Monthly Archives: April 2020

From the website artnet.com:

Thanks to JM for this:

The US media is taking these protests seriously, rather than for what they are, a political neurosis at the outer fringe of American society. Thanks to CM for the tip:

An interesting Twitter exchange this week concerning Dublin’s wannabe Private Eye magazine, The Phoenix, raises an intriguing question or two, notably who really runs the magazine and how will management respond to editor Paddy Prendiville’s disavowal of some of the circumstances surrounding the sacking of a reporter suffering from a suspected bout of Coronavirus.

The story began with this tweet from the magazine’s former reporter Eva Short, posted this Tuesday, complaining about her sacking by Phoenix management after she self-isolated with suspected Coronavirus symptoms, and the decision to replace her with an intern whose qualification should be, wait for it, ‘five years experience’ as a journalist:

As a matter of interest, this is how the Cambridge English Dictionary defines the word intern: ‘…a student, or someone who has recently finished theirstudies, who works for a company or organization for a short time, sometimes without being paid, in orderto get experience of a particular type of work‘.So, how does the demand for ‘Five years experience’ square with that?!?!

Three days later came this tweet from Phoenix magazine editor, Paddy Prendiville and his deputy, Paul Farrelly distancing themselves from what they called ‘the recent recruitment advertisement for an intern’,  The Tweet, however, shed no light on their involvement or otherwise in the sacking of the unfortunate Eva Short:

Phoenix magazine was founded by the late John Mulcahy, who gave this writer his first full-time job in Irish journalism in the weekly magazine Hibernia. He also recruited the current Phoenix editor Paddy Prendiville and later was credited by staff for rescuing Prendiville from the clutches of the Metropolitan Special Branch not long after he was put on the payroll.

The London police had arrested Prendiville during an investigation of an IRA plot to spring the late Brian Keenan from Brixton jail where he was awaiting trial on charges of masterminding a bombing camapign in England. Prendiville, whose brother Kiaran was an English TV star during this time, was eventually freed and faced no charges.

Staff at Hibernia suspected that Mulcahy had asked Charlie Haughey to intervene.Whatever the truth, journalists at Hibernia soon believed that a special bond had been created between Mulcahy and Prendiville.

You can read more of John Mulcahy’s varied career in Irish journalism here, not least his role in creating The Sunday Tribune.

In a move indicative of their new friendship, Prendiville followed Mulcahy into Phoenix and eventually became editor. These days the magazine is apparently  owned by Mulcahy’s son, Aengus.

How the Mulcahy family view Prendiville’s defiance is an item that qualifies for coverage in Phoenix’s Goldhawk column but doubtless that won’t happen. In which case, dear readers, you can always send material to the elbow!

This is probably the most important if depressing film you will watch all year:

“THESE are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country.…

“…[L]ay your shoulders to the wheel; … Let it be told to the future world, that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive, that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet and to repulse it. Say not that thousands are gone, turn out your tens of thousands; throw not the burden of the day upon Providence, but “show your faith by your works…”

—Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

On April 13, 2020, Senator Bernie Sanders urged his supporters to vote for the presumptive Democratic nominee, former vice president Joe Biden. Writing as founders and veterans of the leading New Left organization of the 1960s, Students for a Democratic Society, we welcome Bernie’s wise choice—but we are gravely concerned that some of his supporters, including the leadership of Democratic Socialists of America, refuse to support Biden, whom they see as a representative of Wall Street capital. Some of us are DSA members, but do not believe their position is consistent with a long-range vision of democracy, justice, and human survival.

Now it is time for all those who yearn for a more equal and just social order to face facts. All of us have charged for years that Trump is the leader of an authoritarian party that aims for absolute power; rejects climate science; embraces racism, sexism, homophobia, and violence; holds the democratic process in contempt; bids to take over the entire federal judiciary; represses voting rights; and violates plain human decency on many fronts. These are the grounds for our solemn determination: a common effort to unseat him is our high moral and political responsibility.

In our time, we fought—for a time successfully—against the sectarian politics of the Cold War. We were mindful then of the cataclysm that befell German democracy when socialists and communists fought each other—to death—as Hitler snuck by and then murdered them all.

Now we fear that some on the left cannot see the difference between a capitalist democrat and a protofascist. We hope none of us learn this difference from jail cells.

We have dedicated much of our lives to the fight to extend democracy to more people, more institutions, more places. We continue this work in diverse ways motivated now as then by a spirit of community and solidarity. But now the very existence of American democracy is in jeopardy.

Some of us think “endorsing” Joe Biden is a step too far; but we who now write this open letter all know that we must work hard to elect him. This is an all-hands-on-deck moment.

In 1919, in the midst of the brief German socialist revolution, the great sociologist Max Weber addressed left-wing students about politics. He urged upon them that the best politics must be painfully aware of the consequences of action, not just intentions. Speaking to young men, he prophetically warned them that the cost of ignoring consequences might be their deaths.

We salute Bernie Sanders and our friends and comrades in DSA and in the diverse movements for social justice and environmental sanity that enabled them to rise. We look forward to joining together to build on and defend our accomplishments. And now we plead with all: Get together, beat Trump, and fight for democracy—precious, fragile, worth keeping.

The signers of this letter were founders, officers, and activists in Students for a Democratic Society between 1960 and 1969. Interested persons may contact Robert Ross at rjsross@clarku.edu for further information.

Ira Arlook

Jane Adams

Michael Ansara

Steven Block

Barry Bluestone

Heather Booth

George Brosi

Connie Brown

Dorothy Burlage

Robb Burlage

Ken Cloke

Carl Davidson

Thorne Dreyer

Mark Dyen

Nick Egleson

John Ehrenreich

Alice Embree

Oliver Fein, MD

Marshall Ganz

Helen Garvy

David Gelber

Todd Gitlin

Carol Glassman

Steve Goldsmith

D. Gorton

Alan Haber

Barbara Haber

Odile Hugonot Haber

Jill Hamberg

Bill Hartzog

Casey Hayden

Michael Gaylord James

Steve Johnson

Marilyn Katz

Paul Lauter

Sharon Jeffrey Lehrer

Mike Locker

Ken McEldowney

Don McKelvey

Dickie Magidoff

Steve Max

Paul Millman

Daniel Millstone

Sarah Murphy

Robert Pardun

Charlotte Phillips, MD

Miles Rapoport

Beth Rimanoczy

Jenny Roper

Don Rose

Robert J.S. Ross

Richard Rothstein

Vivian Rothstein

Mark Rudd

James W. Russell

Bruce Schmeichen

David Strauss

Gerry Tenney

Maria Varela

Monte Wasch

Lee Webb

Marilyn Webb

Leni Wildflower

Cathy Wilkerson

Honey Williams

Jim Williams

One of my favourite bloggers, Ian Welsh explains why he thinks Bernie Sanders should never have endorsed Joe Biden:

With thanks to Jane E: