To the editor:
I thoroughly enjoyed the two articles on the SWP's position on the INS raid which retrieved Elian Gonzalez from his Miami relatives.
I was especially impressed that the author noted the SWP's apparent orientation to right-wing elements who are against the raid. It seems to be part of broader perspective on the part of the SWP to organize against "incipient fascist" and "bonapartist" elements such as Patrick Buchanan and Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura and "Imperialism's March towards Fascism and War." It seems as if the SWP feels that they must divert individuals who are attracted to such demagogy, towards socialism.
Perhaps you can address this at another point.
Sincerely,
JP
23 May 2000
I'm a regular reader of your site and it provides me with an extremely large amount of information. I must say that all analyses provided are extremely well done. The site tends to show how objective facts create an objective analysis.
Have you ever thought of using some kind of humor? I mean surely you must know and understand the power of humor to convey a general point of view. I think a little bit of good intelligent Marxist humor could improve an already fabulous site.
BGR
24 May 2000
In the article on Alexa France's death, the author states:
"Public schools are being continuously drained of necessary funds and have been forced to cut all in-school supervision programs along with art instruction, some sports and other courses vital to young people receiving an all-rounded education."
I do not know what the situation is where the author lives, but in my area the last budget to be cut at public schools is the sports budget. Indeed, sports budgets seem to be sacrosanct, elevated to more importance than labs and textbooks.
Corporations recognize the infatuation with sports, and have used this to their advantage. For instance, many offer new scoreboards or other sports equipment and funding in exchange for exclusive contracts with schools. Coca-Cola, for example, will provide a new scoreboard and other goodies to a school that agrees to sell only Coca-Cola products on school grounds. Schools get more money but at the expense of exposing teenagers to corporate advertising on school grounds (to be sure, the scoreboard has Coca-Cola logos on it).
What I fail to see is what purpose both sports and advertising have in an “educational facility.” Are we teaching minds to think and reason, or are we training athletes (and soldiers?) and manipulating minds for the purpose of commerce? I say cut the sports budgets and corporate deals for good.
OD
24 May 2000