Cranial Detritus

Two questions remain, however, regardless of whether Golden Dawn ever enters parliament. The first one is a question of democracy: namely, what sorts of legitimate steps are available to democratic polities when they face the development of a totalitarian, racist, exclusionary formulation that actively engages in violent acts that severely restrict the civil and human rights of others? I argue that when a state is faced not simply with ideas but with the materiality of actions, then the state is obligated to outlaw them and the media are obligated to report on them. In Greece this is a multiply complex issue, since what I suggest was used from the beginning of the 20th century as the groundwork upon which the elimination of the left took place, based on fabricated accusations.

A second question remains: Why would Greeks, who fought against totalitarianism in massive numbers and paid one of the heaviest tolls in Europe for their participation in the resistance against Nazi Germany, vote for this despicable, emetic, and deeply anti-political formation, even as a protest?

[…]

The Greek polity has always found itself in a tug-of-war. On one end, there is a wide, democratic, proceduralist, but largely powerless (and ultimately apathetic) body politic. On the other end, there is a small but powerful authoritarian class that constitutes the core of state structures. Decades of brutal suppression of dissent has relied upon various para-state and paramilitary organisations. Police brutality, hooliganism, and the deep-seated intimacy between fragments of the police force and Golden Dawn have made the organisation’s temporary surge possible.

There is no right, centre, or left distinction in this, if by left one means the nominally socialist PASOK party. All post-junta Greek governments have availed themselves of this intimate relationship, as all Greek governments, at least from the early years of the 20th century, have invested more energy and resources into producing a polity that relies on snitches and turncoats than in producing responsible, accountable, and democratically minded citizens.

I have for some time felt that it doesn’t matter what their official platform is, every large political party is authoritarian and pro-business. Because that’s where the money is.

Yet another “industry” I really wish they’d crack down on. Where is your free market now?

socialismartnature:

Again, education should NOT be about figuring how to make money out of students. Whether this is the banking and student-loan industry, or the classroom-education industry itself, capitalism in America is quickly turning the process of learning into an exercise in debt peonage and usury. 

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Although for-profit colleges are more successful than traditional schools at keeping new entrants from withdrawing in the first year, their students end up with higher unemployment rates and lower earnings than comparable students from other schools, says a team led by David J. Deming of Harvard University. For-profit institutions are the fastest-growing part of the U.S. higher education sector: From 1970 to 2009, their enrollment increased from 0.2% to 9.1% of total enrollment in degree-granting schools. For-profits educate a larger fraction of minority, disadvantaged, and older students than traditional colleges, the researchers say.

christiantheatheist:

1. We’re Near the Bottom of the Developed World in Children’s Health and Safety

2. We’ve Betrayed the Young People Who Were Advised to Stay in School

3. The Main Source of Middle-Class Wealth Has Been Largely Wiped Out

4. We Give Prison Sentences for Smoking Marijuana, but Not for Billion-Dollar Fraud

5. You Can Have Health Care, If You Pay for It