I just want to put in my definition of privelege here which is " the unequal exchange of lavbor time ". This can mean privelege due to skin color. Privilege due having control of a radio station so everyone has to hear what one has to say and not letting others speak over the airwaves. It can also mean that one e-mails to many different groups and when someone else tries to send a reply to the same different groups the reply e-mail is directed to only one small e-mail group. Therefore the original e-mailer has manipulated a much greater use of e-mail labor time. The problem with much of left is that white-skin privilege is the only time the word privilege is used. I use privilege all the time to analyse many diffferent situations. --- In NewPacifica@yahoogroups.com, mitchelcohen@m... wrote: > Rafael Renteria writes about racism in the US: > >A report issued by Human Rights Watch, Punishment and Prejudice, shows > that the War on Drugs clearly targets African Americans. The study > found that 62.7 percent of new prisoners admitted to state prisons for > drug offenses were Black, although there are five times more white > drug users than Black. < > > Absolutely, we live in a country where racism rules. But let's be clear on > the reason for this. It's the same reason why immigrants are being targeted > under the Patriot Act -- it's an attempt to criminalize and break up the > most vibrant section of the working class, the part that is organizing, the > part that is taking lessons learned in struggles all over the world into > the working class movements and organizations here in the US. > > It's really not very hard to understand this. The question: Do we struggle > primarily to reduce the inequality in application of the drug laws, or do > we fight to abolish those laws altogether? > > We try to do both. It's not always "either/or". But it gets tricky, because > there are times when the strategies for abolishing the laws conflict with > refining the application of the laws. > > The communards in Barcelona in the mid 1930s faced similar challenge: Do > you fight to support the democratic-capitalist government against fascism, > or do you make a revolution? The anarchist movement supported the latter, > the Stalinists the former. So the Stalinists crushed the anarchists, who > were allied somewhat with the Trotskyists. > > Should those fighting to equalize the penalties under the drug laws (but > not get rid of them altogether) be permitted to rule the movement, or > should abolitionists utilize the openings created today to fight to end > them altogether? > > It's not a question of "privilege" when framed in that way (despite the > obvious inequality in crack vs. powdered cocaine sentencing), it's a > question of class, of which class these laws serve and why that class needs > them, to criminalize those who organize (or potentially organize) to bring > it down. > > - Mitchel Cohen ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Buy Ink Cartridges or Refill Kits for your HP, Epson, Canon or Lexmark Printer at MyInks.com. Free s/h on orders $50 or more to the US & Canada. http://www.c1tracking.com/l.asp?cid=5511 http://us.click.yahoo.com/mOAaAA/3exGAA/qnsNAA/xYTolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> New Pacifica Working Group http://www.egroups.com/group/NewPacifica 'Save Our Stations!' To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: NewPacifica-unsubscribe@egroups.com Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/