Insofar as they were revolutions they were not peaceful. There was a
good deal of violence and that led to the new Balkan war culminating in
the breakup of Yougoslavia. But putting that aside what happened was
more of a simple collapse of Stalinism. Trotskyists were predicting that
for a long time and it did come about. Trotskyists expected that it was
more likely that a political revolution would bring about the collapse,
though, but revolution or not there were internal contradictions within
the Stalinist system that made it unsustainable.
_________________________________________________________________
Isaac Asimov
“Don't you believe in flying saucers, they ask me? Don't you believe in
telepathy? — in ancient astronauts? — in the Bermuda triangle? — in life after
death?
No, I reply. No, no, no, no, and again no.
One person recently, goaded into desperation by the litany of unrelieved negation, burst
out "Don't you believe in anything?"
Yes", I said. "I believe in evidence. I believe in observation, measurement,
and reasoning, confirmed by independent observers. I'll believe anything, no matter how
wild and ridiculous, if there is evidence for it. The wilder and more ridiculous
something is, however, the firmer and more solid the evidence will have to be.”
― Isaac Asimov
On 10/25/2018 12:31 PM, Evan Reese wrote:
There have been some peaceful revolutions. The ones in Eastern Europe in 1989 come to mind. Not all of them panned out as well as they should have. Romania is a good example of that, where the moderate wing of the Communist party came out all right and became the new elite class. But overall, they were peaceful revolutions. So they can and do happen.
Evan
-----Original Message----- From: Mary Otten
Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2018 10:58 AM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: New member
Well, I am definitely very much to the left of center, especially what passes for center in the United States today, on social and economic issues. And I most definitely do not support the current economic system. On the other hand, I can’t support violent revolution, although when the doors to peaceful change are slammed shut, eventually, there will be violence and it will not be pretty. I would much prefer peaceful change. But people with a lot of power don’t tend to give it up easily, all you have to do is look around at voter suppression attempts throughout this country and various other shenanigans on the part of the party in power in all three branches of th well, I am definitely very much to the left of center, especially with passes for Center in the United States today, on social and economic issues. And I most definitely do not support the current economic system. On the other hand, I can’t support violent revolution, although when the doors to peaceful change are slammed shut, eventually, there will be violence and it will not be pretty. I would much prefer peaceful change. But people with a lot of power don’t tend to give it up easily, are you have to do is look around at voter suppression at times throughout this country and various other shenanigans on the part of the party in power in all three branches of the federal government today. Who was it that said power corrupts. And absolute power corrupts absolutely? That seems to have been born out and all manner of systems throughout history. The Soviet union. Communist China. Fascist Germany and Italy. And certainly do United States of America today.
Sent from my iPhone
On Oct 24, 2018, at 1:48 PM, Evan Reese <mentat1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I would like to add my voice to the welcomes, Mary.
I've seen you on other lists. You seem pretty tech savvy, which is cool.
I am also new here. I joined last week. On social issues I'm definitely left of center, but on economic issues I'm in the center, or maybe even a bit to the right. I support the current economic system. I defend the "capitalist running dogs" around here. (Yes, some people actually talked like that in the 20th century. Fortunately, humanity has moved on since then. Mostly that is.)
Seriously though, I am more than happy to talk about shortcomings of the current economic model and how to fix them, but I'm not interested in revolution. I'm with John Lennon:
But when you talk about destruction,
Don'tcha know that you can count me out.
So once again, welcome. I hope you enjoy it here.
Evan
-----Original Message----- From: Carl Jarvis
Sent: Wednesday, October 24, 2018 11:50 AM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: New member
Hello and welcome, Mary.
If you have a natural curiosity and a sense of adventure, you've come
to the right list. We do try hard to stay on target and not fall into
name calling, as happens on the ACB chat list at times. But a good
sense of humor and a moderately thick skin, and you'll soon be right
at home.
As for me, besides being Carl Jarvis, I am a self proclaimed
Progressive, an Agnostic, and 83 years old. My wife and I provide
services to older blind and low vision folks on the Great Olympic
Peninsula, through our organization named, Peninsula Rehabilitation
Services. We've been at it almost 24 years and have worked with well
over 3,000 clients. I'm totally blind...for the past 55 years. Cathy
and I work as a team since living here in the deep, dark forest does
not allow a blind man the ability to travel to many of our clients
alone.
And just for the record, eating, sleeping, working, vacationing and
breathing the same air day after day finds us still deeply in love
with one another.
Carl Jarvis
(PS. Cathy's horse is down this morning. She's called the vet and is
trying to get him up and moving. I was going to buy a new keyboard
today, but it's looking as if I'll have to make do with these sticky
keys for a while longer.)
On 10/23/18, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hello Mary,
This list is suddenly becoming busy. We've acquired two new members and
will, I believe, be acquiring another one. It's an ill wind that blows no
good, they say. I do believe we can thank Mr. Trump for the rejuvenation of
this list. At any rate, I'll forward one of the Real News Network digests to
the list. It's a website which has excellent little news videos that you can
listen to and also, there's a text of each one, I believe. I'll forward one
of the digests. You go to the heading of the story in which you're
interested, which is also a link, and then, you move down until you find a
play button and press enter. If you find the website, you can sign up for
your own digests. The website is in Baltimore. Its founder, Paul Jay, comes
from Canada, and it does national, international, and local Baltimore news.
Some of my favorite people are on there: max Blumenthal, Ben Norton, Dean
Baker, etc.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Mary Otten
Sent: Tuesday, October 23, 2018 8:44 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] New member
Hi folks,
I just joined this list, of whose existence I had no idea until a friend
forwarded me a book recommendation from one of the BARD lists, where this
list was mentioned. I recognize Miriam's name from the bookshare list of
many years ago. We liked lots of the same books on political/historical
topics. Anyway, I joined out of curiosity to see what the list was like.
I've seen a couple posts, one of which mentioned the real news network, with
which I am not familiar. what is it?
Mary
