Posted on 08/06/2005 10:06:11 AM PDT by nwrep
In this second installment of the series "Treason on Campus", we focus on Peter Bohmer, Professor of Economics and "Labor Studies" at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington.
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Peter Bohmer, Alternatives to Capitalist Globalization
Peter Bohmer, an Economist with degrees from MIT, is a Professor in the Economics and Labor Studies Programs. Among the courses he teaches are the following:
ALTERNATIVES TO CAPITALIST GLOBALIZATION
Description: At the beginning of the 21st century, a great number of global and national elite, intellectuals and international financial institutions, such as the World Trade Organization, International Monetary Fund and World Bank, claim that there are no alternatives to capitalist globalization. They claim that the world must be restructured according to "free market" and "free trade" principles that open up countries to the products, services and investment of multinational corporations; reduce social relations to commercial transactions; and impose Western development models on diverse cultures.
In this program, we will study diverse social movements, organizations and thinkers who are offering alternative visions for organizing global society and meeting human needs. Many of these alternative visions have developed within the emerging global justice movement, and many draw upon historical precedents and various traditions of resistance. Still others have been influenced by socialist, anarchist, ecological, feminist or Southern perspectives. We will explore these and other alternatives to capitalist globalization that have developed around the world. These range from Swedish social democracy, Cuban socialism, to the Indian state of Kerala and Argentina's barter and trading networks.
ORGANIZING FOR DEMOCRACY PROGRAM
Description: What does it mean when President Bush says “we are bringing democracy to the Middle East”? Is the US a democratic country now? What is democracy, exactly? What is the relation between our view of a just society and our view of democracy? What are the political and economic aspects of democracy? How can we act and organize to create a deeper and more meaningful democracy? Within the US? Globally?
We will examine the relations between democracy and human rights and will study key areas of US society such as civil liberties, racism, economic inequality and the economy, gender relations, the media, education and youth, the government and foreign policy.
A major part of the program will be learning how to organize for a democratic society. We will read and watch films about individuals and movements working for social change and justice. We will learn how individuals can make a difference, have their voices heard, and become active in their communities and society. Workshops will be conducted on how to build democratic, inclusive, effective, and sustainable organizations; how to organize protest and resistance; how to do research and influence public policy for social change; how to develop effective strategies and tactics; how to raise funds; how to deal with the media and with repression. We will develop writing, speaking, and other relevant skills for effective organizing and democratic participation.
ENGAGING CUBA: UNCOMMON APPROACHES TO THE COMMON GOOD
Description: Cuba is a country that has experimented with diverse methods of delivering services to its population. Three of the themes of study are those in which Cuba has garnered global recognition for its achievements: education, health care delivery, and organic agriculture. This program explores the objectives, processes and systems of delivering social and/or material services related to these three categories.
Because of the sensitivity around international travel, particularly between the United States and the global South, and people’s stereotypes about Cuban society, the program will require an unusually strong Covenant. Prospective students must agree to the Covenant before admission.
All students will also participate in the research, preparation and delivery of new information throughout spring quarter. We will be based in Havana at a guest house or cheap hotel and we will also travel by bus from Havana to Santiago, Cuba.
During the six week stay in Cuba, students will attend presentations on Cuban history, politics, economics, and culture with some emphasis on health, education and organic agriculture. Students will be expected to attend all required meetings and group activities and on-site visits.
We are negotiating with Global Exchange, www.globalexchange.org on the details and exact costs of our trip. They will handle the logistics in Cuba. Global Exchange has a lot of experience organizing trips to Cuba. Their role will include arranging travel in Cuba, housing, setting up presentations by Cubans, visits to various Cuban sites, cultural activities, incorporating students into activities such as voluntary labor, internships, etc.
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In addition to a large variety of anti-American, anti-Capitalist and activist courses drawing heavily from leftist books, Professor Bohmer also features the following gushing commentary on life in modern Cuba on his website:
From the 1960’s to the late 1980’s, Cuba was one of the most economically equal countries in the world. Almost all production was owned and organized by the state. There was free health care, equal access to free education, and full employment. Hundreds of thousands of apartments were built in Cuban cities—often in the form of huge apartment complexes such as Alamar in Havana. In the countryside, electrification, indoor plumbing, drinkable water and basic housing was provided for almost all Cubans. Hunger and absolute poverty were overcome.
The major changes Cuba has made since 1989 have led to some improvement in the standard of living but has created a new set of social problems. Cuban’s survival in the face of the U.S. attempt to destroy the Cuban revolution is a great achievement as is Cuba’s continuing to provide for the basic needs of its population. For example, every single person in Cuba has free dental and eye care. Every person in Cuba with AIDS gets free, high-quality retroviral drugs.
During our six weeks in Cuba, we were all impressed by how well we were treated and received by the Cuban people and government who consider the U.S. people, but not the U.S. government as their friends. It is up to us to make the difference between the people of the U.S. and our government greater, to make our government’s aggression against Cuba so unpopular in the United States that it is forced to accept Cuban sovereignty.
Cuban society is not the dictatorship you hear about in the media here; people do speak up and criticize, and there is no torture or disappearance of dissidents. There is some suppression of the organized opposition. This repression is because of the fear and the reality of the U.S. commitment to overthrow the Cuban revolution and return Cuba to a neocolonial status.
In conclusion, the survival and maintenance of the Cuban Revolution is incredibly important for the Cuban people and globally. It is an alternative to neoliberalism and a beacon of hope for oppressed people around the world.
PING
"Cuban society is not the dictatorship you hear about in the media......there is no torture or disappearance of dissidents."
To bad we can't balance some of our trade debt by shipping this loon to Cuba or any marxist wonderland of his choice.
That a photo of this prof?
jeez
/OFF...'Christian-Liberty'...
On,...'Marxist-Tolerence'
'Wall-Building'
It means THEY get to CHOOSE, dummy! If they choose well, they'll do well; if they choose badly...
Bohmer is a long time communist lover and hates capitalism.
http://members.tripod.com/~political_economy/index.html
If Cuba is the greatest, richest, and bestest country in the whole, wide world, why do so many of its people risk death to come HERE? What a bozo.
INTREP - S&T - Economics; Politics
If he thinks Cuba is so great, why doesn't he live there?
Hang 'em High ~ Bump!
Hang down your head Marxist traitor
hang down your head and cry......
There are just some in this country that need a good a-- kicking.
Peter Bohner ......name added to "THE LIST"!!
It's a Robert Plant wannabee.
He does know that in Soviet Russia, the streetsweepers, ditch diggers and university professors, doctors and truck drivers were all paid according to their usefulness.
The professors and doctors earned the same amount as the truck drivers.
"The Soviet Union suffered a shortage of teachers for decades before the 1990s. Although society held the profession in high regard, teacher salaries were among the lowest of all professions..."
http://countrystudies.us/russia/52.htm
Seems all these jackanapes like the idea, but would absolutely hate the practice, unless, of course, they think they will be in control of the populace.
FAT CHANCE bucko. You are just one of a number of useful pawns engineered by the ones who really are behind your ideas.
Opus
Hah - "Alternatives to Capitalist Globalization" - better titled "Screw The Poor". Thanks to globalization hundreds of millions of people in Asia have moved out of poverty, with more to follow. The best solution to Africa's poverty isn't debt relief (though that helps) but more "Capitalist Globalization". The enemies of capitalism and globalization are the enemies of the poor.
It figures this guy is a moonbat, Evergreen State College is where Ratchel "Bulldozer" Corrie went to school.
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