\t\t\t\tMy Wednesday commitment not to write a detailed blog remains. But given the sad news yesterday from South Africa I thought some nice music should be shared and some news from the French press. So not really a blog but some music to listen to while I work today.
\n<\/p>\n
There was an interesting article in the French press (January 19, 2018) – Et si l’Etat cr\u00e9ait lui-m\u00eame les emplois pour combattre le ch\u00f4mage?<\/a>.<\/p>\n The title says “And if the state create jobs itself to combat unemployment?”.<\/p>\n Romaric Godin, the journalist works for Mediapart<\/a>, which is an independent news journal in France that has uncovered several scandals since its inception in 2008. The founder was the former editor-in-chief of Le Monde.<\/p>\n Godin is an influential journalist in France.<\/p>\n The original article is behind a paywall. Mediapart has no advertising and relies on small subscriptions.<\/p>\n The article was republished (January 21, 2018) by On n’est pas des moutons (We are not sheep), which is the magazine produced by the supporters of La France Insoumise<\/a>, the breakaway Left party which is forming into a true Oppositional Left to replace the void left by the neoliberal Socialist Party.<\/p>\n There is no paywall here.<\/p>\n The link is – Et si l’Etat cr\u00e9ait lui-m\u00eame les emplois pour combattre le ch\u00f4mage?<\/a>.<\/p>\n On n’est pas des moutons<\/em>, reprises the statement from leader of the French Left party Insoumise, Jean-Luc M\u00e9lenchon (April 1, 2012) while he was speaking at an impoversished housing estate (La Grande Borne) which straddles the communes of Grigny and Viry-Ch\u00e2tillon, on the southern periphery of Paris.<\/p>\n M\u00e9lenchon was reflecting on the very high abstention rate of the area in the 2007 Presidential elections and said:<\/p>\n \nSi vous faites les moutons, vous serez tondus … si vous ne faites pas de politique, la politique s’occupera de vous, vous pouvez en \u00eatre assur\u00e9s\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n “If you act like sheep, you will be shorn … if you do not participate in politics, then policy will take care of you, you can be assured”.<\/p>\n And the care he was referring to was not of the beneficial variety!<\/p>\n The point is that the article is a thorough and sympathetic treatment of Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) and the Job Guarantee, one of the first major expositions to appear in the mainstream French press.<\/p>\n It discusses in depth our new book – Reclaiming the State: A Progressive Vision of Sovereignty for a Post-Neoliberal World<\/a> (Pluto Books, 2017).<\/p>\n This is some sort of breakthrough for MMT.<\/p>\n The article is in French.<\/p>\n One of my favourite jazz musicians, Hugh Masekela<\/a> died yesterday (January 23, 2018) in Johannesburg.<\/p>\n Music is a voice in struggle. And Hugh Masekela exemplified the way in which art can become a force for change. He was a powerful anti-Apartheid activist.<\/p>\n He first played with Dollar Brand in the Jazz Epistles<\/a> which formed in 1959.<\/p>\n Here is the UK Guardian Obituary (January 23, 2018) – Hugh Masekela obituary: South African jazz pioneer who fought the evil of apartheid<\/a>.<\/p>\n And an interesting but short video biography of Hugh Masekela – Hugh Masekela: six decades of sounds from the father of South African jazz – video<\/a><\/p>\n This song – Soweto Blues<\/a> – was written by Hugh Masekela (1977) – and was at the forefront of the Anti-Apartheid movement. It is sung by his former wife Miriam Makeba.<\/p>\n It was live from Wembley Stadium, London and the concert was in 1988, before the breakdown of the Apartheid system. The concert was to mark Nelson Mandela’s 70th birthday and it was broadcast to 67 countries.<\/p>\n The song was a mourning of the deaths of up to 700 school children that police murdered while the children were protesting against Apartheid at the Soweto Uprising<\/a> on June 16, 1976.<\/p>\n Over a thousand people were wounded when the police set their automatic rifles to work.<\/p>\n The massacre was a turning point in the struggle. But it still took another 14 years for the hideous system of oppression to be eliminated.<\/p>\nA Jazz Freedom Fighter dies<\/h2>\n