The Marxist IQ for August by Norman Markowitz

by: Saturday 8 August 2015

Unfortunately, I'm  a week late with this month's Marxist IQ, do to a very busy schedule.  Since Marxism is both a guide to analysis and action, this month's IQ will be dedicated to looking at contemporary events in ways different from mass media.

 

1.  In the debate over the Obama administration's and U.S. allies  attempt to establish a treaty with  Iran on Iran's nuclear program the mass media has overlooked this important aspect of U.S. Iranian relations

a. The U.S. support for the democratically elected Prime Minister of Iran, Mohammed Mossadegh, after he nationalized  Iranian oil ressources, controlled at the time by Britain's Anglo-Iranian Oil company, later BP

b. The U.S. opposition to the brutal dictatorship of the Shah from its establishment in 1953 to its overthrow in 1978

c. The U.S attempt to act as a peacemaker in the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s

d. The U.S. support for the CIA directed coup against Mossadegh's government in 1954, the Shah's regime until it was overthrown, and Saddam Hussein's regime in the Iraq-Iran War

 

2.  The socalled Trans-Pacific Partnership is opposed by the AFL-CIO and virtually all progressive organized groups in the U.S..  Which of the following potential Denocratic candidates has not opposed the TPP

a. Martin O'Malley

b. Hillary Clinton

c. Bernie Sanders

d.  All of the Above

 

3.  This month is the first anniversary of the Ferguson, Missouri police killing of a young African-American which

a. became a blip in the news

b. helped to create  the ongoing  Black Lives Matter movement against police brutality and coverups

c. shows how far we have come positively since the civil rights movement of the 1960s

d. was exaggerated by the media

 

4.In spite of the continued wave of shootings and killings by  various individuals in public places and spaces, ruling class media remains largely silent on

a.  the threat of international terrorism

b. the need for increased security at such places

c. the need for increased surveillance of potential suspects by Homeland Security

d. the absence of serious gun control policy in many states which permits individuals  to purchase hand weapons far more deadly then existed in previous wars with relative ease

 

5. While many mainstream liberal commentators laugh at the Republican presidential candidates, especially Donald Trump, as a collection of Rogues and Clowns, Marxists see the danger that these candidates represent in

a. the Citizens United Decision which eliminated alll restrictions on the use of overt and covert money in national elections

b. the role of the Koch Brothers funded American Legislative Exchange Council(ALEC), in recruiting large numberes of elected state legislators and  drafting legislatiion  to eliminate public sector  trade unions,  enact anti-union shop legislation and restrict existing minimum wage protections, privatize prisons,remove environmental protections,eliminate existing welfare benefits,  under various subterfuges

c. the coordinated efforts of religious right groups, corporated sponsored organizations, and anti-immigrant groups on behalf of rightwing Republican candidates at all levels

d. all of the above

Answers to Last Month's Marxist IQ

1.c

2.d

3.d

4.c

5.d

 

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  • Thanks again, e.e.w. Clay. These "peace keepers" are there to promote, provoke, and exploit violence. They are the "legacy" of four decades of racist backlash, and the failure of the authorities to deal with their vigilantism is one side of what the Black Lives Matter movement is fighting
    Norman Markowitz

    Posted by Norman Markowitz, 08/13/2015 8:02pm (9 years ago)

  • On the Marxist I Q no. 3.- there has been the provocative, dangerous and revealing re-appearance of the Oath Keepers in Ferguson-the white assault weapons toting group that moves with impunity from and to Ferguson rooftops and in and out of Ferguson, MO-ostensibly to 'keep the peace" in a context of overwhelmingly peaceful protests by a Black, white, women, men, religious and secular, young and not so young group of peaceful assemblers.
    That the government, the giant news outlets from Fox to CBS, have very little or nothing to say about or of them, is very alarming.
    The South Law Poverty recognizes Oath Keepers as white supremacists founded, extremists centered, anti-government, anti-gun control and gun regulation.
    They as a "white men" group are also racists.
    With this kind of apparent backdrop, they come to "make peace"-an unlikely mission for a group courted by the right wing power structure of our country.
    Chilling indeed is the freedom they brandish to carrying military assault weapons, moving unimpeded, getting 'positive publicity' and openly defying all authority-with that authority, in many cases white and male, with no response to that defiance.

    Peaceapplause

    Posted by E.E.W. Clay, 08/13/2015 9:45am (9 years ago)

  • Correct on everything e.e w. Clay.


    On Iran, once the oil was re privatized, U.S. Oil companies got 40% of the oil, an example of capitalist "democracy"
    Norman Markowitz4374

    Posted by Norman Markowitz, 08/10/2015 9:36pm (9 years ago)

  • 1. d
    2. b
    3. b
    4. d
    5. d

    The C I A, around '53'54, did this coup in Iran, as Norman writes, not acknowledging it until two years ago (2013), approving secret government and the secret foreign policy of war and force of the governments of the U. S. and Great Britain, the "models of democracy" for all peoples of the world.

    Posted by E.E.W. Clay, 08/10/2015 1:13pm (9 years ago)

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