Category Archives: Abolition Of Work

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LONG ISLAND Naila Amin moved to Long Island from Pakistan when she was 4-years-old. When she was eight, she said her father promised her for marriage to a 21-year-old cousin in her native land.

I went from collecting stickers to losing it all, the now 27-year old Amin sobbed to PIX11. I lost my childhood.

The first I dos were handled by Amin's father when she was just 13, she said. Amin wasnt physically involved with her husband or even living with him at that point

She began dating a Latino classmate after starting classes at a Long Island high school.

And according to my religion, I was committing adultery, Amin recalled. Her father had already sealed the initial marriage agreement with her cousins family.

Amin shared her story with PIX11 several days after New York State changed the law concerning minors getting married.

Teens below the age of 17 can no longer get married in New York. A 17-year-old would need parental and judicial permission.

Its a childrens rights issue, said Carol Smolenski, executive director of End Child Prostitution and Trafficking (ECPAT USA). How do we protect people under 18 years old?

ECPAT has made the abolition of child marriage an international issue,Smolenski told PIX11. She talked about a U.S. State Department report that discusses how to better protect adolescent girls, which focused a lot on the issue of child marriage.

"The U.S. is the only country in the world that has not ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child,"Smolenski said.

Nearly 3,900 minors under the age of 18 got married in New York between 2000 and 2010.

They came from a cross-section of religious backgrounds.

And while New Yorks new law was passed on June 8th with Governor Andrew Cuomo putting out a statement applauding the new legislationGovernor Chris Christie in New Jersey wants lawmakers there to amend a bill they passed last month.

The New Jersey law would have banned marriages for people under age 18.

Gov. Christie signed a conditional veto, noting that the bill was not taking into account some religious customs.

"It is disingenuous to hold that a 16 year old may never consent to marriage, although New Jersey law permits the very same 16 year old to consent to sex or obtain an abortion without so much as parental knowledge, let alone consent," Christie said. "That inconsistency in logic undercuts the alleged logic of an outright ban.

Naila Amin, who said she was forced to have sexual relations with her husband shortly after turning 15, said the ordeal left her scarred.the way a cow gets marked.

She had tried telling her husband, who was 28 at the time, that she was a lesbian. She ran away 10 days after being brought to his house in Pakistan.

He tracked her down, beat her and raped her, Amin said. She was saved after three months because her uncle notified U.S. authorities.

Her mother was arrested for kidnapping after she returned to New York from Pakistan. Amins family convinced the husband to let her return to New York.

She was taken to a psychiatric ward when she flew home, but it was like sleeping in the Marriott, she said, because I had control over my body that night.

Amin recently obtained an associates degree in social work. She's also started the Naila Amin Foundation, an organization designed to help girls fleeing forced marriages.

Amin is involved in a committed relationship with Joe Anthony, who comes from a different culture. She says he made her realize she's worthy of love.

Its courageous what she did," Anthony said. "I let her know I love her and I care about her very much, because she didnt have a lot of that growing up."

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Former child bride says she's scarred, pushes past it to help others like her - New York's PIX11 / WPIX-TV

John Oliver addressed last weeks UK election, the colorful slew of joke candidates that took on Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn, and the forthcoming Brexit negotiations.

On Sundays episode of HBOs Last Week Tonight, Oliver began: The United Kingdom, the country thats been saying yas queen! for centuries, held a national election this week. There wasnt actually due to be one for three years, but prime minister Theresa May called it early. Its called a snap election and she did it to consolidate her power, although it dint quite work out that way.

Yes, this was a clusterfuck or, to be more precise, a crumpet-fuck, of epic proportions, Oliver said, referring to the hung parliament that emerged from last Thursdays election. Theresa May is hanging onto her job by a thread. To stay in power, shes attempting to cut a distasteful deal with the DUP, a hardline anti-gay, anti-abortion party in Northern Ireland, which has opened her up to even more criticism. Meanwhile, there are rumors of a leadership challenge from within her own party by Boris Johnson, a grown man who perpetually looks like a seven-year-old who just spun in circles for three minutes and is about to throw up.

British politics has a proud tradition of having all candidates stand together on the stage when the results are announced, Oliver explained, in reference to the many joke candidates who ran for parliament. Which means that on election night, as her party was dealt a massive blow, the prime minister had to stand on stage alongside Elmo, who got three votes, as well as Howling Laud Hope of the Monster Raving Loony party, who got 119 votes.

Oliver went on to introduce the candidate Lord Buckethead, the recipient of 249 votes in Mays Maidenhead constituency, who seemed to elicit a subtle eye-roll from the prime minister.

You can roll your eyes all you like, Theresa, Oliver quipped, but your evening just found a way to get a lot worse. And for the record, Lord Buckethead is an intergalactic space lord who ran on a platform of, among other things, the abolition of the House of Lords (except me) and stop selling arms to Saudi Arabia, start buying lasers from Lord Buckethead. And he did this all while looking like Darth Vader fucked an Amazon Echo.

Oliver went on to stress the importance of last weeks election as it pertains to the UKs forthcoming Brexit negotiations with the EU, which begin next Monday and must be completed by March 2019.

Broadly speaking, Oliver said, the question is whether the UK will have a hard or a soft Brexit. Within that hard/soft framework are decisions that will affect a lot of lives. Take immigration. There are currently 3 million EU citizens living in the UK and 1.2 million British citizens living in Europe, all of whom presumably wouldnt mind knowing where theyre going to be allowed to live and what their rights might be in just two years time.

In eight days, the UK is set to walk into a negotiation with no real leverage, no significant political mandate, and no coherent plan, Oliver said, noting that the issue of trade is fraught with difficulty, particularly since two-thirds of the UKs agricultural exports go to the European Union. I dont really have a solution to that, but I do have a proposal for Theresa May, because at this point you have basically fucked everything up and your only real chance here is to utilize the element of surprise.

So how about instead of sending a career negotiator, why not send someone that there is no way they would expect? Oliver joked. Im talking about someone bold, unafraid to call it how it is. Someone with a firm, leather-clad grasp of the issues. Someone with a bucket-list of demands and an honest, slightly muffled voice. Thats right, Im talking about the intergalactic space lord himself.

Oliver ended the monologue with a surprise visit from Lord Buckethead and a suggestion for May: If you are still prime minister by the time this show airs, I implore you, send the Dark Lord for Brussels. Is it an absurd idea? Yes. But it would not even be close to the stupidest thing that you have ever done.

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John Oliver's plan for Theresa May: send Lord Buckethead to negotiate Brexit - The Guardian

Julian McMahon at an appeal by Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran in Indonesia. He has been made a companion of the Order of Australia. Photograph: Ed Wray/Getty Images

The abolitionist lawyer Julian McMahon and the refugee advocate Paris Aristotle have been recognised in this years Queens birthday honours list.

Julian McMahon, a Melbourne barrister, has been appointed a companion of the Order of Australia for his dedication to defending human rights, in particular advocating for defendants facing the death penalty.

The president of Reprieve Australia since 2015, McMahon has worked pro bono for death-row defendants including: Van Tuong Nguyen, hanged in Singapore in 2005; George Forbes, wrongly accused, then exonerated of murder in Sudan in 2007; and the Bali Nine members Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, who were executed by firing squad in Indonesia in 2015.

His work has raised public awareness globally of the death penalty, as more and more countries abolish capital punishment.

In the wake of Chan and Sukumarans executions, McMahon said the killing of Australian citizens overseas for non-violent drug offences had solidified public opposition in Australia to capital punishment.

I think its been a developing idea basically since the execution of Van Nguyen, which many people rightly thought was an appalling outcome, McMahon told Fairfax Media.

The public consciousness was awakened to the reality of executions, which hadnt really featured in public life for a long time. It was on a slow burn until the lead-up to the executions of Chan and Sukumaran. Their case led to such intense analysis, discussion and political input, it is now beyond dispute that we simply understand as a nation the death penalty is unacceptable.

McMahon, the Victorian Australian of the Year in 2016, has been cited in the Queens birthday honours for eminent service to the law and the legal profession, through pro bono representation of defendants in capital punishment cases overseas, as an advocate for the abolition of the death penalty, and to human rights and social justice reform.

Aristotle has made an officer of the Order of Australia. He founded the Victoria Foundation of Survivors of Torture in 1987 and has been its chief executive since then. He was a member of the prime ministers expert panel on asylum seekers in 2012.

Aristotles citation as the 2017 Victorian Australian of the Year reads: A tireless advocate for refugees and asylum seekers, Paris Aristotle has made an enormous contribution by helping countless people rebuild their lives in Australia after surviving torture and trauma in their countries of origin.

Aristotle has worked with state and federal governments of all political affiliations over decades as well as with the United Nations high commissioner for refugees.

In an address in March, he said the issue of forced displacement will be one of the great challenges of the 21st century for Australia, the region and the world:

Protecting people fleeing war, conflict and persecution is both a moral and legal obligation for a country like ours. Every person should know that they have a right to protection under the refugee convention every refugee should be confident that as a part of that they will be properly cared for and every persecutor should fear that they will be brought to justice.

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Julian McMahon and Paris Aristotle honoured for defence of human rights - The Guardian

Theresa May pictured with her new chief of staff, Gavin Barwell, in summer 2016. Photograph: Neil Hall/PA

An increasingly desperate Theresa May has been forced to agree a loose alliance with the Democratic Unionists to prop up her government after angry Tory MPs warned they would object to a formal coalition with the party.

Downing Street said that a confidence and supply arrangement had been reached with the DUP and would be put to the cabinet on Monday, as May attempts to rescue her premiership.

The move came late on Saturday after Tory MPs had begun warning party whips they would oppose any formal deal, because of the DUPs position on gay rights, abortion and climate change. The looser deal on offer would see the Northern Irish partys 10 MPs support her in key votes, but not enter a closer pact with the Tories.

The decision to rule out a formal pact, which could make it harder for May to govern, comes after her trusted joint chiefs of staff, Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill, resigned following her shock failure to secure a majority in Thursdays general election.

May had been under pressure from ministers to sack the pair or face an immediate leadership challenge. Gavin Barwell, who lost his Croydon Central seat, has taken up the role of chief of staff.

May is under huge strain to keep the job she won less than a year ago. As the poor election result emerged, senior Tories are understood to have contacted Boris Johnson to sound him out about launching another leadership bid should May be unable to continue.

Friends of the foreign secretary dismissed any suggestion that he would try to force May out, stating that he was backing her decision to stay in post. It is nonsense to suggest he is manoeuvering, they said.

A No 10 spokesman said: We can confirm that the Democratic Unionist Party have agreed to the principles of an outline agreement to support the Conservative government on a confidence and supply basis when parliament returns next week.

We welcome this commitment, which can provide the stability and certainty the whole country requires as we embark on Brexit and beyond.

The Observer has learned that the DUP was planning to dodge a row when negotiations began by avoiding the inclusion of any controversial social policies, such as opposition to gay marriage or abortion, in its so-called shopping list of demands to the Tories. Party sources said it would be seeking commitments from May that there would be no Irish unity referendum and no hard border imposed on the island of Ireland. However, some Tories remained concerned that a pact would damage a brand they have spent years trying to detoxify.

More and more colleagues are becoming distinctly uneasy about the idea of a formal pact with the DUP, said one senior Conservative. It is up to the DUP if they want to support a Conservative government and vote for various measures that we put through, but there is a feeling that we are damaged if we are seen to be entering into a formal agreement with a party whose views on a number of things we just dont share.

Why should we damage what we painstakingly built up through David Camerons work on personal issues, and indeed what the prime ministers own instincts are, with any form of formal linkage with people who plainly have some views that the vast majority of Conservative MPs would not share?

Nicky Morgan, an education secretary under Cameron, said: As a former minister for women and equalities, any notion that the price for a deal with the DUP is to water down our equalities policies is a non-starter.

An online petition calling for May to resign rather than form a coalition with the DUP had attracted more than 600,000 signatures on Saturday night.

The DUP, which won 10 seats and holds the balance of power, is opposed to abortion and same-sex marriage. It has also appointed climate change sceptics to senior party posts. The former Tory cabinet minister Owen Paterson sparked alarm by suggesting his party may have to enter into a debate on further reduction of abortion times as medical science advances. But it is understood the DUP will argue that controversial issues like gay marriage and abortion can be dealt with only in a Northern Ireland context by the Stormont assembly.

Ruth Davidson, the Scottish Tory leader, expressed concern at the weekend over the impact of a DUP deal on gay rights and other issues.

But one DUP source said: Someone is stirring the pot with Ruth, who we regard as a hero of the union.

The DUP has been at the forefront of opposition in Stormont to legalising gay marriage and reforming the near-total ban on abortion in the region. Seeking a soft border would raise the question of whether or not the DUP backs the UK staying in the EUs customs union.

The party will also insist that there are no checks at English, Scottish or Welsh ports and airports on any citizens travelling from Northern Ireland after Brexit.

DUP sources said the list of demands would be similar to its 2015 Northern Ireland plan, when the party laid out its price for supporting either a minority Tory or Labour administration. That included demands for more Treasury cash for Northern Irelands schools and hospitals. Also among the DUPs shopping list will be at least a 50% cut or the total abolition of air passenger duty in Northern Ireland.

Discussions between the DUP and the Conservatives will run parallel with negotiations this week involving all the main parties in Northern Ireland. The latter talks are aimed at restoring the power-sharing devolved government in Belfast. Writing in Sundays Observer, Jonathan Powell, Tony Blairs secret negotiator with the IRA leadership after the 1998 Good Friday agreement, said a Conservative-DUP deal would have dire consequences for the talks on Monday.

If Mrs May depends on the DUP Ian Paisleys party, not the old Official Unionists who used to work with the Tories to form a government it will be impossible for it to be even-handed, Powell said.

The rest is here:

Theresa May's premiership in peril as loose alliance agreed with DUP - The Guardian

British Prime Minister Theresa May addresses the press in London Friday. Her gamble in calling for a snap election backfired.

In the final weeks of the Britains election campaign, Labour party leaders invited young people to claim your future. They did so in massive numbers by voting for the past.

It is hard for anybody with any historical memory to understand how a backbench relic such as Jeremy Corbyn could so galvanize the youth vote and keep the Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May from achieving an overall majority in the snap election Thursday. Bernie Sanders is an obvious comparison. But for it to work you have to imagine a Bernie Sanders who spent his life campaigning alongside every anti-American group going.

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Perhaps in the end the thing about the young is that history is distant to them. Which is partly understandable, of course. British people born after 1998 have lived in the peace created by the Good Friday agreement. To them the conflict in Northern Ireland seems not just distant but baffling. They dont remember the swiftly evacuated pubs and train stations, the daily news of lost lives, and the endless bleak news of civilians murdered. When Corbyn answered critical questions during this election cycle by insisting that he had spent the period of the Troubles working for a peace deal it seems young people believed him. Or didnt care enough about the details to be detained by them. Anyone who pointed out that Corbyn solely spent the Troubles campaigning for the IRA were dismissed as pedants, liars or (in a now familiar abuse of language) against peace..

The same went for Hezbollah, Hamas, and the slew of other Islamists that any observer of British politics from the 1980s onwards knew to be Corbyns allies. But at this election this too was presented as an indication that Corbyn was one of the leading peace negotiators in the Middle East, sent in by the international community as the crack-squad for all sensitive negotiations. To know the fatuousness of this claim you would have to have some historical memory. Again, the young apparently do not. And even three Islamist terror attacks in Britain in 10 weeks turned out not to concentrate their minds and direct them away from a sympathizer and onto an opponent of Islamist terror.

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It would appear that the economics works the same way. Anybody who pays taxes must at some stage intuit that someone must pay for things and that this someone could turn out to be you. When the Conservative manifesto announced plans for the elderly to pay more for their old-age they were making a fiscally logical suggestion. But it turned out to be electorally suicidal. The Labour manifesto, by contrast, promised the young a whole raft of uncosted financial incentives, including the abolition of university tuition fees. And while this might be financially impossible (as the Liberal Democrats discovered to their cost after making the same promise and then going into coalition with the Conservatives in 2010), it was electorally brilliant. Who wouldnt want free university education?

What initially seemed the dullest campaign in memory has been transformed through unexpected missteps, surprise developments and deadly attacks.

And then there is the B word. In last years referendum on Britains membership of the EU, the young disproportionately voted to remain within the EU, but turned out in low numbers. After the country voted for Brexit, a narrative grew that the young had their future stolen from them by ardent and selfish elderly voters. There was even serious discussion that people above a certain age should not have a say in the future of their country it being a place the young would inhabit for longer. When May announced this snap election she did so in order to improve her majority and strengthen as a result her negotiating hand with Brussels. Corbyns Labour party despite him having spent his political life opposed to the EU turned out to be the most viable receptacle of voters opposed to such hand-strengthening. And so they weakened May, and her party, sending her into the forthcoming Brexit negotiations (if she goes in at all) with a worse hand than she had before this ill-chosen race.

What is one to say about all this? The country is waking this morning to a realization that we may be ungovernable, or that crisis will from henceforth be normal. A crisis forced upon us by an anti-selfish generation of students who think the politics and economics of the past are the politics and economics of the future. The young were the future once. Not any more.

The rest is here:

Britain's young vote for the future by voting for the past - The Boston Globe

General Election result piles more uncertainty on Northern Ireland business: Chamber of Commerce

BelfastTelegraph.co.uk

The shock result in the general election has managed to pile more uncertainty on the world of business, the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce and Industry has said.

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/general-election-result-piles-more-uncertainty-on-northern-ireland-business-chamber-of-commerce-35808066.html

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/incoming/article34732383.ece/1c656/AUTOCROP/h342/PEYE%20190516KB3%200002%20-%20Copy.JPG

The shock result in the general election has managed to pile more uncertainty on the world of business, the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce and Industry has said.

It said business was already facing tricky issues including a shortage of skilled workers, currency fluctuations and Brexit.

But the prospect of a hung Parliament after no party managed to achieve an overall majority had achieved the unlikely feat of making matters worse.

Ellvena Graham, chairperson of the Northern Ireland Chamber, said a speedy formation of a government that can give businesses confidence around both economic management and Brexit negotiations, must be the absolute top priority.

And in Northern Ireland, parties must resume talks in order to restart devolved government. It is now time to put the Northern Ireland economy first.

Whilst there are many positive developments in the Northern Ireland economy, we also have challenges in terms of long term unemployment; low levels of export compared to other UK regions; a shortage of funding for infrastructure development and a serious shortage of skills.

We therefore need the Northern Ireland Executive to reform, agree a final Programme for Government, an economic strategy and establish a single Northern Ireland action plan on Brexit to address key business concerns.

And she said it remained crucial that there is no hard border with the Republic following Brexit.

This would be a major setback in economic, social and political relations between Northern Ireland and its neighbour.

And she said Northern Irelands 18 Westminster MPs now needed to support the priorities of a City Deal for Belfast, the abolition of air passenger duty and a cut in corporation tax.

Overall, business and government need to work more closely together than ever before, to develop the mutual confidence needed to overcome the challenges posed by the Brexit transition, to unlock the economic potential of Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK, and to seize the opportunities beyond.

Results in full:

Belfast Telegraph Digital

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General Election result piles more uncertainty on Northern Ireland business: Chamber of Commerce - Belfast Telegraph

Can pro wrestling, a medium with a history of bare-faced antagonism towards leftist politics, exist under socialism?

I think its contingent on the degree to which wrestlers and others in the business identify with the working class.

Its a spectrum. On one end, you have Zack Sabre Jr, who speaks out against neoliberalism and recently raised money for the ACLU. On the other, you have Matt Striker, who was, as I was writing this, using Twitter to mock the reporter assaulted by Greg Gianforte, a Montana Republican who was subsequently elected to Congress, and speak against a living wage for fast food workers.

Where there isnt wrestling, people will create their own. Ive seen enough lips busted on trampoline frames to know this. Whether or not we can develop a class consciousness within this industry will determine whether we have to start from scratch or if that knowledge, training and character that we identify with pro wrestling now will be preserved in this new iteration.

This isnt to downplay the irrevocable influences on wrestling that socialism would have. They are substantial, perhaps even drastic. Still, I think theyre necessary to ensure that the compassionate, sustainable future we advocate for is extended to wrestling (a thing many leftists love, often despite ourselves).

Longer Careers, Shorter Title Reigns

Whatever shape the political apparatus of a socialist America takes, its safe to say that industries and business will be run as worker co-ops, directed and managed democratically by the workers. Theres no reason wrestling would be the exception.

With the abolition of rent and wage labor, the incentive to grind your knees down on multiple house shows a week will be low. And everyone will be involved in local committee projects anyway; theyll need those knees to build houses and plant arugula.

How would you book yourself if you were focused on longevity? More tag matches, triple threats, battle royals. More chances to do spots and wow crowds while getting a few breathers in the corner.

Those add up to a longer, if less illustrious, career. Legacies like Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair and Kazuchika Okada are the result of a singular vision focused on capital. Titles, if they exist, could become a means of collective recognition of labor and talent.

In theory, at least. If you, say, had a habit of defecating in your co-workers gym bags in the previous regime, youre probably gonna be voted to lose. A lot.

The Tag Title Will Become The Top Title

The structures of wrestling reflect our values. The great man babyface perceives that being himself, by himself, reflects American ideals of individualism, distrust of teamwork, and frustration at the weak-willed, ineffectual governing apparatus that exists only to fetter their attempts to win custody of their adopted son.

A collectivist wrestling company living in a collectivist society will reflect that in its booking. An example of this would be CHIKARAs Campeonatas de Parajas, a tag title that preceded its equivalent of a world title by 5 years; I see a correlation in the increasing prestige of a top singles title with the CHIKARA brands transition from that of a local, community-supported indie fed to a destination for indie talent from all over the world.

Its possible this will extend beyond tag teams, and that wrestling promotions will break out into rival factions of varying alignments, like NJPW has right now. For one, it accurately reflects political discourse in a multi-tendency, big tent organization like the DSA.

On that note, it never fails to crack me up to see Bullet Club, a faction formed to antagonize a homogenous, xenophobic society with multiculturalism, in the Twitter avatars of white nationalists.

A Return To Rasslin

Wrestling has long run on a particular cycle of acquisition. The big companies see a trend in the smaller that they want to appropriate, and then buy up all the wrestlers they can who fit that trend, incorporating it into the mainstream style and forcing the remaining indies to find something new. CCK subtly references to this occurring to the new British style in their recent promo for PROGRESS.

Without this engine of imposition, the need for a rapidly developed diversity of hyper-specialized wrestling styles will be low. And some wrestlers, a demographic that leans hard to the right, will just quit the sport entirely. Less knowledge to be passed on to wrestlers who work less matches and travel less.

That will facilitate a return to basics. More rasslin, more catch-as-catch-can, more literal amateur hour.

I think this can be good. Part of what makes Lucha Underground, Hoodslam and Party World Rasslin beautiful is their ability to reach people who dont necessarily identify as wrestling fans by focusing on crafting their own narratives and culture instead of maintaining a certain fluency in current wrestling trends. Another part: they make Jim Cornette mad.

The Revolution At Ringside

What does it mean to distribute wealth? A capitalist might say Its whenever I have $2 and you have $0, you take $1 from me to make it even. Which isnt inaccurate.

A more fleshed out realization of it (in the simplest terms) would be if, whenever you have $2 and I have $0, I take that $1 while we work to abolish the things that require money (rent, lack of food access, etc) and then the money, now evenly distributed, is worthless.

So, in an economy that is in the process of, or has even completed the destruction of currency, who gets the best seats in the house? Maybe its the workers. Maybe its the syndicate or commune that collectively own the stadium.

I like to think that, if we use the Marxist axiom of from each according to their ability to each according to their need, we could start giving those ringside seats to the people who need them mostkids, seniors, disabled people.

Whatever we decide, it means some tall asshole in an nWo shirt who refuses to sit down cant block your view and ruin the show. We call that improving material conditions.

In Soviet America, Ref Bumps You

Pro wrestling referees are the definition of failing upward. Theyre prized for their incompetence, cowardice and impotent biases.They largely exist to prevent the face from achieving their goals or enact justice on heels.

This is what people like Vince McMahon and your neighbor who watches too much Fox News thinks about institutions who want to hold people to playing by the rules: weak-willed, easily circumvented, and unable to do whats necessary to bring the ill-willed to heel.

The process by which we achieve socialism in America would fundamentally change this systemic perception of justice. A bloodless grassroots revolution could lead to referees being heroic mediators who desperately try to keep carnage from all sides from boiling over.

An authoritarian vanguard could mean referees who impose order through force. A multi-tendency revolution could lead to sectarian refs endlessly feuding over slight variations of ideology.

Not all of these outcomes would necessarily make the product compelling. Thats the bad news.

The good news is the abolition of wages means thered be no one to sell contraband t-shirts to, so Earl Hebner can have his job back.

In a capitalist system, projects and institutions exist according to their capacity to generate (and/or extract) capital. If socialism is enacted in the United States, it will fundamentally change the social contract and conditions by which industries and institutions function. Anything you want to preserve amidst such a sea change needs a plan of adaptation.

If the thought of adjusting pro wrestling to accommodate a socialist society fills you with disgust or rage, I think its worth interrogating whether your attachment is actually to wrestling or to the society it reflects (before you answer: remember, we are revolting against that society).

Whatcha gonna do, comrade, when the proletariat dismantles the systems of exploitation running wild on you?

Jetta Rae is a writer and organizer based in Oakland. She runs the leftist food blog FRY HAVOC and can be found on Twitter.

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What Pro Wrestling Would Look Like Under Socialism - Paste Magazine

The Ghana House of Port Agents (GHOPA), a group of importers, has asked shipping companies at the Tema port to bring an end to excessive charges on imported goods.

According to the group, since the announcement of the abolition of the 1% Special Import Levy by the Akufo-Addo-led government, owners of shipping lines have introduced new charges at the port.

A statement issued by the group said: On 2nd March, 2017, during the maiden budget statement of President Akufo Addos government presented by Hon Ken Ofori-Atta, we [GHOPA] developed a very strong confidence in the government, having the belief that some of the abolished taxes were going to help us unleash our fabulous policies to help redeem the image of businesses in our nation especially at the port in our various fields of work. Ever since those taxes were abolished, there have been a whole lot of unnecessary charges at the port by the shipping lines of which we [GHOPA] and the freight forwarders, as well as the importers, are not happy about.

Some of those charges that we [GHOPA] believe are unnecessary are: cleaning of container charges, container security charges, demurrage on public holidays, Saturdays and Sundays. What saddens our hearts most is the fact that they dont even work on weekends [Saturdays and Sundays] as well as on public holidays, meanwhile GPHA also charges on the same consignment (security fee)

Again, shipping lines like CMA Line, Maersk Line, Pacific International Line (PIL), and Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) always delay in issuance of their invoices especially when their system goes down and at the end of the day we are being charged for their own technical issues which caused the breakdown of their system. And their demurrage charges are too much. They charge as high as USD100 per day which we think is just too much.

In conclusion, we the Ghana House of Port Agents [GHOPA] wish to convey through this press release that we are pleading with the government, Ministry of Trade and Industry, and other bodies concerned to do something to put an end to all the unnecessary charges at the shipping lines in a month else we will advise ourselves either embarking on a massive demonstration against all the bodies including the government or the law court.

In a subsequent interview with Chief Jerry Forson, host of Ghana Yensom on Accra100.5FM on Wednesday, June 7, Prince Kofi Buamah, Public Relations Officer of the group, said: We are appealing to the government to focus its attention on the shipping lines because they are hurting our businesses at the Tema port. We cannot trust the Shippers Council to deal with this issue because we have put several of our issues before them but they havent handled them properly.

Ampadu Siaw, Secretary of the Secondhand Spare Parts Dealers Association, also commenting on the matter, commended the group for raising the matter.

Also speaking on the show, he said: I will commend them, it is a fight that all of us must support because it affects us. The leadership of spare parts dealers will be meeting on this and see how we can also involve ourselves in this matter.

As for Ghana Shippers Council, they are not serving our interests, they are serving their own interests because most of the issues that come before them are not addressed. Source: GhanaWeb

Excerpt from:

Stop unnecessary port charges Shipping lines urged - Hellenic Shipping News Worldwide

Camden New Journal newspapers website

Corbyn's quiet revolution Camden New Journal newspapers website ... utilities that we all rely on, properly funding both schools that nurture our young and the NHS that cares for us when we're ill, and ending insecurity at work with the abolition of zero-hours contracts and the strengthening of trade union and ... Generation JezzaJacobin magazine General Election 2017: What is each party promising?DIGITALLOOK United Kingdom, Don't You Know There's An Election On?The National Law Review Channel NewsAsia -Center for Research on Globalization all 4,437 news articles »

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Corbyn's quiet revolution - Camden New Journal newspapers website

NEW YORK (CHASING NEWS) -- Hunter College is offering a course next fall called The Abolition of Whiteness. The course will examine whiteness, white supremacy and violence.

The class will be taught by Jennifer Gaboury, associate director of the school's Women and Gender Studies Program.

According to her bio on the Hunter College website, her work is related to issues of masculinities, feminisms, and politics; she is currently working on a project related to race and sex segregation in public bathroom facilities.

"As a white person the best thing I can do with this kind of issue is educate myself," said Hunter College student Jessica Creason.

But is the class potentially divisive or is it a way to challenge young people to think freely? There was a spirited discussion in the Chasing News studio.

"Is it how to abolish whiteness? Is it a racist class?" host Bill Spadea asked.

"Our infrastructure is built on everything Western that comes from Europe," chaser Ashley Johnson explained. "There is the notion that you and I are not the same, and it's understanding what role that has played in society. You don't see me like you see your cousin.

"When you first see me, you see me as a black woman," Johnson told Spadea.

"How do you know I see you as a black woman first?" Spadea asked.

University of Penn professor Chad Dion Lassiter, a national expert on race relations and president of Black Men At Penn, joined the discussion.

"We've always had 'whiteness courses' at Penn," Lassiter said. "We need courses like this. They shouldn't be rooted in making whites feel bad. They should definitely be rooted in talking about the intersectionality of white privilege.

But does white privilege even exist?

"I don't think so," Spadea said.

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NYC college offers Abolition of Whiteness course - My9NJ