Massachusetts Global Action 33 Harrison Avenue, 5th Floor Boston, MA 02111 www.encuentro5.org THE Friday E5 FORUM An informal social-political place for activists and progressive scholars to connect, and discuss local and global alternatives for social change. Speakers present for 20-30 minutes, and then we have a discussion. We all bring either a snack, or something to drink, and then go out for dinner together. Previous forums have been on neo-liberalism and resistance in South Africa, participatory democracy in Venezuela, emergence of a multi-polar world order, the Bamako appeal & the World Social Forum, and many others. If you would like tto o join us, contact: thomas.ponniah@gmail.com Plugging in… PROGRAM There are four upcoming events that are closely related to encuentro 5: 1. Marco Berlinguer of the Italian movement, Transform!, will address, "The Bubbles, the Crises, and the Need for Real Economic Alternatives." Friday, November 21, 2008, at 6:30 p.m. This talk provides an opportunity to connect with the Labor & Globalization Network and planning for the World Social Forum in Belem, Brazil (January 2009). 2. On Saturday, November 22, 2008, Michael Liu, of the Asian American Resource Workshop, will talk about his new book, The Snake Dance of Asian American Activism. It takes place at the Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center (38 Ash Street, Boston), from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. 3. The Greater Boston Stop the Wars Coalition is launching this year's "First Night Against the War" organizing on Monday, November 24, 2008, at 6:30 p.m. at encuentro 5 in Chinatown. 4. On Sunday, December 14, 2008, starting at 4:00 p.m., the Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group is hosting its annual holiday party at e5. They invite you to "Come mingle and get an update on [their] work in Haiti and Guatemala." encuentro 5, an MGA project, is located at 33 Harrison Ave, 5th floor in Chinatown (MA 02111). Appreciation Massachusetts Global Action and its board (Kim Foltz, Sandra Harris, Suren Moodliar, Jason Pramas, and Kaveri Rajaraman) are deeply indebted to a large group of organizers and activists. They include Felix Arroyo, Eli Beckerman, Begwe Browne, Corry Blanton, Jenn Bliss, Noam Chomsky, Pasqualino Colombaro, Brian Corr, Ben Day, Marilyn Frankenstein, Ann Glick, David Goodman, Peter Haas, Emily Hardt, Carlos Harris, John Harris, Susie Husted, Angela Kelly, Dan Kontoff, Richard Krushnic, Cat Laine, Janet Lee, Susan Lees, Alisa LaSotnik, Dave Lewit, Marilyn Levin, Duncan McFarland, Dorotea Manuela, Jeff Manzelli, Jorge Marin, Laila Murad, Brian O'Connell, Linda Pinkow, Dennis Prater, Guillermo Quinteros, Grace Ross, Sergio Reyes, Paul Shannon, Karen Slater, Roberto Torres, Chuck Turner, Taina Vargas, and Charlie Welch. Jeff Manzelli,aka Freeman Z of Cafe , provided his sound engineering services. Emily Hardt helped with registration. Brian O'Connell organized the reception. Susie Husted, Dan Kantoff and Kim Foltz helped with outreach. Suren Moodliar coordinated the event and website. Alisa LaSotnik designed and produced this book printed by Red Sun Press. 10 5:30 Reception Hosted by Brian O'Connell 6:30 Main Event Welcome by Kim Foltz & Dorotea Manuela Introduction by Gabriel Camacho CONTENTS 6:40 What's Next? with Noam Chomsky What Now for Capitalism? Noam Chomsky Page 1 7:15 Discussion 8:00 Closing Statement A One-Party System Noam Chomsky Page 3 Massachusetts Global Action Page 6 Plugging in… & Appreciation Page 10 Evening Spectacle Spectacle, 1/29-2/1, 2/1, Thurs. Thurs.-Sun., 7pm Family Friendly Circus Circus, 1/31-2/1, 2/1, Sat. Sat.-Sun., 3 pm Artist Talk & Reception Reception, 1/26, Mon., 6 6-8 pm Cheap Art Sale & more throughout the week Bread & Puppet coming Jan.‘09 Boston Democratic Socialists of America P.O. Box 51356, Boston MA 02205 www.dsaboston.org 617-354-5078 Held at the Boston Center for the Arts Cyclorama 539 Tremont St. South End, Boston www.breadandpuppet.org bcaonline.org Bread & Puppet Theater Boston contact contact: Mary Curtin marycurtin@comcast.net 617-470 470-5867 SOCIALISM AND DEMOCRACY www.sdonline.org November 2008: Radical Perspectives on Immigration EDITED BY MARCELLA BENCIVENNI & RON HAYDUK July 2008: US Fascism Comes to the Surface EDITED & INTRODUCED BY JONATHAN SCOTT annual subscriptions (“membership” rate): 3 issues for $30 Routledge, Taylor & Francis, Inc. 325 Chestnut St., 8th floor, Philadelphia, PA 19106 journals.orders@tandf.co.uk for single issues (including bulk orders & back issues), contact 617-776-9505 or info@sdonline.org 9 About MGA (continued): (8) Throughout the year, encuentro ncuentro 5 has been hosting workshops, teach teach-ins, lectures on topics ranging from constitutional reform in the Andes to South African social movements, to housing rights and worker struggles in Boston. See: www.encuentro5.org (9) We have also increased investment in our space by adding a computer lab (in association with several other non-profits), profits), providing a central air conditioning, doing some build out work and are now improving the energy efficiency and ergonomics of our lighting. All of these investments have run into the thousands of dollars and reflect a great commitment from our community. Setback:: This year, we also suffered a major setback when our efforts to host an event on Palestine were defeated by opponents of free speech and rights for the Palestinian people. See www.MassGlobalAction.org/ home/freespeech.htm home/freespeech.htm. In this matter, our opposition successfully wielded Palestine as a wedge issue within the progressive movement and we were not equal to the task ask of successfully pushing back. Mass Global Action is a member of the Boston May Day Coalition, the Stop the Wars Coalition, New England United and United for Peace and Justice Justice. <> Mass Global Action – Project View Noam Chomsky, BBC News Markets have inherent and wellknown inefficiencies. One factor is failure to calculate the costs to those who do not participate in transactions. These "externalities" can be huge. That is particularly true for financial institutions. Their task is to take risks, calculating potential costs for themselves. But they do not take into account the consequences of their losses for the economy as a whole. Hence the financial market "underprices risk" and is "systematically inefficient," as John Eatwell and Lance Taylor wrote a decade ago, warning of the extreme dangers of financial liberalization and reviewing the substantial costs already incurred - and also proposing solutions, which have been ignored. The threat became more severe when the Clinton administration repealed the Glass-Steagall Steagall act of 1933, thus freeing financial institutions "to innovate in the new ew economy," in Clinton's words – and also "to selfdestruct, taking down with them the general economy and international confidence in the US banking system," financial analyst Nomi Prins adds. The unprecedented intervention of the Fed may be justified stified or not in narrow terms, but it reveals, once again, the profoundly undemocratic character of state capitalist institutions, designed in (Continues on page 2) Massachusetts Jobs with Justice thanks Encuentro 5 for their commitment to Workers’ Rights and Social Justice Justice! 8 The Global Economic Alternatives Network (GEAN) Based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the GEAN proposes to analyze and monitor the emergence of 'best practice' alternative economic initiatives and principles, with a focus on how these activities conjugate new, egalitarian work organizations with environmental sustainability, healthy/quality production of goods and services and mutual social and economic assistance. The GEAN aims to map out best practices in the cooperative, ethical, ecological, fair, equitable, participatory, social/solidarity economy and alternative Labor initiatives in the public and private sector and to lay the basis for cross Europe, US and global/local collaboration. The GEAN seeks to establish a clearinghouse of information and educational resources for alternative economic initiatives. http://openesf.net/projects/alternative-economies/home Coordinator: Pasqualino Colombaro, pcolombaro@gmail.com About MGA (continued): This ambitious perspective requires that MGA (i) prioritizes strategies that network diverse organizations and efforts and (ii) engages in carefully chosen campaigns and projects that identify problems, their root causes, potential solutions, and opportunities for democratic participation and redress. Recent achievements: MGA builds on the legacy of the Boston Social Forum (2004). In 2008, it has helped organize numerous activities and campaigns to build the progressive movement. encuentro 5 is the movement-building space we organize in Chinatown. (1) In January, following the call of the World Social Forum, we helped coordinate a “Week of Action” that included most Boston-area Global Justice organizations: See www.BostonDayOfAction.org. (2) In February, we helped organize a large meeting to welcome Bolivian President Evo Morales to our city. While the visit was postponed, we mobilized hundreds of people, activated the media and built a great network of organizations in solidarity with the people of the Andes. See www.EvoInBoston.org. (3) Over the first half of the year, we built our Color of Water campaign by engaging scores of progressive and community-based organizations and released a one-page account on disparities in water access across Boston's neighborhoods. See www.ColorOfWater.org (4) Throughout the year, we helped organize several large antiwar protests including the October 11 antiwar action and a pro-migrant worker celebration of May 1st on Boston Common. (5) We also support the work of national contingent faculty list (adj-l) by hosting and moderating the e-mail list. At a local level MGA hosts and co-moderates the act-ma events list founded by Charlie Welch and David Sangurima. (6) In April, we joined with New England United's antiwar conference and helped organize a discussion, "The Majority Agenda Project". For a copy of our work, see www.MassGlobalAction.org/home/crossmovement.htm 7) In July, we helped organize and sponsor the "Ideas & Action: Human Rights in Boston and the United States" conference held in conjunction with the American Sociological Association's annual meeting. See www.BostonHumanRights.org (Continues on next page) What Now for Capitalism (continued): large measure to socialize cost and risk and privatize profit, without a public voice. That is, of course, not limited to financial markets. The advanced economy as a whole relies heavily on the dynamic state sector, with much the same consequences with regard to risk, cost, profit, and decisions, crucial features of the economy and political system. <> 2 7 One-Party System (continued): deployed, nobody cared. When Kennedy invaded Vietnam in 1962, there was just a yawn. Troops Home Now! SPIEGEL: To conclude, perhaps you can offer a conciliatory word about the state of the nation? Greater Boston Stop the Wars Coalition www.stopthewars.org Join us at the 4th annual First Night Against the War Wednesday, December 31th 1 PM – 7 PM Copley Square, Boston, MA Chomsky: The American society has become more civilized, largely as a result of the activism of the 1960s. Our society, and also Europe's, became freer, more open, more democratic, and for many quite scary. This generation was condemned for that. But it had an effect. SPIEGEL: Professor Chomsky, we thank you for this interview. <> Interviewed by Gabor Steingart October 10, 2008 A One-Party System Noam Chomsky Der Spiegel Online SPIEGEL: Professor Chomsky, cathedrals of capitalism have collapsed, the conservative government is spending its final weeks in office with nationalization plans. How does that make you feel? be more risk taken than would be prudent for the economy. With government deregulation and the triumph of financial liberalization, the dangers of systemic risks, the possibility of a financial tsunami, sharply increased. Chomsky: The times are too difficult and the crisis too severe to indulge in schadenfreude. Looking at it in perspective, the fact that there would be a financial crisis was perfectly predictable, its general nature, if not its magnitude. Markets are always inefficient. SPIEGEL: But is it correct to only put the blame on Wall Street? Doesn't Main Street, the American middle class, also live on borrowed money which may or may not be paid back? Chomsky: The debt burden of private households is enormous. But I would not hold the individual responsible. This consumerism is based on the fact that we are a society dominated by business interests. There is massive propaganda for everyone to consume. Consumption is good for profits and consumption is good for the political establishment. SPIEGEL: What exactly did you anticipate? Chomsky: In the financial industry, as in other industries, there are risks that are left out of the calculation. If you sell me a car, we have perhaps made a good bargain for ourselves. But there are effects of this transaction on others, which we do not take into account. There is more pollution, the price of gas goes up, there is more congestion. Those are the external costs of our transaction. In the case of financial institutions, they are huge. Mission: MGA is an advocacy non-profit concerned about the negative impact of corporate globalization particularly on Massachusetts and its communities. It seeks to deepen participation and democratic involvement in key institutions that impact our lives, livelihoods and environment. MGA believes that enduring positive social change is made when ordinary people find ways to challenge and engage the public and powerful institutions with ideas and actions. These must embrace the majority of humanity, its interests and the global environment. 6 SPIEGEL: How does it benefit politicians when the populace drives a lot, eats a lot and goes shopping a lot? Chomsky: Consumption distracts people. You cannot control your own population by force, but it can be distracted by consumption. The business press has been quite explicit about this goal. SPIEGEL: But isn't it the task of a bank to take risks? Chomsky: Yes, but if it is well managed, like Goldman Sachs, it will cover its own risks and absorb its own losses. But no financial institution can manage systemic risks. Risk is therefore underpriced, and there will SPIEGEL: A while ago you called America "the greatest country on earth." How does that fit together with what you've been saying? (Continues on page 4) 3 33 Harrison Avenue, 5th floor Boston, MA 02111 www.aarw.org, info@aarw.org, 617-426-5313 understanding of democracy democracy. He was asked why he supports a continuation of the war in Iraq when the population is strongly opposed. His answer was: "So?" A One-Party System (continued): Chomsky: In many respects, the United States is a great country. Freedom of speech is protected more than in any other country. It is also a very free society. In America, the professor talks to the mechanic. They are in the same category. SPIEGEL: "Change" is the slogan of this year's presidential election. Do you see any chance for an immediate, tangible change in the United States? Or, to use use Obama's battle cry: Are you "fired up"? SPIEGEL: After traveling through the United States 170 years ago, Alexis de Tocqueville reported, "the people reign over the American political world as God rules over the universe." Was he a dreamer? Chomsky: Not in the least. The European reaction to Obama is a European delusion. Chomsky: James Madison's position at the Constitutional Convention was that state power should be used "to protect the minority of the opulent against the majority." That is why the Senate has only a hundred members who are mostly rich and were given a great deal of power. The House of Representatives, with several hundred members, is more democratic and was given much less power. Even liberals like Walter Lippmann, one of the leading intellectuals of the 20th century, was of the opinion that in a properly functioning democracy, the intelligent minority, who should rule, have to be protected from "the trampling and the roar of the bewildered herd." Among the conservatives, Vice President Dick Cheney just recently illustrated his SPIEGEL: But he does say things that Europe has long been waiting for. He talks about the trans trans-Atlantic partnership, the priority of diplomacy and the reconciling of American society. they are. The hawks say, if we continue we can win. The doves say, it is costing us too much. But try to find an American politician who says frankly that this aggression is a crime: the issue is not whether we win or not, whether it is expensive or not. Remember the Russian invasion of Afghanistan? Did we have a debate whether the Russians can win the war or whether it is too expensive? This may have been the debate at the Kremlin, or in Pravda. But this is the kind of debate you would expect in a totalitarian society. If General Petraeus could achieve in Iraq what Putin achieved in Chechnya, he would be crowned king. The key question here is whether we apply the same standards to ourselves that we apply to others. ... SPIEGEL: Was there not, and is there not -- in the United States and worldwide -- loud protest against the Iraq war? A One-Party System (continued): Chomsky: This Sarah Palin phenomenon is very curious. I think somebody watching us from Mars, they would think the country has gone insane. .. SPIEGEL: So for you, Republicans and Democrats represent just slight variations of the same political platform? Chomsky: Of course there are differences, but they are not fundamental. Nobody should have any illusions. The United States has essentially a one-party system and the ruling party is the business party. SPIEGEL: You exaggerate. In almost all vital questions -- from the taxation of the rich to nuclear energy -- there are different positions. At least on the issues of war and peace, the parties differ considerably. The Republicans want to fight in Iraq until victory, even if that takes a 100 years, according to McCain. The Democrats demand a withdrawal plan. Chomsky: The protest against the war in Iraq is far higher than against the war in Vietnam. When there were 4,000 American deaths in Vietnam and 150,000 troops (Continues on page 6) Chomsky: Let us look at the "differences" more closely, and we recognize how limited and cynical Chomsky: That is all rhetoric. Who cares about that? This whole election campaign deals with soaring rhetoric, hope, change, all sorts of things, but not with issues. SPIEGEL: Do you prefer the team on the other side: the 72 year old Vietnam veteran McCain and Sarah Palin, former Alaskan beauty queen? (Continues on next page) 4 5