[Marxism] Left Hook Updated

["M. Junaid Alam" <mjunaidalam@xxxxxxxxxx>]

 Latest Release: Friday, May 20, 2005

Folks, We Need Your Help: Left Hook Summer Fund Drive Needs Your Support

The Editors

Dear /Left Hook /readers,

As you know, we started our third semi-annual fund drive this May with
the goal of raising $3,500 over the month. As /Left Hook /heads into its
*eleventh* consecutive month of increased traffic, we wanted to get the
necessary funds to keep it going strong with new projects
<http://lefthook.org/Appea.html>. Unfortunately, donations have stopped
trickling in, and while *two-thirds* of May has already passed by, we
have yet to raise even *half *the funds needed. Without *your support*,
it will be impossible to operate at our present pace as both our
audience and workload continue to grow.

The disconcerting reality is that even though we are now enjoying more
readers than ever, only a tiny few have helped out so far. Indeed, as
Left Hook hits a new record of *1,100 *average visitors per day, we are
only averaging about *1* donation a day – and more recently, zero
donations a day. That means less than .1% - *one-tenth of one percent* -
of our readers have contributed to the Summer Fund Drive so far.

Needless to say, /Left Hook/ can only survive on the basis of broad
support from its collective readers. Without such support, the journal
will falter and fail.

/Left Hook/ is the *only* independent, radical Left journal produced and
edited by American youth. We hope that by now our record of providing
useful and principled leftist analysis, interviews, and ground reports
speaks for itself. If you have appreciated our work so far, and want to
see us around for the long haul, please make a donation today
<http://lefthook.org/Donations.html>. Contributions both small and large
are greatly welcomed – and urgently needed to move forward
<http://lefthook.org/Donations.html>.

Sincerely,
Derek Seidman and M. Junaid Alam

Invisible Women: Poor Female Artisans in Pakistan

Zainab Cheema

Handicraft — the word evokes delicate fingers laboring to bring works of
art to life. It is steeped in the aesthetic value of folk art and
authenticity. But where society enthusiastically supports the celebrity
status of designers — pursuing brand names as icons of consumption —
there are no names and no faces to connect to the handmade goodies we
get in the bazaar.

That is, until the ground-breaking South Asian Home based Workers’ Craft
Fair, organized by Pakistan’s own Aurat Foundation, with the sponsorship
of UNIFEM and the UK based Department for International Development’s
Gender Equality Project (GEP).

Hosted at the Alhambra Arts Council, Lahore, Pakistan from April
8th—10th, the South Asian Home based Workers’ Craft Fair provided a
unique opportunity for both the artisans and their urban consumers. Most
significantly, it zapped away the social light years separating
Pakistan’s urban-rural divide, bringing these two communities face to
face with one another other.

- (Read full) <http://lefthook.org/Ground/Cheema052005.html>

On the Mis-Education of the Caucasian American and Toward A
Color-Conscious Concept of Marxism

Rodney Foxworth

A white classmate of mine, a friend actually, recently disclosed an
incident that she viewed as doubly ignorant and racist. Enrolled in an
African-American literature course, my classmate, a female, found
herself seated in the outside lobby of a library while reading Booker T.
Washington’s “Up From Slavery.” As she tells it, a white female
associate of hers, upon reading the book’s cover, stated, “I’d rather
die than read that book.” This befuddled my friend, who was disgusted
that someone would feel it okay to say something of the sort to her. She
was genuinely appalled and confused, and I simply told her, “She felt
comfortable telling you how she felt because you’re white.” As she was
still confused, I tried desperately to explain my position but it was to
no avail.

On Thursday, May 12th, Jacob Fortney was acquitted of manslaughter in
the beating death of Noah Jamahl Jones by an “Anne Arundel County jury,”
as described by the Associated Press. Though the AP mentioned that the
victim, Jones, was black, and his accused assailant white, they
neglected to mention the racial make-up of a jury that was all-white.
The jury’s foreman has since said that race had nothing to do with the
decision to acquit the accused. Of course, the argument holds that race
is irrelevant, as it is the year 2005 after all.

- (Read full) <http://lefthook.org/Theory/Foxworth052005.html>

Poverty and the Power of Myths: Delusion at a High School

Francisco Unger

In their ongoing effort to enlighten students here at Phillips Exeter
Academy, school administrators arranged a symposium, open to the public,
entitled Democracy for Whom? One of the guest speakers was Gordon
Mccord, a charismatic young man who serves as special assistant to
Jeffrey Sachs in promoting the Millennium Development Goals.

Mccord riveted the campus with a broad speech outlining the roots of
mass poverty, primarily that of Africa. He then sought to make clear the
ease with which we, as an established Western power, could effect
change. The campus received Mccord’s sermon with great warmth. He seemed
passionately altruistic, and propelled with great intentions. However,
much of Mccord’s persuasion was awash in a sea of self righteousness and
a diversion of fault that rendered his speech meaningless, and made the
warm reception ever more predictable.

- (Read full) <http://lefthook.org/Ground/Unger052005.html>

***NEWSFLASH*** General Phuccumoll Loves Our Troops

Zeljko Cipris

Washington, 5/16/05

“Oh God, I treasure them!” General Will I. Phuccumoll growls, his
battleship-gray eyes flashing. “I love those troops to death!” Reclining
in his king-size Pentagon armchair upholstered in calf leather, the
brilliant West Point graduate (IQ 260) exhales a cloud or aromatic smoke
vaguely reminiscent of Guantanamo Bay. “They’re absolutely the best
goddamned troops on this whole fucking planet—they carry out every order
to perfection!”

Overcome with emotion, General Phuccumoll silently shakes his head. The
general’s oak-paneled walls are adorned with gold-framed paintings of
various glorious warriors: Richard the Lionhearted, Saint George, Attila
the Hun, Ivan the Terrible, and Generals Franco and Pinochet. Displayed
among them with a charming incongruity is an autographed photograph of a
smiling lady with white curls and sparkling pearls whose inscription
reads: “From one beautiful mind to another: Light up those camel jockeys
for me, won’t you Will? Hugs & kisses, BB.”

- (Read full) <http://lefthook.org/Culture/Cipris052005.html>


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