- British Chinese people say racism against them is ‘ignored’ – BBC Newsbeat – British Chinese people and community leaders have been telling Newsbeat that racism against them isn't taken seriously enough.
- ‘Ched Evans has served his time’ – and other common misconceptions about the convicted rapist footballer – Comment – Voices – The Independent – How nice it would have been if the whole sorry saga of Ched Evans had been left in 2014. Unfortunately, Oldham Athletic are the latest team to suggest that they are considering signing the convicted rapist to play for their side, here on the other side of December 31st. If you – like me – think this is a truly terrible, awful decision, then you will be used to hearing the same arguments put forward in his defence, so here is a handy rebuttal guide.
- Qlipoth: Easier to imagine the end of the world… – One immediately notices how the revision accomplished by Jameson performs the same depoliticisation and idealisation of critical product that more deliberate misreadings and misrepresentations in the 80s and onward undertook in a more systematic way as a central part of the successful effort to eradicate Marxist practise and replace Marxism as a method of interpretation with the new post-structuralist flavours of liberalism/neo-liberalism.
- What Are We to Make of J. G. Ballard’s Apocalypse? By H. Bruce Franklin –
- Digger game online, play free –
Articles with the Tag Marxism
Marxism 101
There has been a resurgence of interest in Marxist theory recently in the socialist blogosphere, specifically in the teaching thereof. Few people after all become socialist by thoroughly examining and comparing political ideologies, but rather through a short of gut feeling that socialism is right; I know I did. The root ideas of socialism are dead simple and can be understood by anybody. They haven’t changed since Marx and Engels wrote the Communist Manifesto, which is still the best thing to read if you want to get to know those ideas quickly. Following on from that, Hal Draper’s The Two Souls of Socialism describes the existential struggle within socialism in how to realise its goals: through reform or revolution, top-down or bottom-up?
If you read those two pamphlets I feel you have a good idea of the essence of socialism, but what if you want to dig deeper into Marxist theory? There’s always been the Marxists Internet Archive in which all the great and not so great theorists of every concievable socialist tendency are available in perfect brotherhood, but it’s a daunting challenge to pick out the bits relevant to your interests. You could of course also read Marx’s own book of theory Das Kapital, but it’s hardly the sort of work you speed through in a day’s beach reading.
But have no fear, help is available if you do want to read it. Via The Soul of Man Under Capitalism, comes David Harvey’s lectures on Capital, in both video and audio form. There’s also an accompanying discussion space, Reading Capital.
More interested in a general overview of Marxism? Louis Proyect has put together a series of articles on his blog to form a introduction to Marxism, examining and discussing various classic Marxist works and subjects. There’s also a mailing list.
Want to focus on Marxism in an economic context? Marxist Economics is the place for you, set up by the International Socialist Tendency, which also runs the In defence of Marxism site.
Know more interesting Marxist or socialist theory sites we should be aware of? Bung em up in the comments.