly says
he will betray them by investing in larger wars, attacking schools with
deepened NCLB measures, like pay for performance plans, and who says he
supports some vouchers for private schools. In other words, to
demonstrate that
the state is a partisan state, and that the two parties of the rich are
not
parties of the working class is an urgent task at hand. The
three million
members of the combined National Education Association and the American
Federation of Teachers represent the largest unionized group of people
in North
America. They occupy centripetal positions in the society, where
deindustrialization has decimated the industrial working class. School
workers
are also directly linked to the people who are mostly likely to take
active
roles in social change, students of color and from immigrant groups
whose hopes
are dashed. All students, moreover, are less tied to specific social
classes in
a material sense than adults, as students class notions are set up as
much by
what might come of them as what is. Justice
demands
organization. It is correct to believe that the actions of one
dissenter can
change a great deal. One student openly declaring a test boycott can
trigger a
mass boycott. However, both in terms of social action, and in terms of
individual consciousness, organization is key. Any
organization that
seeks to go beyond capital, must go beyond the organizations it
created,
including the trade unions (as the AFT and the NEA). The unions exist
to
preserve capitalism, not overturn it. The unions do not criticize the
bases of
capitalism, as in exploited labor and imperialism. They seek to make it
more
pleasant for the locals. The unions just echo the processes of capital.
This is
why the NEA and AFT, for example, are shutting down any hint of
struggle in
their quest to elect John Kerry, who has already denounced nearly every
significant thing the union leaders claim to stand for. The
unions divide
people. They do not unite workers. People are divided along lines of
job, race,
class, industry, etc, each acting on their own, each division in their
ranks
used to demolish them. And the unions openly declare their ideology:
the unity
of business, labor, government (school workers), in the national
interest.
Those who join the unions thinking that they have contradictory
interests with
their bosses find their unions do not agree. So, the unions will only
be useful
to social change in that there are people in them who can learn to go
beyond
them. While
it may be that the
world’s ruling classes are poised for war with one another, they know
full well
that their greatest enemy is those who are under their feet: poor and
working
people. The ruling classes are organized, and clearly deadly. The
Rouge Forum was
organized in the search for answers to real problems of school workers,
students, community people, and society. Here is what we wrote seven
years ago: “The Rouge Forum is a group of educators,
students, and parents seeking a democratic society. We are concerned
about
questions like these: How can we teach against racism, national
chauvinism and
sexism in an increasingly authoritarian and undemocratic society? How
can we
gain enough real power to keep our ideals and still teach—or learn?
Whose
interests shall school serve in a society that is ever more unequal? We
are
both research and action oriented. We want to learn about equality,
democracy
and social justice as we simultaneously struggle to bring into practice
our
present understanding of what that is. We seek to build a caring
inclusive
community which understands that an injury to one is an injury to all.
At the
same time, our caring community is going to need to deal decisively
with an
opposition that is sometimes ruthless. “ Written
before the |