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Advocate, October 2008, Vol. [20], No City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works The Advocate Archives and Special Collections 10-2008 Advocate, October 2008, Vol. [20], No. [2] How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_advocate/14 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] The Battle of St. Paul page 6 October 2008 http://gcadvocate.org [email protected] Profiteers, Union-Busters, Witch Hunters... Look Who’s Trusteeing at CUNY A closer look at the people deciding your future ALSO INSIDE What’s Happening to America?: E. L. Doctorow and Ashley Dawson (page 12) New Music: Steve Reich and John Zorn at (Le) Poisson Rouge (page 19) FROM THE editor’s desk October 2008 Shocking Wall Street http://gcadvocate.org [email protected] Disaster Capitalism and the Promise of Progressive Reform CUNY Graduate Center Room 5396 “Buy the sky and sell the sky and lift your rate giveaways and radical reforms that instances where progressive reformers 365 Fifth Avenue arms up/ to the sky/ and ask the sky and could be in the works. “The dumping of used the political and economic crises of ask the sky/ don’t fall on me.” private debt into the public coffers” Klein their times (the bitter divisions over slav- New York, NY 10016 — R.E.M. wrote on her blog, naomiklein.org, ery, the economic collapse of the early (212) 817-7885 is only stage one of the current shock. thirties, and the racial conflicts of the “We must lay hold of the fact that eco- The second comes when the debt crisis fifties and sixties) to help push through nomic laws are not made by nature. They currently being created by this bailout a series of social and economic reforms becomes the excuse to privatize social EDITOR-IN-CHIEF are made by human beings.” that furthered and improved the free- — Franklin D. Roosevelt security, lower corporate taxes and cut James Hoff spending on the poor. A President Mc- dom, equality, prosperity, and health of Cain would embrace these policies will- vast portions of its citizens. The abolition In her prescient and controversial inter- MANAGING EDITOR ingly. A President Obama would come of slavery, banking reform, the introduc- national bestseller The Shock Doctrine under huge pressure from the think tanks tion of social security, and the 1964 civil Michael Busch (2007), author Naomi Klein explains and the corporate media to abandon his rights act, to name only a few of the most how the free market capitalism espoused campaign promises and embrace auster- LAYOUT EDITOR ity and ‘free-market stimulus.’ important changes, were all achieved by the likes of Milton Friedman and through the creation and/or manipula- Mark Wilson other Chicago School economists feeds Despite the fact that Klein fails to men- tion of crisis and social unrest. and capitalizes upon political crisis and tion here that McCain and Obama both Now is not the time to simply resist: MEDIA BOARD CHAIR environmental disaster. According to support the October 1 version of the the left must become proactive and de- Rob Faunce Klein, national governments and inter- bailout package being sent to the senate, manding. Although it is important that national economic organizations like the the seeming prescience of her argument we ask our representatives in the house CONTRIBUTORS WTO rely heavily upon the power of cri- is impressive. Indeed, as of October 1, and senate to unequivocally vote no on what began as a straightforward bailout Nirit Ben-Ari sis, shock, and disaster to help wipe the this bill, now is the time to go even fur- package that was supposed to help in- Ashley Dawson economic slate clean and pave the way ther than that and push congress to take vestment banks stay afloat, had already E. L. Doctorow for radical free market reforms that in state control of these banks so that the times of stability would face stiff resis- been manipulated by Democratic and Frank Episale public coffers will not be wasted on aid tance from the public. Klein compares Republican lawmakers to include a se- Natasha Kurchanova to the nation’s wealthiest and most pow- these unholy and unscrupulous practices ries of further tax cuts of $100 billion erful citizens. Now is the time to ask con- Matt Lau to the mind control and shock treatment totally unrelated to the economic crisis. gress for further regulation of investment Roisin O’Connor-McGinn research performed by Doctor Ewan It is clear that Klein is right and that we markets so that investor exploitation of Naomi Perley Cameron and the CIA in the 1950s. need to keep our eyes on the big picture bubble markets does not negatively im- Howard Pflanzer “Friedman’s mission, like Cameron’s” here and be wary of what’s in store, but pact ordinary investors and pension Klein says “rested on a dream of reach- her solution to this crisis is problematic. Abe Walker funds. Now is the time to ask congress ing back to a state of ‘natural’ health, According to Klein the answer to this di- Nicole Wallenbrock to do something about the hundreds of when all was in balance, before human lemma is pretty straightforward: we have Harriet Zanzibar thousands of impending foreclosures by interferences created distorting patterns. to organize to resist this bailout and the offering more legislation that protects Where Cameron dreamed of returning subsequent reforms that it foretells. This homeowners form foreclosure and helps the human mind to that pristine state, is a good beginning, perhaps, but, like the them readjust their mortgages. Rather PUblIcaTION INFO Friedman dreamed of depatterning soci- proposed bailout package that sparked than quibbling over a clearly flawed bill, The GC Advocate is the stu- eties, of returning them to a state of pure this debate, it begs the question: is this now is the time to encourage congress dent newspaper of the CUNY capitalism, cleansed of all interruptions really our only option? Is the progressive and the next president to take vision- Graduate Center and is pub- — government regulations, trade barri- left so weak, demoralized, and ineffectu- ary action along the lines of Roosevelt’s lished six times a year. Pub- ers and entrenched interests.” al that it has been reduced to little more unremitting struggle for a New Deal for lication is subsidized by Stu- This disturbing and apt comparison than reactionary protest? Of course, we Americans. dent Activities Fees and the between CIA mind control experiments need to resist any government attempts Just as Klein described the proposed Doctoral Students’ Council. and free market ideologies is at the heart to use this economic mess as an excuse of Klein’s argument, and her book pro- for consolidating corporate and private bailout as the first nefarious step in a series of free market reforms; increased SUbmISSIONS vides the theoretical framework for a sa- wealth and power, but who says the left regulation and public ownership of these The GC Advocate accepts con- lient critique of our response to the cur- can’t play the shock doctrine game just as investment banks could be the first step tributions of articles, illustra- rent economic meltdown on Wall Street. well as the right? th in a series of public takeovers, from the tions, photos and letters to the Like September 11 and Afghanistan, Instead of merely resisting the right’s re-publicization of electric companies, editor. Please send you query Iraq and Hurricane Katrina, this latest attempt to exploit this crisis shouldn’t prisons, and schools, to the public seizure to the email address above. American disaster is being exploited by the progressive left be exploring the op- those in power with the implicit goal of portunities inherent in this crisis? Isn’t it of oil and gas fields, to the creation of a Articles selected for publica- furthering a right wing free market ideo- precisely in moments of economic and clean energy works program. This kind tion will be subjected to edi- logical agenda of private, deregulated, political crisis that ordinary citizens be- of necessary and radical readjustment, torial revision. Writers who militarized globalization. come organized, energized, and engaged? the kind of visionary change we need to contribute stories of 1,000 Although incredibly unpopular among Hasn’t it been shown time and time again save us from a future of even greater crisis words will be paid $50 and ordinary common sense Americans that the more precarious their economic and despair, will never happen so long as those who submit longer ar- (whose class consciousness seems to be conditions, the more sympathetic the US both our political and progressive leaders ticles requiring research will growing exponentially the longer this cri- public is to ideas of government reform, continue to play the game of reactionary receive $75. We also pay for sis carries on) the proposed $700 billion reconstruction, and public assistance? politics. Quibbling over compromises in photographs and artwork. bailout package for US investment banks Bleeding Kansas, the great depression, an already compromised bill, will get us is just the beginning of a series of corpo- and the civil rights movement are all nowhere. The GC Advocate is published seven times a year, in Septem- ber, October, November, De- Turn the musings of your mind into manna cember, February, March, and Don’t submit for the masses. Write April. Submissions should be for the Advocate. sent in by the middle of the month.
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