Finally someone who gets it!!!I agree with everything RJ issaying,I've been thinking these thoughts for a very long time.I am hungry for this conversation.ssleigh
Finally someone who gets it!!!I agree with everything RJ issaying,I've been thinking these thoughts for a very long time.I am hungry for this conversation.ssleigh
"White Privilege" Really? I'm white and I pay my FULL tuition at College, I pay for my books, I get NO government aid for food, housing and such. I pay my Taxes every year.
Unfortunately, in my opinion, it is dead. Like it or not. Many of us from Generation Y have been disadvantaged because wars, 9/11, outsourcing, persistent recession, and so on regardless of how much time we have spent in college.
Please see the video "horrible jewish woman moves to Europe to destroy western culture" to view a first hand account of the hate Europe facing; this video focuses on Sweden...
This comment has received too many negative votesshow
So does Jensen support the "no human is illegal" philosophy in this limited resource country or does he enjoy seeing illegal aliens stream in by the millions to gobble up our resources??
This comment has received too many negative votesshow
How many trees did Jensen kill with his books on "sustainable living" I think Jensen should reduce his "carbon footprint" by leaving the planet immediately.
Jensen is brilliant!! His critique of this global civilised culture, patriarchy, racisim, misogyny and a very predatory corporate capitalism which affects all our lives is deeply important. Once again THANKS Robert for all your work!!
Listen to the Cuban people, the people who live there, and you will find the Cuban system of government to be very different than what you think.
I commend your fight for social justice, but look elsewhere as Cuba does not have the answers but only more social injustice.
To be serious about fighting for social justice, one must stand against all social injustices, including those committed by countries who are your "enemy's enemy".
Thanks, rm06c for getting back to Jensen. I'll let you have the last word on Cuba, except to say that I have visited there 6 times and traveled around the country talking with people.
I can understand your skepticism then. Many people have also been duped and it's not your fault.
I implore you, next time you visit Cuba, to visit the real Cuba. Go to the places where the guides won't take you. Talk to the people when the CDC are not nearby. And you will hear the truth.
Or talk to the Cuban exiles living in Miami. They can tell you about their families and what they must go through.
Be wary of any government that is beat only by China in the number of jailed journalists.
apologies for going off on Cuba, it was a hopeless argument getting tiresome I have given some thought to removing most of the Cuba stuff, and blocking rm06c unless he gets past the Cuba thing as an inappropriate distraction from the sensible analysis and ideas for change that Robert Jensen offers.
My vision is for Youtube to be a major player in the public thinking out loud a new America, rational and moral, freely designing a future unbounded by currently asserted property notions.
I respect Robert Jensen's views and his call for social justice, even though I may disagree with some of his ideas.
In particular though, I liked what he had to say about Abe. And I think if more people were like Abe, they would fight for social equality but always be wary of "paradises" like Cuba and the former Soviet Union.
And I talk about Cuba because it is a subject dear to my heart and my heritage, and Justice and Sustainability is needed there.
Anti-Castro ex-Cubans like you are especially difficult to reason with. Your false assertions claiming truth require me asserting back my truth.
Suffice to say, Cuba is not a dictatorship, even tho you find comfort in calling it so. Their economic problems, like scarcities, are direct result of US violation of UN Charter's forbidding economic warfare among member nations, with the US putting pressure on potential trading partners throughout the world not to trade with Cuba. Shame on US!
I don't understand why the words of the actual people who have lived there and others who still live there are thrown out of hand simply because they are "anti-Castro."
Anyone can tell you that Cuba is a dictatorship. Fidel has been "elected" with 99.9% of the votes every time. And there are never people who run for office but rather people chosen by the government who the Cuban people then "vote" for.
The scarcities in Cuba are the result of Castro, not the US.
Just as US presidents are elected by an electoral college, in Cuba the National Assembly elects the executive. But the parliament operates as actual representatives of the people, without lobbyists' bribes. Candidates for parliament at the local level are chosen by neighborhood groups with far more citizen participation than how they are chosen here. Money plays no part in political campaigning. All candidates have opportunity to present their views on TV and in print. Sound good?
It'd be nice if that's actually how it went, but here's the low-down from a person who actually lived in Cuba:
Castro chooses the people in the government, and then the people "vote" for them.
Money plays no part because Castro has it all.
If candidates can present their views why not dissenters and people of different opinion? Why are independent journalists and librarians jailed for having a different opinion?
The more you talk about Cuba, the more apparent your ignorance.
What does that mean Money plays no part because Castro has it all, and Forbes says he's got 900 Million. as argument goes that's nonsense. what's your point? The language of discussion in the National Assembly is people actually reasoning together. They got a democracy and we got the sham: money changers in the temples of law, a moneyocracy. corruption. How does Fidel use his millions?
Those 99% who voted for Castro those 50 years were wise. They picked a winner, a generous genius. Millions standing for hours listening to him speak is proof he speaks for the people. Why the jailing of dissidents? Cuba is in a state of siege, that you deny, a state of war
victim of so much US terrorism, millions for subversion
Let's face it: when language is uttered against the revolution it's discernible. and when it is shown they accepted money from US operatives, they go to jail.
Those 99% didn't have a choice, much like the people in the Soviet Union or in North Korea didn't have a choice.
Millions standing for hours because if they didn't they would stand to lose their jobs (as Castro is the only employer on the island).
What siege?
Explain how Cuba can have a "democracy" when it allows no dissenting opinion. Even Bob is saying that democracy is the ability to say what you want. But that doesn't exist in Cuba. There are hundreds of prisoners to prove it.
Many people are living to work, instead of working to live.
I am a big fan of capitalism, but some people are forced into wages that are hardly "living".
That is why I am going to school, hence my screen name.
My main point is many have no choice but to keep working, for next to nothing. Money is work. A man who works in the sun's wage is lower than a man who sits at a desk, never getting his hands dirty.
It is to Castro's credit that Cuba has such great health care and education despite the US imposed economic blockade. Yes, they have eventually found trading partners, including China, Korea, Venezuela, but it was a great hardship for them not to be able to buy medicines and medical supplies from the US, cash or credit! even aspirin! They struggled just to get pencils and paper for their students. I say Castro was not a dictator because he actually shared power with a people's parliament.
Again, the facts show that America is the leading provider of food and medicine to Cuba. Also, Cuba owes billions of dollars to those countries, which does not happen overnight.
That "great health care" was the reason my own uncle died in a Cuban hospital. They didn't have stitches for him.
You know what tha parliament is called in Cuba right? They're called a House of Parrots because all they do is parrot what Castro says and do what he says.
I would agree capitalism has a problem with infinite growth in a finite world but what is the alternative? Communism? I've Never seen it work.
Also understandable, sustainablility but what about Just? Just to whom? The ones that provide? I don't think you can write off capitalism by saying all it does is concentrate wealth and needs a bigger planet.
Certain contries need to limit their population or reap the results, not the rewards of our labor.
The US, in the service of capitalism, systematically subverted attempts to build a socialist alternative, particularly the Soviet Union, along with Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Lybia, Chile, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Cuba and others. The Rand Corporation developed a plan to bring down the Soviet Union implemented by Reagan, using our advantage of an economy 7 times theirs to force them down, like to waste money trying to match our military spending and pressuring allies to deprive them of technology.
You can say what you want about Capitalism and whether it's good or bad, but don't even think that Cuba has any answers to give.
You can talk to the people that once lived there and they will tell you what the real Cuba is like.
If you want, I can call up my own family and ask them how Cuba was like. I can even tell you from my own perspective what Cuba was like when I went to visit my family there.
Socialism is doing quite well in Cuba, despite the attempted strangulation of their economy by the illegal US embargo, recently condemned again by the UN 185 to 3. Thats why the US forbids its citizens traveling there to see for themselves that socialism is not contrary to human nature. There is in Cuba, despite the imposed scarcity, a deep sense of human solidarity and goodwill prevailing. Ingenuity is thriving.
The people living there have to be rationed on small amounts of food and cooking oil. They have no medicines for the Cuban people. They're not allowed to repair their homes (leaving many people homeless since their homes have collapsed).
There is a deep sense of solidarity in Cuba, but not because of the Cuban government but in spite of it. The people remain united so they can survive another day in that dictatorship.
We can look to Cuba if we want to see socialism working in a society. Even with the inhumane blockade which Cuba has endured the social and economic implications of a socialist system are undeniable. The literacy rate in Cuba is 99.8% now compared to under 25% during the time before the Communist revolution. The homeless rate in Cuba is almost 0%. Here in the US we have over a million homeless.
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Finally someone who gets it!!!I agree with everything RJ issaying,I've been thinking these thoughts for a very long time.I am hungry for this conversation.ssleigh
from canada
giffygoose 8 months ago
Finally someone who gets it!!!I agree with everything RJ issaying,I've been thinking these thoughts for a very long time.I am hungry for this conversation.ssleigh
giffygoose 8 months ago
"White Privilege" Really? I'm white and I pay my FULL tuition at College, I pay for my books, I get NO government aid for food, housing and such. I pay my Taxes every year.
Exactly how am I "Privileged"?
BuffaloTPU 10 months ago
Unfortunately, in my opinion, it is dead. Like it or not. Many of us from Generation Y have been disadvantaged because wars, 9/11, outsourcing, persistent recession, and so on regardless of how much time we have spent in college.
TheLavish99 11 months ago
Is the American dream dead? Not at all! China's buying it!
luizcadu 1 year ago
Please see the video "horrible jewish woman moves to Europe to destroy western culture" to view a first hand account of the hate Europe facing; this video focuses on Sweden...
Reverendjim1 1 year ago
Capitalism sucks dick
commanderjohnkoenig 1 year ago
it sure is and manginas like RJ and queer wimyn buzzing around him like blue bum flies aided the process
he is a commissar for the new age push started with Herbert Marcuse
shazam20007 1 year ago
Perhaps the most important thinker alive today. Able to connect all the dots with eloquence, passion and force. My new hero!
Hithard177 2 years ago
the american dream has officially died!, you guys are taking it toooo seriously,
ciefrance 2 years ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
So does Jensen support the "no human is illegal" philosophy in this limited resource country or does he enjoy seeing illegal aliens stream in by the millions to gobble up our resources??
DeportThemNow 2 years ago
Yeah, it must suck having some jackass entity gobble up your nation's resources...oh wait...
ngatfield 2 years ago
Who is "our"?
autonoatgmaildotcom 2 years ago 3
This comment has received too many negative votes show
Jensen is the funniest looking black radical activist I have ever seen!
DeportThemNow 2 years ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
How many trees did Jensen kill with his books on "sustainable living" I think Jensen should reduce his "carbon footprint" by leaving the planet immediately.
DeportThemNow 2 years ago
Jensen is brilliant!! His critique of this global civilised culture, patriarchy, racisim, misogyny and a very predatory corporate capitalism which affects all our lives is deeply important. Once again THANKS Robert for all your work!!
saba505 2 years ago 11
Again, I would like to reiterate my point.
Listen to the Cuban people, the people who live there, and you will find the Cuban system of government to be very different than what you think.
I commend your fight for social justice, but look elsewhere as Cuba does not have the answers but only more social injustice.
To be serious about fighting for social justice, one must stand against all social injustices, including those committed by countries who are your "enemy's enemy".
rm06c 2 years ago
Thanks, rm06c for getting back to Jensen. I'll let you have the last word on Cuba, except to say that I have visited there 6 times and traveled around the country talking with people.
joefriendly 2 years ago
I can understand your skepticism then. Many people have also been duped and it's not your fault.
I implore you, next time you visit Cuba, to visit the real Cuba. Go to the places where the guides won't take you. Talk to the people when the CDC are not nearby. And you will hear the truth.
Or talk to the Cuban exiles living in Miami. They can tell you about their families and what they must go through.
Be wary of any government that is beat only by China in the number of jailed journalists.
rm06c 2 years ago
Can yo say Miami mafia?
jlfittro 2 years ago
Can you say propagandist?
rm06c 2 years ago
apologies for going off on Cuba, it was a hopeless argument getting tiresome I have given some thought to removing most of the Cuba stuff, and blocking rm06c unless he gets past the Cuba thing as an inappropriate distraction from the sensible analysis and ideas for change that Robert Jensen offers.
My vision is for Youtube to be a major player in the public thinking out loud a new America, rational and moral, freely designing a future unbounded by currently asserted property notions.
joefriendly 2 years ago
I apologize for deviating the discussion.
I respect Robert Jensen's views and his call for social justice, even though I may disagree with some of his ideas.
In particular though, I liked what he had to say about Abe. And I think if more people were like Abe, they would fight for social equality but always be wary of "paradises" like Cuba and the former Soviet Union.
And I talk about Cuba because it is a subject dear to my heart and my heritage, and Justice and Sustainability is needed there.
rm06c 2 years ago
The US refuses to sell Cuba goods for cash.
Cuba is the least in debt of its neighbors.
Please read Arnold August's Democracy in Cuba.
joefriendly 2 years ago
Anti-Castro ex-Cubans like you are especially difficult to reason with. Your false assertions claiming truth require me asserting back my truth.
Suffice to say, Cuba is not a dictatorship, even tho you find comfort in calling it so. Their economic problems, like scarcities, are direct result of US violation of UN Charter's forbidding economic warfare among member nations, with the US putting pressure on potential trading partners throughout the world not to trade with Cuba. Shame on US!
joefriendly 2 years ago
I don't understand why the words of the actual people who have lived there and others who still live there are thrown out of hand simply because they are "anti-Castro."
Anyone can tell you that Cuba is a dictatorship. Fidel has been "elected" with 99.9% of the votes every time. And there are never people who run for office but rather people chosen by the government who the Cuban people then "vote" for.
The scarcities in Cuba are the result of Castro, not the US.
rm06c 2 years ago
Just as US presidents are elected by an electoral college, in Cuba the National Assembly elects the executive. But the parliament operates as actual representatives of the people, without lobbyists' bribes. Candidates for parliament at the local level are chosen by neighborhood groups with far more citizen participation than how they are chosen here. Money plays no part in political campaigning. All candidates have opportunity to present their views on TV and in print. Sound good?
joefriendly 2 years ago
It'd be nice if that's actually how it went, but here's the low-down from a person who actually lived in Cuba:
Castro chooses the people in the government, and then the people "vote" for them.
Money plays no part because Castro has it all.
If candidates can present their views why not dissenters and people of different opinion? Why are independent journalists and librarians jailed for having a different opinion?
The more you talk about Cuba, the more apparent your ignorance.
rm06c 2 years ago
What does that mean Money plays no part because Castro has it all, and Forbes says he's got 900 Million. as argument goes that's nonsense. what's your point? The language of discussion in the National Assembly is people actually reasoning together. They got a democracy and we got the sham: money changers in the temples of law, a moneyocracy. corruption. How does Fidel use his millions?
joefriendly 2 years ago
Those 99% who voted for Castro those 50 years were wise. They picked a winner, a generous genius. Millions standing for hours listening to him speak is proof he speaks for the people. Why the jailing of dissidents? Cuba is in a state of siege, that you deny, a state of war
victim of so much US terrorism, millions for subversion
Let's face it: when language is uttered against the revolution it's discernible. and when it is shown they accepted money from US operatives, they go to jail.
joefriendly 2 years ago
Those 99% didn't have a choice, much like the people in the Soviet Union or in North Korea didn't have a choice.
Millions standing for hours because if they didn't they would stand to lose their jobs (as Castro is the only employer on the island).
What siege?
Explain how Cuba can have a "democracy" when it allows no dissenting opinion. Even Bob is saying that democracy is the ability to say what you want. But that doesn't exist in Cuba. There are hundreds of prisoners to prove it.
rm06c 2 years ago
The point is that it doesn't matter who gets elected and who the people "vote" for because Castro has all the money and thus all the power.
The National Assembly can "argue" all they want, but in the end it does only what Castro says.
Fidel uses his millions on expensive cars, yachts, a swiss bank account, his many homes on the island, golf trips in Italy, etc.
rm06c 2 years ago
The Cuban government has done business with many countries, including Spain, Venezuela, France, and Japan. Yet the people are still in poverty.
Forbes estimated that Castro is worth about $900 million. Meanwhile, the average Cuban makes about $50 a month.
You can't make the argument that Cuba has a wonderful health and education system while at the same time saying they don't because of the embargo.
rm06c 2 years ago
Wage slavery? What does that mean? Workers can always just quit. There you go, wage slavery abolished.
Croscros72 3 years ago
And you starve...
Yeah, I can just quit. Yep...
SpeedingStudent 2 years ago
'Wage slavery' is an oxymorn. Slaves don't get wages. Unless slavery has taken on some new meaning.
This is just whining. If you don't like your job, quit. Or, grow some balls, suck up that bottom lip and keep working. Simple!
Croscros72 2 years ago
I think you misunderstand me.
Many people are living to work, instead of working to live.
I am a big fan of capitalism, but some people are forced into wages that are hardly "living".
That is why I am going to school, hence my screen name.
My main point is many have no choice but to keep working, for next to nothing. Money is work. A man who works in the sun's wage is lower than a man who sits at a desk, never getting his hands dirty.
This is a dilemma.
SpeedingStudent 2 years ago 2
Speaks directly to me and my own burning desire for justice and, yes, a better American dream.
NewTet 3 years ago
I would invite you to dinner parties mr jensen!
(thanks for uploading!)
openingdoors88 3 years ago
It is to Castro's credit that Cuba has such great health care and education despite the US imposed economic blockade. Yes, they have eventually found trading partners, including China, Korea, Venezuela, but it was a great hardship for them not to be able to buy medicines and medical supplies from the US, cash or credit! even aspirin! They struggled just to get pencils and paper for their students. I say Castro was not a dictator because he actually shared power with a people's parliament.
joefriendly 2 years ago
Again, the facts show that America is the leading provider of food and medicine to Cuba. Also, Cuba owes billions of dollars to those countries, which does not happen overnight.
That "great health care" was the reason my own uncle died in a Cuban hospital. They didn't have stitches for him.
You know what tha parliament is called in Cuba right? They're called a House of Parrots because all they do is parrot what Castro says and do what he says.
rm06c 2 years ago
I would agree capitalism has a problem with infinite growth in a finite world but what is the alternative? Communism? I've Never seen it work.
Also understandable, sustainablility but what about Just? Just to whom? The ones that provide? I don't think you can write off capitalism by saying all it does is concentrate wealth and needs a bigger planet.
Certain contries need to limit their population or reap the results, not the rewards of our labor.
I think Bob should learn to play bass.
livinonsunshine 3 years ago
The US, in the service of capitalism, systematically subverted attempts to build a socialist alternative, particularly the Soviet Union, along with Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Lybia, Chile, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Cuba and others. The Rand Corporation developed a plan to bring down the Soviet Union implemented by Reagan, using our advantage of an economy 7 times theirs to force them down, like to waste money trying to match our military spending and pressuring allies to deprive them of technology.
joefriendly 3 years ago
You can say what you want about Capitalism and whether it's good or bad, but don't even think that Cuba has any answers to give.
You can talk to the people that once lived there and they will tell you what the real Cuba is like.
If you want, I can call up my own family and ask them how Cuba was like. I can even tell you from my own perspective what Cuba was like when I went to visit my family there.
So don't think that Cuba has ANY answers.
All they have is poverty for the Cuban people.
rm06c 2 years ago
Socialism is doing quite well in Cuba, despite the attempted strangulation of their economy by the illegal US embargo, recently condemned again by the UN 185 to 3. Thats why the US forbids its citizens traveling there to see for themselves that socialism is not contrary to human nature. There is in Cuba, despite the imposed scarcity, a deep sense of human solidarity and goodwill prevailing. Ingenuity is thriving.
joefriendly 3 years ago
How exactly is socialism "doing well" in Cuba?
The people living there have to be rationed on small amounts of food and cooking oil. They have no medicines for the Cuban people. They're not allowed to repair their homes (leaving many people homeless since their homes have collapsed).
There is a deep sense of solidarity in Cuba, but not because of the Cuban government but in spite of it. The people remain united so they can survive another day in that dictatorship.
rm06c 2 years ago
We can look to Cuba if we want to see socialism working in a society. Even with the inhumane blockade which Cuba has endured the social and economic implications of a socialist system are undeniable. The literacy rate in Cuba is 99.8% now compared to under 25% during the time before the Communist revolution. The homeless rate in Cuba is almost 0%. Here in the US we have over a million homeless.
rockbandita 3 years ago
Justice and Sustainability.
We have to start by asking: "What is the American Dream?"
It survives on ambiguity and vagueness.
The American Dream: how is it used when people offer it to us as a justification for something?
A very interesting critique.
:)
mkizina 3 years ago