[Xmca-l] Re: Rio Tinto Zinc
Andy Blunden
andyb@marxists.org
Wed Sep 16 19:09:09 PDT 2020
"People make their own history, but they do not make it as
they please; they do not make it under self-selected
circumstances, but under circumstances existing already,
given and transmitted from the past" sounds like a good rule
of thumb to me. Nowhere does this suggest that any given
form of society leads us to socialism or anywhere else. This
pandemic is clearing the slate. New forms of collaboration
may arise out of the ashes of the pre-pandemic world. It's
up to us.
Andy
------------------------------------------------------------
*Andy Blunden*
Hegel for Social Movements <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://brill.com/view/title/54574__;!!Mih3wA!RTDwQ-LorilYXJ5nc5zjqPxki29rONB4a1uLLNGwC9eRqVEo-1YqaoEWHgy-JY0GK8FTQQ$ >
Home Page <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.ethicalpolitics.org/ablunden/index.htm__;!!Mih3wA!RTDwQ-LorilYXJ5nc5zjqPxki29rONB4a1uLLNGwC9eRqVEo-1YqaoEWHgy-JY1rwkjd2w$ >
On 17/09/2020 11:22 am, Martin Packer wrote:
> So capitalism is the way of the whole world. And yet not
> even capitalism can lead us to socialism. We are doomed!
>
> But at least we figured out what’s left and what’s right.
>
> Martin
>
>
>
>> On Sep 16, 2020, at 7:40 PM, Andy Blunden
>> <andyb@marxists.org <mailto:andyb@marxists.org>> wrote:
>>
>> As our Chief Health Officer repeatedly says, "Data beats
>> models every time." Capitalism is a world system now. The
>> question of whether, in the mid-18th century, capitalism
>> was inevitable is a moot point. From a political and
>> philosophical point of view, of course it wasn't. But the
>> data is now in.
>>
>> Marx's approach was always *critique of existing social
>> conditions*, never speculation about the future or
>> inevitable stages or laws of history. In his private
>> correspondence with friends Marx betrayed his humanness,
>> his ever expecting the Revolution tomorrow. But in public
>> scientific writing he never did this. Please show me
>> where Marx wrote "that the internal contradictions of
>> capitalism would lead to its collapse and to the
>> formation of a socialist society."
>>
>> I like to make the point that in the /Communist
>> Manifesto/ Marx has almost nothing to say about what the
>> working class would do if it were to seize state power.
>> The programmatic points here:
>> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/ch02.htm*133__;Iw!!Mih3wA!RTDwQ-LorilYXJ5nc5zjqPxki29rONB4a1uLLNGwC9eRqVEo-1YqaoEWHgy-JY29aBASLg$
>> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/ch02.htm*133__;Iw!!Mih3wA!VI6OKP653eKBHQuLkU5jb-3mX0EoA0ESANdgXr_cE1S37_hJHXb672Lyz_nPuJc0xHTjng$>
>> are as far as he went. After the Paris Commune, he was
>> able to /see/ what the workers' movement actually strived
>> to do:
>> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/preface.htm*preface-1872__;Iw!!Mih3wA!RTDwQ-LorilYXJ5nc5zjqPxki29rONB4a1uLLNGwC9eRqVEo-1YqaoEWHgy-JY14PraEDQ$
>> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/preface.htm*preface-1872__;Iw!!Mih3wA!VI6OKP653eKBHQuLkU5jb-3mX0EoA0ESANdgXr_cE1S37_hJHXb672Lyz_nPuJeJTcO-TA$>
>> and you can clearly see how these progammatic points were
>> intended as a political program, subject to continual
>> revision. Not any declaration of historical necessity,
>>
>> Andy
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> *Andy Blunden*
>> Hegel for Social Movements
>> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://brill.com/view/title/54574__;!!Mih3wA!VI6OKP653eKBHQuLkU5jb-3mX0EoA0ESANdgXr_cE1S37_hJHXb672Lyz_nPuJcjx1H-8g$>
>> Home Page
>> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.ethicalpolitics.org/ablunden/index.htm__;!!Mih3wA!VI6OKP653eKBHQuLkU5jb-3mX0EoA0ESANdgXr_cE1S37_hJHXb672Lyz_nPuJctsV5tyQ$>
>>
>> On 17/09/2020 6:03 am, Martin Packer wrote:
>>> So capitalism is not *necessary* for socialism to become
>>> possible. Why should capitalism then be *sufficient* for
>>> socialism to become possible?
>>>
>>> That is, we seem to be generally agreed that capitalism
>>> has not been an inevitable stage of societal evolution,
>>> a stepping stone on the way to socialism. A socialist
>>> state could, in theory, arise from a pre-industrial
>>> society. Capitalism is not necessary. Its existence has
>>> been a contingency, an historical accident.
>>>
>>> Why then should capitalism, where it exists, set the
>>> stage for socialism? Do we agree that Marx proposed that
>>> the internal contradictions of capitalism would lead to
>>> its collapse and to the formation of a socialist
>>> society? But perhaps this analysis was wrong. Perhaps
>>> capitalism will simply collapse. Its global supply
>>> chains will be disrupted. Its access to cheap labor will
>>> be cut off. Its ability to make people consume endlessly
>>> will run dry. It will simply grind to a halt and fall over.
>>>
>>> And then societies of the future could arise in parts of
>>> the world which have *escaped* capitalism, few and far
>>> between though they are.
>>>
>>> People in a capitalist society like to think it is the
>>> most advanced, the most evolved. And the left (oops!)
>>> seems largely to agree. But perhaps capitalism will turn
>>> out to be merely an evolutionary dead end.
>>>
>>> Martin
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>> On Sep 15, 2020, at 7:33 PM, Andy Blunden
>>>> <andyb@marxists.org <mailto:andyb@marxists.org>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> This letter:
>>>> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1881/letters/81_03_08.htm__;!!Mih3wA!RTDwQ-LorilYXJ5nc5zjqPxki29rONB4a1uLLNGwC9eRqVEo-1YqaoEWHgy-JY3sWOO4Dg$
>>>> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1881/letters/81_03_08.htm__;!!Mih3wA!Wc7U2Qr5zMgrKKeh_jEXkdulE0GgE_Mf1JJ9xPU3T2lU6DpYFZfSmiQ9Rs0MpFuzxe_8fw$>
>>>> is one occasion when Marx makes it clear that he makes
>>>> no claim for the inevitability of a capitalist stage of
>>>> social development, only that this was what was
>>>> actually the case in Europe in his time. Note that
>>>> Marx's correspondence with Vera Zasulich was published
>>>> in Russia in 1924, so Vygotsky would have been aware of
>>>> this.
>>>>
>>>> Andy
>>>>
>>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>>> *Andy Blunden*
>>>> Hegel for Social Movements
>>>> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://brill.com/view/title/54574__;!!Mih3wA!Wc7U2Qr5zMgrKKeh_jEXkdulE0GgE_Mf1JJ9xPU3T2lU6DpYFZfSmiQ9Rs0MpFu6Xfct7w$>
>>>> Home Page
>>>> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.ethicalpolitics.org/ablunden/index.htm__;!!Mih3wA!Wc7U2Qr5zMgrKKeh_jEXkdulE0GgE_Mf1JJ9xPU3T2lU6DpYFZfSmiQ9Rs0MpFttzS7DtA$>
>>>>
>>>> On 16/09/2020 1:58 am, Martin Packer wrote:
>>>>>> capitalism, and hence the idea of nature as capital,
>>>>>> is no universal stage (contrary to what Stalin taught).
>>>>>
>>>>> This happens to be something I’ve been thinking about
>>>>> recently — the ‘evitability’ (avoidability, as opposed
>>>>> to inevitability) of capitalism. I’ve been reading
>>>>> some of the work of Douglass North, who won a Nobel
>>>>> prize in economics in 1993 for his analysis of the
>>>>> role that institutions have played in economic
>>>>> ‘development,’ He thought he was describing how the
>>>>> West achieved ‘progress’ and has been able to ‘evolve’
>>>>> further than other regions, but one can read his work
>>>>> as describing alternative pathways in the formation of
>>>>> economic systems, which in the West has led to an
>>>>> imbalance in which profit and growth have become the
>>>>> only measures of societal and individual achievement.
>>>>>
>>>>> A neat illustration: the NY Times has been publishing
>>>>> reflections upon an article written 50 years ago by
>>>>> Milton Friedman titled "The Social Responsibility Of
>>>>> Business Is to Increase Its Profits." Friedman wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> WHEN I hear businessmen speak eloquently about the
>>>>> “social responsibilities of business in
>>>>> a free‐enterprise system,” I am reminded of the
>>>>> wonderful line about the Frenchman who
>>>>> discovered at, the age of 70 that he had been
>>>>> speaking prose all his life. The
>>>>> businessmen believe that they are defending free
>>>>> enterprise when they declaim that business is not
>>>>> concerned “merely” with profit but also with
>>>>> promoting desirable “social” ends; that business
>>>>> has a “social conscience” and takes seriously its
>>>>> responsibilities for providing
>>>>> employment, eliminating discrimination, avoiding
>>>>> pollution and whatever else may be the catchwords
>>>>> of the contemporary crop of reformers. In fact
>>>>> they are—or would be if they or any one else took
>>>>> them seriously— preaching pure and
>>>>> unadulterated socialism. Businessmen who talk this
>>>>> way are unwitting puppets of the intellectual
>>>>> forces that have been undermining the basis of a
>>>>> free society these past decades.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> It will be hard to find a better statement of the
>>>>> ideology that has got us all into the current mess.
>>>>>
>>>>> On the left, was it with Lenin that capitalism became
>>>>> viewed as a necessary prerequisite to socialism? For
>>>>> example, as I understand it after the revolution in
>>>>> Mexico, 1910-1920, the PRI (Partido Revolucionario
>>>>> Institucional) worked hard to turn the indigenous
>>>>> peoples into a proletariat. This was the only way they
>>>>> could imagine societal progress: quickly moving the
>>>>> country into capitalism so as to achieve socialism. I
>>>>> conclude that it was not only Stalin who taught this.
>>>>>
>>>>> Martin
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>> On Sep 14, 2020, at 9:57 PM, David Kellogg
>>>>>> <dkellogg60@gmail.com <mailto:dkellogg60@gmail.com>>
>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> If you click on the link that Henry, and before him
>>>>>> John, offered, you get the pro-natural-capital side
>>>>>> of a debate in the pages of the Guardian on whether
>>>>>> or not "nature" can be valued as capital and whether
>>>>>> it is good or bad for nature for humans to do this. I
>>>>>> think that in CHAT, we are indebted to Marx for many
>>>>>> things, but surely one debt we would do well not to
>>>>>> disavow is Marx's insistence (in Critique of the
>>>>>> Gotha programme and elsewhere) that nature is NOT
>>>>>> capital: on the contrary, humans and all of their
>>>>>> various property forms from communism to capitalism
>>>>>> must be considered peculiar forms of nature. This is
>>>>>> a discussion that CHAT needs to have if we are going
>>>>>> to retain the AT in CHAT. I disagree with Peter Jones
>>>>>> on many many things, but one thing I heartily agree
>>>>>> with him on is the idea that Leontiev brings an
>>>>>> intensely anti-naturalistic view of activity into
>>>>>> activity theory--humans acting as subjects on passive
>>>>>> environments to produce beneficial outcomes.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Marx had a better idea: in the Ethnological
>>>>>> Notebooks, he shows us that capitalism, and hence the
>>>>>> idea of nature as capital, is no universal stage
>>>>>> (contrary to what Stalin taught). Western capitalism,
>>>>>> with its idea of nature as capital, is really just
>>>>>> one extreme variant. In Marx's columns on the Sepoy
>>>>>> rebellion and the Taiping rebellion, he even posits
>>>>>> an "Asiantic mode of production" that had virtually
>>>>>> nothing to do with feudalism. So to say that South
>>>>>> Korea and Japan are equally capitalist societies is
>>>>>> really a little like saying that China and the USSR
>>>>>> were equally non-capitalist. Deus Sive Natura: and
>>>>>> neither one is capital.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> David Kellogg
>>>>>> Sangmyung University
>>>>>>
>>>>>> New article in Mind, Culture, and Activity:
>>>>>> Realizations: non-causal but real relationships in
>>>>>> and between Halliday, Hasan, and Vygotsky
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Some free e-prints today available at:
>>>>>> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/Y8YHS3SRW42VXPTVY2Z6/full?target=10.1080*10749039.2020.1806329__;Lw!!Mih3wA!RTDwQ-LorilYXJ5nc5zjqPxki29rONB4a1uLLNGwC9eRqVEo-1YqaoEWHgy-JY0C2d-yaw$
>>>>>> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/Y8YHS3SRW42VXPTVY2Z6/full?target=10.1080*10749039.2020.1806329__;Lw!!Mih3wA!W-RPX1ECIuKav0e-i1es3roVHR0WUtjgmoG2iARQqbybBsxElYTIACu53v3cWm487oUiBw$>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> New Translation with Nikolai Veresov: L.S. Vygotsky's
>>>>>> Pedological Works Volume One: Foundations of Pedology"
>>>>>> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9789811505270__;!!Mih3wA!RTDwQ-LorilYXJ5nc5zjqPxki29rONB4a1uLLNGwC9eRqVEo-1YqaoEWHgy-JY11ItGmTw$
>>>>>> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9789811505270__;!!Mih3wA!W-RPX1ECIuKav0e-i1es3roVHR0WUtjgmoG2iARQqbybBsxElYTIACu53v3cWm7NjX5sJQ$>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On Tue, Sep 15, 2020 at 3:43 AM HENRY SHONERD
>>>>>> <hshonerd@gmail.com <mailto:hshonerd@gmail.com>> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Martin, John and Andy
>>>>>> Thanks to Martin for kicking off this topic and
>>>>>> John and Andy for following up. I has amazed me
>>>>>> to find, for me, how the RTZ narrative resonates
>>>>>> with both Navajo and Pueblo narratives here in
>>>>>> New Mexico. How evil RTZ is, but how wonderful
>>>>>> the courage of our native peoples!
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Chaco Canyon IS a tourist destination here in New
>>>>>> Mexico. Though there has been no destruction of
>>>>>> the site that, based on Native American
>>>>>> narratives and the efforts of archeologists, is
>>>>>> architecturally spectacular evidence of the
>>>>>> pre-Colombian culture from which the present-day
>>>>>> Pueblos come. What parallels RTZ activities on
>>>>>> aboriginal lands in Australia is the drilling for
>>>>>> gas and oil on Navajo lands surrounding Chaco and
>>>>>> a rush to buy more rights while Trump is in
>>>>>> power. There have been protests, though nothing
>>>>>> as intense and effective as the Standing Rock
>>>>>> protests to protect water on native lands to our
>>>>>> north and east from gas and oil predation (the
>>>>>> pipeline). Standing Rock was LED by Native
>>>>>> Americans, many from the Navajo, Apache and
>>>>>> Pueblo near me.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I just saw yesterday a 30-year-old film that is
>>>>>> one of the offerings of the Vision Maker Film
>>>>>> Festival: Clear Cut. I recommend it, or at least
>>>>>> a look at the wiki article about it. It couldn’t
>>>>>> be more timely. It’s messy, where contention
>>>>>> between environmental and logging interests and
>>>>>> division WITHIN the native community (traditon
>>>>>> vs. jobs) leave one stunned. What redeems a messy
>>>>>> struggle is exactly what Andy says: The
>>>>>> aboriginal people of the world do it for us! In
>>>>>> the same way, when “our” Pueblos put on feasts
>>>>>> and invite us in to witness their dances, they do
>>>>>> it for us. Perhaps you recall the movie
>>>>>> “Koyaniskaatsi”, la Hopi word that has been
>>>>>> translated as "life out of balance". (The Hopis
>>>>>> are a Puebloan people, descendants of the Chacoan
>>>>>> culture. The Navajos and Apaches arrived here
>>>>>> about the same time as the European colonizers,
>>>>>> based on linguistic and genetic evidence.) If you
>>>>>> live in New Mexico, you are around Pueblo people.
>>>>>> If you are really lucky, and many of us are, you
>>>>>> become friends with them and they invite you to
>>>>>> share their food at the feasts! How generous is
>>>>>> this? They do it for us.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The RTZ narrative is not only destructive to
>>>>>> cultural capital, it is implicated in natural
>>>>>> capital
>>>>>> (https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2015/nov/23/monbiot-natural-capital-wrong-conservation__;!!Mih3wA!RTDwQ-LorilYXJ5nc5zjqPxki29rONB4a1uLLNGwC9eRqVEo-1YqaoEWHgy-JY2m70qKAg$
>>>>>> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2015/nov/23/monbiot-natural-capital-wrong-conservation__;!!Mih3wA!SBdL369rv5LA2eUVglK7x1RO_gnzeKTtEL3aixjV1TAMOI-HkqMNbHUWvJAN5h7atm8Krw$>)
>>>>>> via climate change. (The link here, to a Guardian
>>>>>> article is available through the first link in
>>>>>> John’s post). Here again we should look to our
>>>>>> native peoples. There is credible research that
>>>>>> concludes the climate change lengthens fire
>>>>>> seasons but wrong-headed environmental policies
>>>>>> make the fires more intense, hence less
>>>>>> controllable. Add to this the incursion of
>>>>>> housing into forested areas and the destruction
>>>>>> is a doubly self-inflicted wound. And hold on for
>>>>>> this one for the best CHAT connection: Native
>>>>>> peoples of this continent used to set controlled
>>>>>> burns to remove the kind of unburnt fuel to avoid
>>>>>> such conflagrations. Today some of the
>>>>>> best-trained and most effective firefighters in
>>>>>> this country are Native Americans. Cultural
>>>>>> capital. They do it for us, and their example
>>>>>> from the past can serve us now. Cultural capital.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I believe I have crowed before about New Mexico
>>>>>> and our Native Americans. Australia has crowing
>>>>>> rights as well. And, for standing proud, there’s
>>>>>> nothing like an anthem. The best anthem music I
>>>>>> have EVER heard comes from Australia: Yothu Yindi
>>>>>> What a great project that brings together white
>>>>>> people and people of color. What great creative
>>>>>> collaboration. Andy, I am telling you again,
>>>>>> project is a great unit of analysis, precisely
>>>>>> because it brings together cognition and affect,
>>>>>> because it embodies active orientation. In my
>>>>>> country, it is pretty well agreed that the
>>>>>> natives got screwed, across the political divide.
>>>>>> Black Lives Matter is more complex, but there is
>>>>>> hope that the question of race is now where LGBTQ
>>>>>> issues were at the time of the AIDS crisis, in
>>>>>> the last century. Back then we could never have
>>>>>> guessed we would be where we are with
>>>>>> non-gender-conforming acceptance now. Just
>>>>>> saying, as much for myself as for anybody else
>>>>>> listening.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> La Era Está Pariendo Un Corazón
>>>>>> Henry
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On Sep 13, 2020, at 8:09 PM, Andy Blunden
>>>>>>> <andyb@marxists.org <mailto:andyb@marxists.org>>
>>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Er. " *NO *physical markers"
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>>>> *Andy Blunden*
>>>>>>> Hegel for Social Movements
>>>>>>> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://brill.com/view/title/54574__;!!Mih3wA!S5K6-3pAdjVKLQOipHOtp4mkhFhXR1sxkXKZDQnO0A7C1xQKXN0SUjkqI9KbXmCMTCf0iQ$>
>>>>>>> Home Page
>>>>>>> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.ethicalpolitics.org/ablunden/index.htm__;!!Mih3wA!S5K6-3pAdjVKLQOipHOtp4mkhFhXR1sxkXKZDQnO0A7C1xQKXN0SUjkqI9KbXmDbUUpHdA$>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On 14/09/2020 11:43 am, Andy Blunden wrote:
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Firstly, an apology. I replied on the list
>>>>>>>> before noticing that John had already
>>>>>>>> responded, and John is much better informed
>>>>>>>> than me about these matters, and yet I spoke as
>>>>>>>> if he didn't exist. My apologies.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> These caves are nothing for tourism. They are
>>>>>>>> too remote and there are others more
>>>>>>>> accessible. I believe the caves have been under
>>>>>>>> Native Title as a result of a bitter struggle
>>>>>>>> to protect them by the local people in the
>>>>>>>> 1990s. This means that RTZ had to get
>>>>>>>> permission from the PKK people. The lawyers
>>>>>>>> swindled them.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> In my view, all these sites which are not only
>>>>>>>> part of Aboriginal heritage (there are places
>>>>>>>> which have *NO *physical markers of their
>>>>>>>> status but are sacred to the local people) but
>>>>>>>> self-evidently of *world* heritage. But I don't
>>>>>>>> think these caves were registered as World
>>>>>>>> Heritage. I have not heard the discussion about
>>>>>>>> this (John?). No-one wants to say this, I
>>>>>>>> think, because it implies that Indigenous
>>>>>>>> values are somehow less important than human
>>>>>>>> values. For example, under the law as it stands
>>>>>>>> the PKK Land Council would have a right to let
>>>>>>>> RTZ destroy the caves and maybe a million
>>>>>>>> dollars or two in the bank or a new school,
>>>>>>>> would be enough. This is not a hypothetical.
>>>>>>>> One of the reasons that the Indigenous people
>>>>>>>> remain impoverished even where they have Native
>>>>>>>> Title over large areas of land, is that they
>>>>>>>> live, after all, in a capitalist country and
>>>>>>>> Native title cannot be sold. It is not a
>>>>>>>> commodity. Therefore it is not a form of
>>>>>>>> wealth. You can't get a mortgage to build a
>>>>>>>> house on land you own by Native title. You
>>>>>>>> can't sell a block to a farmer so you can buy
>>>>>>>> agricultural equipment to farm another block.
>>>>>>>> In short, by blocking the Indigenous people
>>>>>>>> from monetising their land rights we trap them
>>>>>>>> in poverty. In general, the indigenous people
>>>>>>>> are happy to forgo tourist income to protect
>>>>>>>> their sacred sites (e.g. Uluru) and I don't
>>>>>>>> doubt for an instant, that if they'd been
>>>>>>>> properly consulted they never would have agreed
>>>>>>>> to the destruction of the caves. Obviously. But
>>>>>>>> they do have to have rights to trade with their
>>>>>>>> land. But also the world needs to keep
>>>>>>>> absolutely unique archaeological sites pristine
>>>>>>>> and the local people should be supported by
>>>>>>>> governments to do the work of protecting them
>>>>>>>> on *our* behalf. Recognising the great cost
>>>>>>>> entailed.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Andy
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>>>>> *Andy Blunden*
>>>>>>>> Hegel for Social Movements
>>>>>>>> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://brill.com/view/title/54574__;!!Mih3wA!XARa5o_f0_F8FwoOvEi2G83w7OupjEw0Qs4sAopd9iMJNxF19MT9A4BOkNVcEAAZnw4ahQ$>
>>>>>>>> Home Page
>>>>>>>> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.ethicalpolitics.org/ablunden/index.htm__;!!Mih3wA!XARa5o_f0_F8FwoOvEi2G83w7OupjEw0Qs4sAopd9iMJNxF19MT9A4BOkNVcEABlTgxfKw$>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> On 14/09/2020 4:53 am, Martin Packer wrote:
>>>>>>>>> Thanks, John and Andy,
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> I suppose that I am naive, for this event
>>>>>>>>> astonishes me in so many different ways. I
>>>>>>>>> would have assumed that the land title or
>>>>>>>>> native title granted to indigenous peoples
>>>>>>>>> over some territory in Australia would have
>>>>>>>>> included the Juuken Gorge caves. I would have
>>>>>>>>> assumed that these caves were a national
>>>>>>>>> cultural heritage site, or even a world
>>>>>>>>> cultural heritage site. I would have assumed
>>>>>>>>> that indigenous rights would have more
>>>>>>>>> importance to the Australian government, and
>>>>>>>>> indeed to the Australian people. I would have
>>>>>>>>> assumed that, while mining is apparently of
>>>>>>>>> great economic importance to the country, the
>>>>>>>>> government would have considered the economic
>>>>>>>>> value of this site for tourism, or simply the
>>>>>>>>> impact that destroying the caves would have on
>>>>>>>>> Australia’s reputation. And while I suppose
>>>>>>>>> that unbridled rapaciousness on the part of an
>>>>>>>>> international mining company is hardly a
>>>>>>>>> surprise, I would have thought that Rio Tinto
>>>>>>>>> would also have considered the negative
>>>>>>>>> publicity that their actions would create.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> How can we express our displeasure to the
>>>>>>>>> various parties involved? Are there petitions
>>>>>>>>> that one can sign? Or Twitter accounts to
>>>>>>>>> which one can tweet?
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> I wonder how much the salary is of (ex) CEO
>>>>>>>>> Jean-Sebastien Jacques, if his bonus this year
>>>>>>>>> would have been A$4.9 million. Perhaps he
>>>>>>>>> could donate a few years of his salary to
>>>>>>>>> establish a foundation that could work for
>>>>>>>>> indigenous peoples’ rights.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> sadly
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Martin
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> On Sep 12, 2020, at 8:59 PM, John Cripps
>>>>>>>>>> Clark <john.crippsclark@deakin.edu.au
>>>>>>>>>> <mailto:john.crippsclark@deakin.edu.au>> wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> The destruction of the Juunken Gorge caves
>>>>>>>>>> (which I assume you are referring to) is a
>>>>>>>>>> much more villainous act than was originally
>>>>>>>>>> portrayed and reflects the venal racism not
>>>>>>>>>> only of the company but also of the State
>>>>>>>>>> Government. For those not familiar with this
>>>>>>>>>> shocking crime, the $80b Anglo Australian
>>>>>>>>>> mining company which on Sunday 24th of May
>>>>>>>>>> blew up a site sacred to the Puutu Kunti
>>>>>>>>>> Kurrama and Pinikura (PKKP) traditional
>>>>>>>>>> owners and occupied for 46,000 years at
>>>>>>>>>> least, to extend iron ore mining. "“It’s one
>>>>>>>>>> of the most sacred sites in the Pilbara
>>>>>>>>>> region … we wanted to have that area
>>>>>>>>>> protected,” PKKP director Burchell Hayes. The
>>>>>>>>>> traditional owners tried desperately to stop
>>>>>>>>>> the blast once they became aware it was
>>>>>>>>>> impending.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> At the time Rio Tinto claimed "Clearly there
>>>>>>>>>> was a misunderstanding" but and, after much
>>>>>>>>>> outrage, the three members of the executive
>>>>>>>>>> had their multi million dollar bonuses
>>>>>>>>>> reduced. It has subsequently emerged that Rio
>>>>>>>>>> Tinto had contracted lawyers to oppose any
>>>>>>>>>> injunctions before the crime was committed.
>>>>>>>>>> The chief executive and two of his underlings
>>>>>>>>>> have resigned.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> The crime was legal and was made possible by
>>>>>>>>>> State Government laws which are stacked in
>>>>>>>>>> favour of miners. Assessments of the cultural
>>>>>>>>>> and environmental significance are made with
>>>>>>>>>> little investigation and remain in place for
>>>>>>>>>> decades and have rarely been successfully be
>>>>>>>>>> challenged. No permission to destroy heritage
>>>>>>>>>> sites in WA has been refused (and there have
>>>>>>>>>> been 463 applications).
>>>>>>>>>> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-05-31/wa-heritage-destroyed-by-rio-tinto-example-of-national-trend/12305298__;!!Mih3wA!Q80d_k7DkHBzzs0yi4W5IfiSTlRupZ8XOxiOsNcARSHE8ZZrLW7G-oWoAnKstsuUT5a7UQ$
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> It is not as if we didn’t know that this
>>>>>>>>>> would happen. Norway's pension fund divested
>>>>>>>>>> their holdings in Rio Tinto in 2008:
>>>>>>>>>> "Exclusion of a company from the Fund
>>>>>>>>>> reflects our unwillingness to run an
>>>>>>>>>> unacceptable risk of contributing to grossly
>>>>>>>>>> unethical conduct. The Council on Ethics has
>>>>>>>>>> concluded that Rio Tinto is directly
>>>>>>>>>> involved, through its participation in the
>>>>>>>>>> Grasberg mine in Indonesia, in the severe
>>>>>>>>>> environmental damage caused by that mining
>>>>>>>>>> operation."
>>>>>>>>>> — Kristin Halvorsen, Norwegian Minister of
>>>>>>>>>> Finance
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> A useful background briefing of indigenous
>>>>>>>>>> rights in Australia:
>>>>>>>>>> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/rearvision/features/in-the-shadow-of-terra-nullius/__;!!Mih3wA!Q80d_k7DkHBzzs0yi4W5IfiSTlRupZ8XOxiOsNcARSHE8ZZrLW7G-oWoAnKstssDCtcsSw$
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> On 13/9/20, 12:26 am,
>>>>>>>>>> "xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu
>>>>>>>>>> <mailto:xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu> on
>>>>>>>>>> behalf of Martin Packer"
>>>>>>>>>> <xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu
>>>>>>>>>> <mailto:xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu> on
>>>>>>>>>> behalf of mpacker@cantab.net
>>>>>>>>>> <mailto:mpacker@cantab.net>> wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Andy, what on earth has Rio Tinto Zinc
>>>>>>>>>> been up to??
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Martin
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Important Notice: The contents of this email
>>>>>>>>>> are intended solely for the named addressee
>>>>>>>>>> and are confidential; any unauthorised use,
>>>>>>>>>> reproduction or storage of the contents is
>>>>>>>>>> expressly prohibited. If you have received
>>>>>>>>>> this email in error, please delete it and any
>>>>>>>>>> attachments immediately and advise the sender
>>>>>>>>>> by return email or telephone.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Deakin University does not warrant that this
>>>>>>>>>> email and any attachments are error or virus
>>>>>>>>>> free.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>
>
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