Our Phantasmagoric Agenda May 19(Last class!) HIS/MAS 142
Why are things as they are? We make our own history but not in circumstances we chose.
“Education is not the learning of facts. It is rather the training of the mind to think.” Einstein. “We can comprehend and change the world.” Gibson.
May 19 1848 Mexican–American War: Mexico ratifies the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo thus ending the war and ceding California, Nevada, Utah and parts of four other modern-day U.S. states to the United States for US$15 million.
May 19, 1962: Marilyn Monroe sang to married JFK
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqolSvoWNck
May 19 1963 The New York Post Sunday Magazine publishes Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Letter from Birmingham Jail, (it is worth reading in full)
1. We will skip What IS up and move right to student presentations.
2. Concluding with Gil Gonzalex
3. Closing summary and fond farewells.
a. Don’t forget: History studies the social relations… http://richgibson.com/HistoryIs.pdf
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Why are things as they are? We make our own history but not in circumstances we chose.
History never looks like history when you are living through it. ~John W. Gardner
May 14 1961 American civil rights movement: The Freedom Riders bus is fire-bombed near Anniston, Alabama, and the civil rights protesters are beaten by an angry mob.
May 15 1928 Mickey Mouse appears on screen!
May 15 1943 Joseph Stalin dissolves the Comintern (or Third International). “Workers of the World Unite; you have nothing to lose but your chains” (Marx) vanished in favor of “all out for the Motherland.”
Like all ruling elites, Stalin tried to airbrush history. In the photo below, Leon Trotsky, who was to Lenin’s fight in the photo, was simply disappeared.
Trotsky is with Diego Rivera and Andre Breton below
May 15 1958 The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 3.
Video on Sputnik below
Wernher Von Braun, a former Nazi rocket scientist, headed the US space program
May 15 1989 Soviets began flight from Afghanistan–leaving bin Laden and the Taliban behind. They engaged in a lengthy civil war with war lords and drug lords, and finally controlled the country. The US had made promises to rebuild Afghanistan after the Soviets left, but the US largely abandoned Afghanistan. In 1991, Gulf War I, the US staged troops in Saudi Arabia, “Holy” territory. In part, that set bin Laden off.
Sign In (for Tuesday too–honor system)–Portfolio due May 24 Midnight!
I got a deluge of reading responses in the last week. I am behind. My apologies. I will catch up!
Please put evaluations in or on my red travel bag!
Our Agenda
1. What IS Up???? (second to last–so pay attention on your own!)
a. UAW prepares to add a third tier of low wage workers. For the latest on US unionism, see here on your own http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/10/23/counterfeit-unionism-in-the-empire/
b. GM Ignition switch death count hits 100 and far more injured
c. No Charges in Madison white policeman/black victim killing
d. Felonious bands still too big to jail.
e. US and Russia halt mutual nuclear inspections.
2. Review of where Sept 11 2002 came from—quickie
3. 2008 Collapse and the rise of ISIS (if we have time for the later).
The best academic book on the US Depression of 2008 is
There is a summary of the book’s thesis here http://monthlyreview.org/2010/10/01/the-great-financial-crisis-three-years-on/
The book that is most fun to read about the collapse is below.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=131106798 (book sample text here)
On the Great Depression of 1929, I believe the best book written, which stands up well as an economic text today is:
Lewis Corey is really Louis Farina. The full text of his book is online here https://www.marxists.org/archive/corey/1934/decline/intro1.html
Thomas Piketty recently wrote “Capital, in the 21st Century.” That refers back to Marx’ classic work: “Capital.” Piketty’s is an amazing collection of proofs about the rather obvious rise in inequality. Unfortunately, in the last chapter, he concludes with a solution: The Rich should give up a lot of their money.
The Originator of the Ponzi Schemes
Above, Bernie Madoff, recent Ponzi artist who stole $20 Billion and more–from his friends.
IF we have time: Who Rules San Diego?
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Why are things as they are? We make our own history but not in circumstances we chose. “A history in which every particular incident may be true may on the whole be false.” Macauley. “The truth is in the Whole.” Hegel.
May 12 2008 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducts the largest-ever raid of a workplace in Postville, Iowa, arresting nearly 400 immigrants for identity theft and document fraud.
May 11 1894 Pullman Strike: Four thousand Pullman Palace Car Company workers go on a wildcat strike in Illinois.
May 11 1945 World War II: Off the coast of Okinawa, the aircraft carrier USS Bunker Hill is hit by two kamikazes, killing 346 of its crew. Although badly damaged, the ship is able to return to the U.S. under its own power.
May 11 1973 Citing government misconduct, Daniel Ellsberg has charges for his involvement in releasing the Pentagon Papers to The New York Times dismissed
May 9 1800 John Brown Born (Ossawatomie or Potowatamie John Brown)
Sign In! Catch up with Responses! Prep Paper and Presentation
Please put evaluations in or on my red travel bag!
Our Agenda
1. What is Up?
a. Farmworkers strike in Baja meets the police–again.
b. Raul Castro to become a Papist
C. The Transpacific Partnership vs AIIB (trade wars become real wars)
d. Will NSA stop Patriot Act (215) spying as it is “illegal?” (see also NDAA 2012). Note Jeffrey Sterling got 3 years, General Petraeus–nothing.
e. Foreshadowing–US Financial Crises listed (next class, the Financial Collapse:2008)
f. Sy Hersh on the Obama administration’s “lies” about killing OBL.
g. Gibson on the Wars on Vietnam in Counterpunch (publish or perish?)
2. USA through 2001
3. Quarreling with Professor Meyer re: Mexico 1939 and on.
Interrogating:
NOTE Emphasis on Pre-Columbian Glory!! over Science and Tech in Schools!
Continuing Issues: What were the goals of the Mexican “Revolution?”
What is “Neo-liberalism?”
Who was John Maynard Keynes? What was his theory? Who implemented it? Where?
When did it end?
What is going on with education?
What about the Military? Used For?
What about the working class and their organizations (company unions)
What about the monetary system? How many times has peso been devalued? Who loses?
What about the elites (comprador bourgeoisie)
What about the peasants? Land desires, ejidos, distribution.
What about women?
Building nationalism–how?
What of the Rule of Law Elections, Judiciary, Politicos, Business property,
Mexico has no state monopoly on violence ?
What of a social safety net? SS exists, but very few eligible?
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Why are things as they are? We make our own history but not in circumstances we chose.
“Every generation needs to study history afresh.” D.D. Kieran. Brit Historian
May 7 1915 World War I: German submarine U-20 sinks RMS Lusitania, killing 1,198 people including 128 Americans. Public reaction to the sinking turns many formerly pro-Germans in the United States against the German Empire
May 7 1945 World War II: General Alfred Jodl signs unconditional surrender terms at Reims, France, ending Germany‘s participation in the war. The document takes effect the next day. Remember Key Roles of USSR (Stalingrad) + China(Lonng March) in WWII.
1954 Indochina War: The Battle of Dien Bien Phu ends in a French defeat and a Vietnamese victory (the battle began on March 13).
1998 1998 – Mercedes-Benz buys Chrysler for $40 billion USD and forms DaimlerChrysler in the largest industrial merger in history. BUY AMERICAN!
May 8 1945 VE Day Dissolution and surrender of Nazi Germany and all its forces.
May 8 1972 Vietnam War – U.S. President Richard (Tricky Dick) Nixon announces his order to place mines in major North Vietnamese ports in order to “stem the flow of weapons and other goods to that nation.”
Sign in! Catch up on Reading Responses! Chose Topic! Papers Due Sunday May 24!
Our Agenda
NEXT WEEK: Please bring to class an unsigned, or signed, paper–two paragraphs. 1: How am I doing as your professor? 2. How are you doing as a student? If you wish, you can add how one or the other or both can do better! Thanks.
What’s Up? Campus Event–Jason
1. Student Debt Strikes
2. Nepalese Indentured Servants in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE: 1 million cannot leave.
3. Water Shut offs for 25 thousand start in Detroit on May 11
4. Chicago To Pay Millions for Police Abuse! Gibson Gets Rich (in name only)
5. Gangs Use RPGs on Troops in Helicopter in Mexico–kill 6
6. Holy Crap! Tom Brady Handles Deflated Balls!
7. Taliban Rising Again
8. History as an argument: Quarreling with Zinn–your quarrels and mine. Chapter 20 thru 23.
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Why are things as they are? We make our own history but not in circumstances we chose. “History will record that the greatest tragedy of our turbulent time is not the strident clamor of bad people, but the appalling silence of good people.” Martin Luther King
Sign in! Catch up on Reading Responses! Chose Topic! Papers Due Sunday May 24!
May 4 1970–Four Dead in Ohio
May 5, 1818: Karl Marx born. He changed the world.
May 5 1862–Battle of Puebla–origins of Cinco de Mayo: French Invasion defeated.
May 5 1946–Japanese War Criminals Go on Trial
May 6 1837 Hindenberg Crash
May 6 1998–Former CIA head and director of Operation Phoenix, William Colby, an expert boatsman and swimmer, is found drowned in the Potomac River.
What is Up?
1. China’s Empire Tip-toes into Antartica
2. US Council on Foreign Relations prepares for war with China http://www.richgibson.com/blog/
3.Student Debt Strikes
4. Nepalese Indentured Servants in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE: 1 million cannot leave.
5. The Vietnam War up through 1975
Course of Mexican History
1. Chapters 31 through 34—1920 on–Obregon and after
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Why Are things as they are? People make their own histories, but not in circumstances they chose. Kipling: “If history were taught in the form of stories, it would not be forgotten.”
Sign in! Topic For Paper Number 2 due April 30: Paper due Sunday May 24!
April 30 1945 World War II: Führerbunker: Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun commit suicide after being married for one day. Soviet soldiers raise the Victory Banner over the Reichstag building.
1973 Watergate scandal: U.S. President Richard Nixon announces that top White House aides H. R. Haldeman, John Ehrlichman and others have resigned.
1975 Fall of Saigon: Communist forces gain control of Saigon. The Vietnam War formally ends with the unconditional surrender of South Vietnamese president Dương Văn Minh.
2004 U.S. media release graphic photos of American soldiers abusing and sexually humiliating Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison.
2009 2009 – Chrysler files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Our Agenda
1. What IS Up?
a. Baltimore protests spread. Baltimore Background.
b. Inequality in the US, again.
c. School Testing season is on, nationwide: kids in tears, teachers in fear. Profits roll in. Detroit Teachers Fight Back.
d. Nation in shock. US students don’t know history! Why?
2. The VIETNAM WARS.
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1. What IS Up? Watch this! Don’t watch this!
a. Baltimore rebellion, racism, inequality, the police—and Detroit 1967. Who is the looter?
b. Child immigrants, The Beast, and the New Yorker.
c. Water and social class in California
d. More!
2. Refresher on the Depression and post war era
a. Ford Hunger march
b. Diego Rivera murals, during the depression, in Detroit, NYC, and Mexico City.
3. The Communist Party USA + The USSR: What it took to remain a CPUSA member.
The Rosenbergs–Atomic Spies. The Auto Workers Union.
4. Course of Mexican History Chapters 23 , 24, 25 and the “Revolution.” What is a revolution?
Pending and Future Questions: What is Anarchism (Magon bros?) Anarcho-syndicalism? (IWW) Socialism? (Bolsheviks, USSR, China, Cuba) Communism? (Long March?). What is a revolution?
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Why Are things as they are? People make their own histories, but not in circumstances they chose. Until lions have their historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunters. ~African Proverb
Sign In! Your Papers are Due Thursday! Catch up with Responses!
OUR AGENDA (more than 1/2 done!!)
April 23 1945–world War II: Adolf Hitler’s designated successor Hermann Göring sends him a telegram asking permission to take leadership of the Third Reich, which causes Hitler to replace him with Joseph Goebbels
1968 – Vietnam War: Student protesters at Columbia University in New York City take over administration buildings and shut down the university.
April 24 1915 The arrest of 250 Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in Istanbul marks the beginning of the Armenian Genocide.
1957 – Suez Crisis: The Suez Canal is reopened following the introduction of UNEF peacekeepers to the region.
1980– Eight U.S. servicemen die in Operation Eagle Claw as they attempt to end the Iran hostage crisis.
1. What IS Up–in hyper-speed? Watch this! Don’t watch this!
a. Killer Bates gets to go to Bahamas
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/04/21/oklahoma-deputy-bates-pleads-not-guilty/26119863/
b. Confronting Chilling Truths About Poland’s Wartime History
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/confronting-chilling-truths-about-polands-wartime-history/2015/04/21/f0588dce-e782-11e4-aae1-d642717d8afa_story.html
c. China digging Nicaragua http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/can-a-chinese-billionaire-build-a-canal-across-nicaragua/2015/02/03/e9cf3482-9aa5-11e4-86a3-1b56f64925f6_story.html
d. Fracked up Oklahoma http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/22/us/oklahoma-acknowledges-wastewater-from-oil-and-gas-wells-as-major-cause-of-quakes.html?_r=0
e. Afghan Taliban: We’re Baaack! It’s Spring and a good time for more war!
http://www.stripes.com/news/middle-east/taliban-announce-their-spring-offensive-in-afghanistan-1.341533
2. Zinn Chapters 15 and 16
4. Course of Mexican History Chapters 23 , 24, 25
Pending and Future Questions: What is capitalism? Imperialism? What is Anarchism? Anarcho-syndicalism? Socialism? Communism? Fascism? What is a revolution?
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Why Are things as they are? People make their own histories, but not in circumstances they chose. “Americans know so little history, they cannot connect cause and effect.” Chalmers Johnson (author of the “Nemesis Trilogy”).
Sign In! Your Papers are Due Thursday! Catch up with Responses!
OUR AGENDA
April 20, 1915—Ludlow Massacre, Colorado–thanks Rockefeller! http://howardzinn.org/labor-day-history-ludlow-massacre/
Woody Guthrie on Ludlow https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDd64suDz1A
Current New Yorker on Ludlow and Today http://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/the-ludlow-massacre-still-matters
April 21 1836 – Texas Revolution: The Battle of San Jacinto: Republic of Texas forces under Sam Houston defeat troops under Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna.
- 1898 – Spanish–American War: The United States Navy begins a blockade of Cuban ports. When the U.S. Congress issued a declaration of war on April 25, it declared that a state of war had existed from this date.
- 1945 – World War II: Soviet forces south of Berlin at Zossen attack the German High Command headquarters.
- 1975 – Vietnam War: President of South Vietnam Nguyen Van Thieu flees Saigon, as Xuan Loc, the last South Vietnamese outpost blocking a direct North Vietnamese assault on Saigon, falls.
- 1989 – Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989: In Beijing, around 100,000 students gather in Tiananmen Square to commemorate Chinese reform leader Hu Yaobang.
1. What IS Up?
a. Two arrested in San Diego as Future IS Terrorists
b. Black Baltimore Man killed in police custody
c. US Ships to Yemen to Fight our Ally in Iraq: Iran.
e. US Financial Crises http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_economic_crises
f. Baja Farmworkers, 50,000—-on strike
G. IS in Ramadi, Fallujah, Afghanistan (?) and US Steams to Yemen
2. Zinn Chapters 13 and 14
4. Course of Mexican History Chapters 23 , 24, 25
Pending and Future Questions: What is Anarchism? Anarcho-syndicalism? Socialism? Communism? What is a revolution?
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Our Agenda
April 16 1917 – Vladimir Lenin returns to Petrograd, Russia from exile in Switzerland.
1919 – Mohandas Gandhi organizes a day of “prayer and fasting” in response to the killing of Indian protesters in the Jallianwala Bagh massacre by the British colonial troops three days earlier.
1945 – World War II: The Red Army begins the final assault on German forces around Berlin, with nearly one million troops fighting in the Battle of the Seelow Heights.
1947 – Bernard Baruch coins the term “Cold War” to describe the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union.
1963 – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. pens his Letter from Birmingham Jail while incarcerated in Birmingham, Alabama for protesting against segregation.
1 What is Up? The NEW GM, LA Ipads! Madeleine Albright says 500,000 dead Iraqi Children was “worth it” wins Medal of Freedom , Physicians for Social Responsibility Body Count, Bruce Lee Striking Thoughts, Ruling Shields GM from $10 Billion in Suits , How’s it Going in Afghanistan???
2. The US Constitution—the Beard Interpretation and the Bill of Rights …then France!
3. Course of Mexican History—after 1848 (what else happened in 1848?)
4. Zinn, the beginnings of the US working class movement and the finalizing of the trusts
a. schools
b. early unions, WHY FORM A UNION? their battles of 1877 (Pittsburgh), 1886 (Chicago Haymarket and Mayday) 1892 (Homestead and Jay Gould with the Pinkertons), and Pullman (nationwide–Debs). Who fought the early unions and how? How did they organize?
c. WHY MONOPOLIES? the trusts or monopolies (Rockefeller in oil, Morgan in finance–mostly, Carnegie in Steel, Vanderbilts in everything,
5. War With Spain–WHY? And what came of it?
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Why Are things as they are? People make their own histories, but not in circumstances they chose. “Money is the Devil’s Dung.” Pope Francis: Head of the Billions of the Vatican
“History is a prophet who looks back,” Eduardo Galeano
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Our Agenda
April 9 150th anniversary of end of Civil War. (1865, Lee to Grant at Appomattox)
1867 – Alaska Purchase: Passing by a single vote, the United States Senate ratifies a treaty with Russia for the purchase of Alaska.
1916 – World War I: The Battle of Verdun: German forces launch their third offensive of the battle.
1940 – Vidkun Quisling seizes power in Norway.
1969 – The “Chicago Eight” plead not guilty to federal charges of conspiracy to incite a riot at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
2003 – Invasion of Iraq: Baghdad falls to American forces; Iraqis turn on symbols of their former leader Saddam Hussein, pulling down a grand statue of him and tearing it to pieces.
1. What’s up? North Carolina Police murder NBC News. War on Black America?
Asian Students @ MSU,
US Military Budget. Pentagon’s $10 Billion Bet Gone Bad.
Judith Miller and the Iraq invasion.
2. More on Capital (Industrial/Finance–outsourcing and consumerism) and Empire (blowback: endless war, fascism in the outer reaches and homeland, opportunism, lies, bankruptcy). How do Masters rule and slaves resist?
3. . Zinn Chapter 25—the 2000 election, US Democracy, the vote count, the Supremes, electoral college, Bush2nd, the Afghan war. Who were/are the Taliban, AQ, What came before the Taliban rule? Why did this happen?
4. Gonzalez and “Guest Workers…” and empire
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Why Are things as they are? People make their own histories, but not in circumstances they chose. “Money is the Devil’s Dung.” Pope Francis: Head of the Billions of the Vatican
April 7: Joe Smith translates the Mormon Bible (1829)
1933 Prohibition repealed!!!
1939–Italy Invaded Albania (always a bad plan)
1980–US severs relations with Iran (leading to many of today’s dilemmas)
1990-Admiral Poindexter Convicted for Iran Contra (reversed later)
1995–Russian Troops Massacre Chechnyans
2003 US Troops Capture Baghdad Iraq and then….?
April 9th is the 150th Anniversary of the Slaver-Confederacy and it’s not a holiday. At least 600,000 died. Remember Picket’s Charge!
SIGN IN!!! One Week Until Your Paper Topic Must be Approved!!!
Check your email for my note–you must have email in this class
Our Agenda:
1, How was Spring Break?
2. What’s Up?? ISIS in Iraq, Syria, all over–came from?
Saudis Still Bombing Yemen. Houtis in Aden (why is that place important?). PBS Frontline Tonight on Yemen.
The Iran nuke deal–and Israel (where did Israel come from and why it is the number 1 recipient of US aid?)
Drought! Water and Power!
Kenya Massacre by Al Shabab (for god) ….
Religion retreats in Indiana—
Boston Bomber Ruling? and much more!
3. Questions about the syllabus? Future questions happily answered–by email
4. What we did before break—why have school? (analyzing contradictions in the material world) and—-What is history? Why bother?
5. Plato’s Cave http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69F7GhASOdM
and the Master/Slave Contradiction http://richgibson.com/masterslave.htm
6. What is “Democracy?” What is Capitalism? What is Imperialism (note Luxemburg and Galeano)?