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Letters from our readers

On “The 2012 elections and the assault on voting rights in the US

 

 

Ed Hightower correctly notes that the Democratic Party postures tepidly as a defender of voting rights for the most cynical, partisan of reasons. Nowhere is the hypocrisy of their stance more clear than in their stonewalling of the candidacy of SEP member Joe Parnarauskis to the Illinois State House of Representatives in 2006. The fact that the Republicans in that case postured as defenders of ballot access rights against the Democrats is an ironic little detail that should be lost on no one.

 

Tom A
27 March 2012

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I found this article to be instructive, analytical and relevant to the coming election period. Very insightful observation of how the dominant class through the history of the US has coped with the confronting pressure from its antagonist class by increasing democracy—this corresponding to the economic ability of capital to concede needs and privileges while continue to profit. With the development of economic crisis and stagnation it finds itself unable to fulfill these needs while continuing profiting. Consequently it impedes the increase of democratization and instead requires authoritarian autocratic methods to cling to political control…

 

EB
27 March 2012

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It would seem that international observers will be required to observe voting at voting stations and booths if such measures to restrict voting continue to be carried out. Observers at the presidential elections in Russia in March 2012 reported no abuses or suspicious voting patterns. There certainly was some voting fraud at stations in Moscow and St. Petersburg and suspicious practices were to be expected in parts of the Caucasus where it appears usual for people to vote according to their family or clan leaders’ orders or preferences, but apart from those examples, the elections were relatively clean. It seems ironic that elections in Russia are much more transparent than elections in the US these days!

 

Jennifer H
27 March 2012

On “The life and times of a Sri Lankan migrant worker

 

The best account of the plight of immigrant workers. I could feel the empathy for that person...

 

Regards,

Sathish
27 March 2012

 

On “Washington’s ‘human rights’ fraud

 

Ouch. How embarrassing to mention human rights when today’s America has developed an entire social system based on the belief that not all people are entitled to fundamental human rights. Our primary social policies directly violate the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights against those we consider something less than ourselves (i.e., good middle-class workers)—racial minorities, the poor, etc. Even today’s progressives, unlike those of previous generations, are OK with the idea that some people are simply not entitled to equal human and civil rights…

 

DHF
Wisconsin, USA
27 March 2012

On “Why does The Hunger Games strike a chord?

 

How opportunistic is the role of selective amnesia in the comments by Collins! So, the author never saw the more effective Battle Royale or the original Rollerball? The first film was directed by someone who suffered from the Showa militaristic regime in World War II and saw many of his classmates blown to bits in where they were forced to work in factories bombed by the Americans. Both that and the sequel (which actually criticizes American imperialism and racism) have been denied a theatrical release in the USA on the grounds of a spurious Columbine parallel. Most critics have justifiably slammed this film but like The Passion of the Christ, it is another entertainment “sign of the times” but an appalling one in both quality and theme.

 

Tony W
28 March 2012

 

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