What members are reading

Although we aren't meeting this month, it doesn't mean we've stopped reading. Here's a list of books people mentioned at the last JUST Books meeting and some others that have been on my reading list this month:

The History of the American Empire, by Howard Zinn. This is a graphic novel illustrated by Mike Konopacki, based on Zinn's People's History of the United States. This should be required reading in every junior high/middle school. I learned some stuff from it.

Medussa and the Snail, by Louis Thomas
a book of 29 essays on biology. According to one reader,
"This is quite simply one of the best written books on biology that you'll ever read. If you are in the camp which believes that scientists use one side of their brain, and that writers use the other, be prepared for a big surprise."

The Right is Wrong, How the Lunatic Fringe Hijacked America, Shredded the Constitution, and Made Us All Less Safe, by Arianna Huffington. With her trademark passion, intelligence, and devastating wit, Huffington Post editor in chief Arianna Huffington tackles the issues that are crucial to this year’s presidential election and, even more so, to the fate of the country.

Blessed Unrest, How the Largest Movement In the World Came Into Being
and Why No One Saw it Coming
by Paul Hawken
A leading environmentalist and social activist's examination of the worldwide movement for social and environmental change

Paul Hawken has spent over a decade researching organizations dedicated to restoring the environment and fostering social justice.
From billion-dollar nonprofits to single-person dot.causes, these groups collectively comprise the largest movement on earth, a movement that has no name, leader, or location, and that has gone largely ignored by politicians and the media. Like nature itself, it is organizing from the bottom up, in every city, town, and culture. and is emerging to be an extraordinary and creative expression of people's needs worldwide.

Blessed Unrest explores the diversity of the movement, its brilliant ideas, innovative strategies, and hidden history, which date back many centuries. A culmination of Hawken's many years of leadership in the environmental and social justice fields, it will inspire and delight any and all who despair of the world's fate, and its conclusions will surprise even those within the movement itself. Fundamentally, it is a description of humanity's collective genius, and the unstoppable movement to reimagine our relationship to the environment and one another.

A Game as Old as Empire, various authors. This is a follow-up to John Perkins' Confessions of an Economic Hit Man. Here, other economic hit men, journalists, and investigators join Perkins to reveal many more deeply disturbing stories of greed and international corruption. In gripping detail, they describe the schemes and subterfuges that multinational corporations, governments, powerful individuals, financial institutions, and quasi-governmental agencies use to line their pockets behind the facade of “foreign aid” and “international development.”

By the Ore Docks, A Working People's History of Duluth, by Richard Hudelson and Carl Ross. A history of the people who built Duluth and their fight for fair labor.

They Took My Father, Finnish Americans in Stalin's Russia, by Mayme Sevander. One immigrant's story of the pilgrimage of Utopian Finnish Americans to Bolshevik Russia and how Stalin destroyed their dreams.

Papermill, by Joseph Kalar. A book of poems and short essays written by a laborer in an International Fall papermill during the violent period of labor organizing in the early 20th Century.

Secession: How Vermont and all the other states can save themselves from the empire, by Thomas H. Naylor. This is the selection that we will be discussing on September 30. For more information, see the previous post, and/or go to http://www.vermontrepublic.org/

Secession

On Tuesday, September 30th, JUST Books will discuss the book...

Secession: How Vermont and All the Other States Can Save Themselves from the Empire by Thomas H. Naylor

Here's an article on the topic:
Vermont, Breaking Out of the Empire Box
By Greg Guma
August 21, 2008
Source: Maverick Media
ZNet

Three days after the 2008 presidential election, no matter which political
party takes the White House, a convention will be held in Vermont's
Statehouse to consider more radical solutions to the problems facing the
nation. The organizing group is the Second Vermont Republic, a citizens'
network that aims to dissolve the United States and, in particular, return
Vermont "to its status as an independent republic."

This may sound unlikely, if not impossible. Yet a recent Zogby poll
commissioned by the Middlebury Institute, a think tank studying
"separatism, secession, and self-determination," indicates that that 20
percent of Americans think "any state or region has the right to peaceably
secede from the United States and become an independent republic." More
than 18 percent told pollsters that they "would support a secessionist
effort in my state."

Could it happen? Frank Bryan, a political scientist who co-authored a 1989
book that called for restructuring Vermont democracy along decentralist
lines, has argued that "the cachet of secession would make the new
republic a magnet" and "people would obviously relish coming to the
Republic of Vermont, the Switzerland of North America." For Thomas Naylor,
the former Duke University professor who launched the movement in 2003,
the question isn't "if" but "when."

"Lincoln persuaded the public that secession was unconstitutional and
immoral," Naylor has noted. "It's one of the few things that the left and
right agree on. We say it's constitutional - and ultimately it is a
question of political will: the will of the people of Vermont versus the
will of the government to stop us."

As you might guess, there's no shortage of skeptics. According to Vermont
attorney and historian Paul Gillies, "It doesn't make economic sense, it
doesn't make political sense, it doesn't make historical sense. Other than
that, it's a good idea." Vermont archivist Gregory Sanford even claims
that some of the arguments for secession, in Vermont at least, are based
on "historical facts of dubious reputation." The State Archives often gets
requests for copies of an "escape claus e" in the Vermont Constitution,
which supposedly allows Vermont to withdraw from the US. "The truth, drawn
from documents, is less satisfying; there is no, nor has there ever been,
such an escape clause," he says.

But the underlying issue isn't whether there is legal authority, but why
millions of people across the country think it's a reasonable and
attractive idea. An answer worth considering is provided by Rob Williams,
editor of Vermont Commons, a newspaper that covers secession and related
issues. "The argument for secession is that the US has become an empire
that is essentially ungovernable - it's too big, it's too corrupt and it
no longer serves the needs of its citizens," he explains. "Congress and
the executive branch are being run by the multinationals. We have
electoral fraud, rampant corporate corruption, a culture of militarism and
war. If you care about democracy and self-governance and any kind of
representative system, the only constitutional way to preserve what's left
of the Republic is to peaceably take apart the empire."

Vermont has been fertile ground for such "outside the box" thinking in the
past. For example, the state didn't immediately join the new United States
after the War of Independence, remaining an independent state from 1 777
until 1791. Plus, half a century later it was the first state to elect an
Anti-Mason governor during a period when opposition to the secret society
was growing.

The Anti-Mason movement - which elected two governors and ran a candidate
for president in 1832 - lasted only a decade, and most of its political
leaders eventually joined either the short-lived Whig Party or the more
durable Republicans. Along the way, however, it pointed out the dangers of
elite groups and, on a practical level, initiated changes in the way
political parties operated. The Anti-Masonic Party wasn't only the first
third party in US national politics. It introduced the concept of
nominating conventions and the adoption of party platforms, reforms soon
embraced by the other parties.

This wasn't the only time a short-lived political movement produced
unexpected change. In 1912, the new Progressive Party, formed by Theodore
Roosevelt when he lost the Republican nomination to William Howard Taft,
led to the election of Woodrow Wilson. Roosevelt soon left the Party, but
its work continued under the leadership of Robert La Follette. Although La
Follette's run for president in 1924 netted only 17 percent of the vote,
he won in his home state of Wisconsin, and successful reforms were
implemented=2 0there.

So, what can a campaign for secession accomplish, even if the goal isn't
achieved? To answer that, consider the basic agenda underpinning the
Second Vermont Republic: political independence, human scale,
sustainability, economic solidarity, power sharing, equal access, tension
reduction, and mutuality. Running through it all is a strong decentralist
thrust. Secession advocate Kirkpatrick Sale describes decentralism as a
"third way," already evident in bioregional movements, cooperative and
worker-owned businesses, land trusts, farmers markets, and a wide variety
of grassroots initiatives.

In a recent article assessing whether Vermont could "go it alone," Bill
McKibben argues, "Functional independence would be the proper first step,
and useful in its own right." He also provides a list of practical
projects to help create more food self-sufficiency, energy independence,
and local economic power. Although he thinks "any political independence
movement is going nowhere now" - the main reasons given are the hope
offered by Barack Obama and problems requiring global action - McKibben's
advice is to build some affection and trust in the meantime by sharing
information and making small but effective moves in t he right direction.

Naylor aims for the fences, calling secession a rebellion against empire
designed to retake control from big institutions, and help people care for
themselves and others by "decentralizing, downsizing, localizing,
demilitarizing, simplifying, and humanizing our lives." In some ways, the
movement is reminiscent of an earlier effort in Vermont to reframe the
debate.

In 1976, dissidents from the Democratic and Republican Parties attempted
to create a "third way" called the Decentralist League of Vermont. The
group was convened by Bob O'Brien, who had just lost the Democratic
primary for governor, and John McClaughry, a Republican scornful of his
Party's leadership. Each invited allies for a series of meetings to define
a joint agenda. Contrary to some accounts, left-wing leaders such as
Murray Bookchin and Bernie Sanders weren't involved, finding an alliance
with people on the political Right unappealing at the time.

Although the Decentralist League lasted only a few years, ultimately
disbanding when its Left wing opted for electoral politics and Right
signed on for the Reagan "revolution," it pointed to what might unite
people who find the current national and global order unsustainable and
dangerous. Taking a im at all forms of centralized power and wealth, the
League asserted that decentralism is the best way to preserve diversity,
increase self-sufficiency, and satisfy human needs.

"Decentralists believe in the progressive dismantling of bureaucratic
structures which stifle creativity and spontaneity, and of economic and
political institutions which diminish individual and community power,"
said the group's Statement of Principles. The political platform included
support for local citizen alliances; widespread ownership of industry by
employees; a viable and diverse agricultural base; a decent level of
income for all; education that stresses self-reliance, creativity, and a
combination of learning and work; technologies that increase energy
self-sufficiency; and mediation of disputes rather than reliance on
regulations and adversary proceedings.

On the other hand, the League's demise underlines the fragility of a
left-right alliance, which also has recently created difficulties for the
Second Vermont Republic. The controversy began when the Southern Poverty
Law Center accused Naylor and the group of talking to an allegedly racist
group, the League of the South. Critics pounced, and Seven Days, a liberal
weekly in Vermont that was distributing Vermont Commons as an insert,
decided to end the arrangement. Labor groups soon demanded the removal of
offensive web links on Second Vermont Republic's website, disassociation
from certain groups or individuals, and the release of a statement clearly
opposing racism, fascism, bigotry, and discrimination. Although there is
no evidence that Vermont secessionists condone such things, they've been
pressured to prove it.

Whether Vermont's secession movement can recover and grow, especially in
the face of demands to break ties with groups that don't embrace all
progressive principles, remains to be seen. In the meantime, however, the
Decentralist League and McKibben's project list may point toward a
platform with practical, short-term benefits.

Greg Guma writes about media and politics on his website, Maverick Media
(http://muckraker-gg.blogspot.com). The full text of the Decentralist
League's Statement of Principles can be found there.

On Civil Disobedience

Our next meeting will be Thursday July 24th at 6:30pm at Tutto Bene. If it's nice I'll reserve a table in the courtyard.
You may order dinner (but it's not required) or deserts and beverages so bring a little pocket money.

We will be discussing Henry David Thoreau's essay, "Civil Disobedience", and related topics, and unrelated topics too!!!

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For those of you who need more books: The Bemidji Public Library Book Sale is July 24/25, 10am -6pm, at the Bemidji Guard Armory.

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JUSTbooks will be taking the month of August as vacation, and we will reconvene in September.

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Harvey has chosen September's selection:

Secession: How Vermont and All the Other States Can Save Themselves from the Empire by Thomas H. Naylor
available in paperback, more about this book on thurs. See you all then!

Truth and Duty

Our book selection for May-June is Truth and Duty; The Press, the President, and the Privilege of Power, by Mary Mapes. Our next meeting is on June 24. Contact justbooksbemidji@gmail.com for details.

Mapes was a Peabody Award-winning CBS News producer who broke the Bush National Guard and Abu Ghraib stories and was subsequently fired.

There Will Be Blood

Most of the members of JUST Books had seen this movie before the club met on Thursday. They said I should see it, so I borrowed a copy and watched it last night. I can't remember ever comparing a book and a movie without being terribly disappointed in the movie. My reaction to There Will Be Blood seems like an exaggeration of that trend.

It's a good movie. It's dark and grim. The music is eerie and sets your nerves on edge. The characters are unlovable; you can't begin to sympathize with them. I could hardly wait for it to finish. What seems to be its only redeeming quality is the fact that it may suck people into reading Oil! - just like a pool shark sucks in his marks. But, I think that's enough. Oil! is a good book. Oh, I should mention that some of the actors did a good job of portraying their gruesome characters.

The movie and the book are so different, I'm not sure whether someone who really likes the movie would like the book, and vice versa. I belong to the latter group. I think Hollywood revealed its dark, twisted, emotionally sick nature in this movie, for sure.

Rather than trying to identify how the movie differs from the book, I think it's easier to list their similarities:

1. The book is about a boy whose father is an oilman. The movie is about an oilman who has a son.
2. The book and the movie take place in California during the early 20th Century.
3. The father is surprised and/or disappointed in his son's interests and/or choices.

Considering all the people who were involved in the California oil rush of that period, Hollywood could have picked a totally different family to portray, that just happened to share a couple superficial similarities with the family in the book. Or, maybe Upton Sinclair (the author of Oil!) was just a sympathetic person who couldn't force himself to focus on the less savory aspects of an individual's nature. Hollywood certainly has no such sensitivity.

I think Sinclair would be pleased that interest in his novel has been revived. I think he would be very disappointed that his message is as relevant and important, today, as it was in 1926. (If his dreams of social reform had come true, contemporary society would be much different.) I don't think he would be a bit surprised that his message was totally omitted from the film - not even a hint of it was left in!

Oil! by Upton Sinclair

I feel like I owe Hollywood for this one. If the movie "There Will Be Blood" hadn't been made, I may not have been introduced to this remarkable novel.

Set in Southern California in the late 1910's and early 1920's, Sinclair uses a young idealist, Bunny, who grows up in a household consumed by 'new' oil money as a vehicle to examine two strata in society: working class socialists and upper class capitalists. People in both groups seem remarkably rational and human. I didn't get the feeling that there were any real heroes or villains in the story.

Familiar plot: One day, after I'd been reading this book for a while, I sat down to an episode of the sit-com "Dharma and Greg." Same plot! The TV show is funnier, but way less compelling. In Oil!, Sinclair actually mentions the story of Siddhartha (Buddha), which may well have been his model, brought up to date.

I found this book to illustrate the dilemma of middle class liberals. We enjoy a comfortable life, which sometimes creates conflicts with our ideals. Even those of us who live modestly by American standards have incomes in the top 5%, worldwide. American consumers shop for price, a practice that has sent most manufacturing jobs to Asia where environmental and labor restrictions are minimal or non-existent (but out of sight). We are the problem. We know it. Like Bunny, we protest, we contribute to just causes, but we are reluctant to take steps that will land us in jail or in a ghetto.

Like Bunny, we are distracted by Hollywood. He indulged in a love affair with a movie star. We indulge in movies and TV. I think Sinclair said something about the radio being one-way communication by which the listener is fed propaganda and is sedated. Sometimes I seriously wonder if TV has prevented a revolution in this country. I'll bet the Capitalists chuckle when they see news footage of people looting stores during riots and hauling away television sets! Rioters dousing their own flames!

It really seems hard to believe that this book was written in 1926, and not 80 years later. It seems like Oil! sets today's issues and concerns in another place and time, that we might observe them more objectively. The fighting between the Socialists and the Communists reflects the lack of cooperation among third parties, today. Business had such complete control over government in the early 20th Century that we have to believe our suspicions are well-founded that the situation remains unchanged. The western propaganda about conditions in Russia after the Bolshevik revolution (and before Stalin) mirrors that of conditions in contemporary Cuba and Venezuela. The reader is left with the impression that nothing has really changed in this country.

I especially enjoyed Sinclair's subtle sense of humor. It's a vital element in such an examination of our deep social problems. I've been trying to look for humor in today's presidential election campaigns. Indeed, that may be their only redeeming social value!

Oil! by Upton Sinclair

The book selected for reading this month is Oil! by Upton Sinclair. According to a review posted on Amazon. com:
From Library Journal
Sinclair's 1927 novel did for California's oil industry what The Jungle did for Chicago's meat-packing factories. The plot follows the clash between an oil developer and his son. Typical of Sinclair, there are undertones here of socialism and sympathy for the common working stiff.

A contemporary movie, There Will Be Blood, was loosely based on this book. Oil! and untold other topics will be discussed when we meet on May 22.

Looking ahead to June, we will be reading Mary Maeps' Truth and Duty, the Press, the President, and the Privilege of Power.

For more information on JUST Books and our next meeting, write to justbooksbemidji@gmail.com.