File spoon-archives/bhaskar.archive/bhaskar_1998/bhaskar.9805, message 80


From: MSPRINKER-AT-ccmail.sunysb.edu
Date: Sat, 23 May 1998 10:33:40 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: BHA: FWD: AGITPROP NEWS  5.20.98



               State University of New York at Stony Brook
                       Stony Brook, NY 11794-3355

                                            Michael Sprinker
                                            Professor of English & Comp Lit
                                            Comparative Studies
                                            516 632-9634
                                            23-May-1998 10:31am EDT
FROM:  MSPRINKER
TO:    Remote Addressee                     ( _bhaskar-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu )
 
Subject: FWD: AGITPROP NEWS  5.20.98

I apologize to everyone for the length of the attached
document, but it would have been very time-consuming
to edit down on my antiquated e-mail system.

You can read as much or as little as you like, but my
reason for sending it on is item number 9, which bears upon
the fate of pi in Alabama (about to be re-named Bizarro
World, for those of you who are afficionados of the Seinfeld
show on American tv).

Fraternally,

Michael Sprinker


                                          Mike Alewitz
                                           
                                           
                                          20-May-1998 06:38pm EDT

TO:  MSPRINKER

Subject: AGITPROP NEWS  5.20.98

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Date: Wed, 20 May 1998 18:41:08 +0000
From: Mike Alewitz <alewitz-AT-RCI.RUTGERS.EDU>
Subject: AGITPROP NEWS  5.20.98
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Please post & distribute:


LaBOR aRT & MuRAL PRoJECT
AGITPROP NEWS
5.20.98


In this issue:

1.  Baq from Iraq
2.  Mass rally supports MUA
3.  Scab Ship Update
4.  Deep Hole
5.  Israel  Celebrates 50 Years
6.  100 Years of Servitude
7.  History
8.  Mugabe Protest
9.  American as Apple Pi
10. Mayor Giuliani: Sensitive Artist
11. Fire Department
12. Swill and Squeal
13. Books
14. Bob Dole the Pusher Man
15. Health Care Problems
16. Black Death and HIV
17. Cuban Vaccines
18. New Marxism List


__________________________________________________


The LaBOR aRT & MuRAL PRoJECT is proud to announce that we were able to
complete a small mural project at the Acadamy of Fine Arts, University
of Baghdad, Iraq.  The mural was part of the Challenge the Sanctions
effort led by Ramsey Clark,  Bishop Thomas Gumbleton and others.  A
delegation from the US and Canada delivered several million dollars
worth of much needed medical supplies to Iraqi hospitals,  in defience
of the US imposed sanctions.

The mural was painted over the course of two days with the assistance of
students at the Academy.  Mike Alewitz was also able to give a slide
show on art and politics.  A large crowd of students constantly
surrounded the artists as they worked on the 10' x 15' wall at the
entranceway to the University.

The central imagery of the mural consists of the Tigris and Euphrates
Rivers transformed into two figures: A North American worker clasping
hands with Layla Al-Atal, a prominent Iraqi artist murdered in a 1993 US
bombing raid.  American bombers fly overhead, but as the bombs reach the
clasped hands, they turn into loaves of bread and also roses.  An arabic
inscription across the top reads: "Artists and Workers Form One World
without Borders!"

The mural will be reproduced as a poster.

More later...


____________________________________________________

2.  Mass rally supports MUA


Melbourne: More than 100,000 people have taken part in a victory rally
march in support of the Maritime Union of Australia as dogs and guards
still remain remain at the Patrick docks despite the departure of scab
labour.

The rally, which attracted tens of thousands of people blocked several
city streets outside Flinders Street railway station. At the head of
the rally, which brought traffic to a standstill in central Melbourne,
Australia's second city, were  the  newly reinstated dockers. Police
estimated the crowd at more than 75,000 people  but Union estimates
say there were close to 120,000 people.

Martin Kingham, president of the Victorian Trades Hall Council addressed
the rally saying Melbourne's most famous had not seen such numbers since
the anti Vietnam war protest of the 1970's. He thanked the community
support against the conservative forces in Australia attempt to destroy
the union movement. ``Well, we have demonstrated just how determined
we are today to protect the rights of working people in this country,''
Mr Kingham said.

A minute silence in the middle of Melbourne's busiest intersection was
held for Fred Broch,  a retired member of the MUA, who died on April 17
at the end of his speech to Japanese unions rallying international
solidarity in Tokyo.

Leftlink

______________________________________________


3.  Scab Ship Update



Well, I still haven't heard any news about the Scab Ship Columbus
Canada.
We'll keep everyone informed. There is a rumor that the next Scab Ship
may be headed for Honolulu, Hawaii.  I do not know the name of this
ship, and I'm not sure when it will arrive.  Friday, May 15th is the
date
I was given.  I'm sorry I do not have more specific information.

Do keep checking the message tape (510) 845-0540.

Don't let up yet.  We're getting support from all areas of the labor
movement and beyond.  Let's hope we can keep up this momentum and
channel
it into other areas of the struggle.


As of 5/14/98 at 3 AM

 The reports below should tell you every thing you need to know, but the
 summary is

 (1) Scab Ship Columbus Canada is still anchored in the harbor outside
 of Long Beach, no cargo has been unloaded

(2) At least four other scab ships are on their way to the West Coast
 (wake up everybody!) I do not know names or destinations.

(3) Community Solidarity remains very strong at the moment.

 (4) In the Bay Area, call (510) 845-0540 for updates

 (5) The situation in Australia is nowhere near being resolved.


Steve O <intexile-AT-bari.iww.org>


________________________________________________


4.  Deep Hole



Two guys are walking through the woods and come across this big
deep  hole.

"Wow...that looks deep." "Sure does... toss a few pebbles in there
and see how deep it is."

They pick up a few pebbles and throw them in and wait... no noise.

"Jeeez. That is REALLY deep... here.. throw one of these great big
rocks down there. Those should make a noise."

They pick up a couple football-sized rocks and toss them into the
hole and wait... and wait. Nothing.

They look at each other in amazement. One gets a determined
look on his face and says, "Hey...over here in the weeds, there's a
railroad tie. Help me carry it over here. When we toss THAT sucker
in, it's GOTTA make some noise."

The two drag the heavy tie over to the hole and heave it in. Not a
sound comes from the hole.

Suddenly, out of the nearby woods, a goat appears, running like the
wind. It rushes toward the two men, then right past them, running as
fast as it's legs will carry it. Suddenly it leaps in the air and
into the hole.

The two men are astonished with what they've just seen...

Then, out of the woods comes a farmer who spots the men and
ambles over.

"Hey... you two guys seen my goat out here?"

"You bet we did!  Craziest thing I ever seen!  It came running like
crazy and just jumped into this hole!"

"Nah", says the farmer, "That couldn't have been MY goat. My goat was
chained to a railroad tie."



_______________________________________________



5.  Israel  Celebrates 50 Years


(London) INDEPENDENT : May 15, 1998


Israeli soldiers killed eight Palestinians, including an eight-year-old
boy, in riots in Gaza yesterday as Palestinians commemorated the
anniversary of their forced flight 50 years ago from what is now Israel.
It is the worst violence for 18 months and may indicate that, given the
stalemate in the peace talks, the confrontation between Israel and the
Palestinians is taking a bloodier turn.

The Palestinians died in clashes at the northern and southern ends of
the
Gaza Strip, the congested enclave which is home to 1 million
Palestinians
and 5,000 Jewish settlers.

At the Erez checkpoint Akron Abu Askar, one of the wounded, was quoted
as
saying: "I saw somebody shot in the neck and went to evacuate him. They
shot me in the right arm. When I continued pulling him, they shot me in
the other arm."


 MichaelP <papadop-AT-PEAK.ORG>

______________________________________________



6.  100 Years of Servitude

STOP 100 YEARS OF SERVITUDE (1898-1998)

A Conference Marking the Centennial of
US Colonization of the Philippines

12-14 June (Friday-Sunday) 1998
Hunter College, West Building, 6th floor
(southwest corner of Lexington Ave. &68th St.)
New York City, New York, USA

learn more and discuss...
...US Colonization of the Philippines and its impact
   on the lives of Filipinos and Filipino Americans
...US Colonization and its continuing impact worldwide,
   specifically in Puerto Rico, Cuba, and the Philippines
...globalization and the traffick of women
...organizing, publicity, and networking strategies

registration:
sliding scale, if you register before 3 June 1998 -- $25, $20, $15
late registration -- $35

space limited.  register now via e-mail, phone, fax, or mail.
e-mail: gabnet-AT-gabnet.org; phone: 212.592.3507; fax: 718.740.4750
GABRIELA Network, PO Box 403, Times Square Sta., NY, NY  10036
for more info, contact us or visit our website: www.gabnet.org


GABRIELA NETWORK
A Philippine-US Women's Solidarity Organization

e-mail: gabnet-AT-gabnet.org
web:  www.gabnet.org


____________________________________________

7.  History



"People who make history know nothing about history. You can see that
in the sort of history they make."
(G. K. Chesterton)


The Philosophy Service



____________________________________________


8.  Mugabe Protest


California State Polytechnic University at Pomona (Pomona,
California) is giving an honorary degree to President Robert Mugabe
of Zimbabwe who has publicly made anti-semitic and anti-gay remarks.

Send your comments to the President by email or phone and suppor the
Faculty Senate resolution opposing the granting of the degree.

bhsuzuki-AT-csupomona.edu
909-869-2290


cklaver-AT-POMONA.EDU


_________________________________________________


9.  American as Apple Pi



HUNTSVILLE, Ala. -- NASA engineers and mathematicians in this high-
tech city are stunned and infuriated after the Alabama state legisla-
ture narrowly passed a law yesterday redefining pi, a mathematical
constant used in the aerospace industry.  The bill to change the value
of pi to exactly three was introduced without fanfare by Leonard Lee
Lawson (R, Crossville), and rapidly gained support after a letter-
writing campaign by members of the Solomon Society, a traditional
values group.

Governor Fob James says he will sign it into law on Wednesday.

The law took the state's engineering community by surprise. "It would
have been nice if they had consulted with someone who actually uses pi,"
said Marshall Bergman, a manager at the Ballistic Missile Defense
Organization.

According to Bergman, pi is a Greek letter that signifies the ratio of
the circumference of a circle to its diameter.  It is often used by
engineers to calculate missile trajectories.

Prof. Kim Johanson, a mathematician from University of Alabama, said
that pi is a universal constant, and cannot arbitrarily be changed by
lawmakers.  Johanson explained that pi is an irrational number, which
means that it has an infinite number of digits after the decimal point
and can never be known exactly.  Nevertheless, she said, pi is precisly
defined by mathematics to be "3.14159, plus as many more digits as you
have time to calculate".

"I think that it is the mathematicians that are being irrational, and
it is time for them to admit it," said Lawson.  "The Bible very clearly
says in I Kings 7:23 that the alter font of Solomon's Temple was ten
cubits across and thirty cubits in diameter, and that it was round in
compass."

Lawson called into question the usefulness of any number that cannot
be calculated exactly, and suggested that never knowing the exact
answer could harm students' self-esteem.  "We need to return to some
absolutes in our society," he said, "the Bible does not say that the
font was thirty-something cubits.  Plain reading says thirty cubits.
Period."


From:  Flora Tristan <tristan-AT-iww.org>


________________________________________________


10. Mayor Giuliani: Sensitive Artist


Mayor Giulianiıs disregard for artistsı First Amendment rights
reached a new low yesterday outside the official opening of his
photo show at the Leica Gallery, #670 Broadway. More than 100
police officers, including numerous commanders, inspectors,
captains, N.Y.P.D. Intelligence Division officers and a special riot
unit were deployed in order to keep a handful of artist protesters
from being seen by media or by the Mayor as he entered his show.

Artists arrived for the scheduled protest at 11 A.M. and displayed
protest signs and large unflattering portraits of the Mayor inside
police barricades that were set up by the police for the
demonstration in front of the gallery and near its side entrance on
Bond Street. Apparently the proximity of actual artists to the
gallery where Giuliani was unveiling his first art show was
unacceptable to the Mayor.

A few minutes before Giuliani arrived at 12:30, Inspector
Lawrence, the Commanding Officer of the 9th Precinct told the
protesters, led by Robert Lederman President of A.R.T.I.S.T., that
the barricades would have to be removed and that they would be
set up a block away from the gallery. When Lederman pointed out
that this violated their basic right to engage in a peaceful protest
and that the artists would not accept being removed from the area,
the Inspector conferred with Intelligence Division officers from
Giulianiıs office on the scene. The police then closed off the entire
block and told the artists theyıd be arrested. Lederman and four
other protesters, Wei Zhang, Jack Nesbitt, Thomas Dukleth and
Mega Flash a street performer, were handcuffed minutes before the
Mayor arrived. The artists were arrested as they peaceably walked
in a circle outside the side entrance to the gallery carrying the
portraits of Mayor Giuliani. The portraits were confiscated by
Intelligence Division police and taken along with the artists to the
9th Precinct.

Five hours later the artists, all of whom were charged with
Disorderly Conduct, were released with desk appearance tickets
and returned to the protest. During the five hours Lederman and
the other artists were in custody the remaining protesters and the
barricades were moved by the police five different times, including
at one point to Lafayette and West 3rd Street, which is almost two
blocks from the gallery.

When Lederman returned to the protest he was informed by
Inspector Lawrence that heıd be arrested if he displayed a single
sign, gave a speech or walked in front of the Leica Gallery. The
police then closed off the entire eastern side of Broadway where
the gallery was located, forcing pedestrians to walk to the western
side. When other demonstrators arrived at 6 P.M. from the Lower
East Side Collective and Times Up to protest the Mayorıs
destruction of Community Gardens, police swarmed around them
arresting another artist, Peggy Hung, and a bicycle activist who
asked the police why he couldnıt ride on the eastern side of
Broadway. Police then physically forced all of the protesters into a
pen more than a block away from the gallery at the northwest
corner of 3rd Street and Broadway. A riot unit of approximately 40
officers that had remained hidden on Mercer Street was then
stationed around the pen and each officer was issued three sets of
plastic handcuffs.
At approximately 7 P.M. Giuliani arrived for his second
appearance, surrounded by Intelligence Division officers and his
security detail. All pedestrian and vehicular traffic was stopped for
his arrival. He was rushed into the gallery as protesters, horse from
more than eight hours of demonstrating shouted, ³Stop Arresting
Artists² and ³Giuliani Equals Police State². Reporters, protesters
and the general public were all prevented from getting anywhere
near the gallery by the police.

This was Ledermanıs thirty second arrest for protesting against the
Mayorıs artist arrest policy. Wei Zhang, who left China after
police destroyed his painting in Tianimen Square, told the 9th
Precinct police that heıd never been arrested in China, and that
artists there were allowed to sell their paintings on the street
without a license.

A.R.T.I.S.T. members plan to join students at Cooper Union on
May 27th to protest Giuliani giving a commencement speech there.
Students at the art school have been circulating a petition asking
that the Mayor not be allowed to address them, citing his terrible
record of abusing artistsı rights.

Robert Lederman
ARTISTpres-AT-aol.com




__________________________________________________

11. Fire Department


A fire started on some grasslands near a farm.  The county fire
department was  called to put out the fire.  The fire was more than
the county fire department  could handle.  Someone suggested that a
nearby volunteer bunch be called.  Despite some doubt that the
volunteer outfit would be of any assistance, the call was made.

The volunteers arrived in a dilapidated old fire truck.  They rumbled
straight  towards the fire, drove right into the middle of the flames
and stopped!  The firemen jumped off the truck and frantically started
spraying water in all directions.  Soon they had snuffed out the
center of the fire, breaking the blaze into two easily-controlled
parts.

Watching all this, the farmer was so impressed with the volunteer fire
department's work and was so grateful that his farm had been spared,
that right there on the spot he presented the volunteers with a check
for $1,000.  A local news reporter asked the volunteer fire captain
what the department planned to do with the funds.

"That ought to be obvious," he responded, wiping ashes off his coat.
"The first thing we're gonna do is get the brakes fixed on our fire
truck!"


______________________________________________


12. Swill and Squeal


  Coca-Cola was originally green.

  It is possible to lead a cow upstairs but not downstairs.

  Smartest dogs: 1) Scottish border collie; 2) Poodle; 3) Golden
retriever.  Dumbest: Afghan hound.

  Men can read smaller print than women; women can hear better.

  Amount American Airlines saved in 1987 by eliminating one olive from
each salad served first class: $40,000

  City with the most Rolls Royce's per capita: Hong Kong

  State with the highest percentage of people who walk to work: Alaska

  Percentage of Africa that is wilderness: 28% Percentage of North
America
 that is wilderness: 38%

  Barbie's measurements if she were life size: 39-23-33

  Percentage of American men who say they would marry the same woman if
they had it to do all over again: 80%

  Percentage of American women who say they'd marry the same man: 50%

  Cost of raising a medium-size dog to the age of eleven: $6,400

  Average number of people airborne over the US any given hour: 61,000.

  Percentage of Americans who have visited Disneyland/Disney World: 70%

  Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.

  The world's youngest parents were 8 and 9 and lived in China in 1910.

  The youngest pope was 11 years old.

  Iceland consumes more Coca-Cola per capita than any other nation.

  First novel ever written on a typewriter: Tom Sawyer.

  A duck's quack doesn't echo, and no one knows why.

  The only 15 letter word that can be spelled without repeating a letter
is uncopyrightable.

  Hang On Snoopy is the official rock song of Ohio.

  The reason firehouses have circular stairways is from the days of yore
 when the engines were pulled by horses. The horses were stabled on the
 ground floor and figured out how to walk up straight staircases.

  The airplane Buddy Holly died in was the "American Pie." (Thus the
name
of the Don McLean song.)

  When opossums are playing 'possum, they are not "playing." They
actually pass out from sheer terror.

  The Main Library at Indiana University sinks over an inch every year
 because when it was built, engineers failed to take into account the
 weight of all the books that would occupy the building.

  Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king from
history. Spades - King David, Clubs - Alexander the Great, Hearts -
Charlemagne,
and  Diamonds - Julius Caesar.

  If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front legs in
the air, the person died in battle; if the horse has one front leg in
the
air, the person died as a result of wounds received in battle; if the
horse
has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.

  Clans of long ago that wanted to get rid of their unwanted people
without killing them would burn their houses down - hence the expression
"to get
 fired."

  Only two people signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4th,
John
 Hancock and Charles Thomson. Most of the rest signed on August 2, but
the
 last signature wasn't added until 5 years later.

  "I am." is the shortest complete sentence in the English language.

  The term "the whole 9 yards" came from W.W.II fighter pilots in the
South Pacific. When arming their airplanes on the ground, the .50
caliber
machine gun ammo belts measured exactly 27 feet, before being loaded
into the
 fuselage. If the pilots fired all their ammo at a target, it got  "the
whole 9 yards."

  Hershey's Kisses are called that because the machine that makes them
looks like it's kissing the conveyor belt.

  The phrase "rule of thumb" is derived from and old English law which
 stated that you couldn't beat your wife with anything wider than your
 thumb.It was validated by the US Supreme Court in the early 19th
century.

  An ostrich's eye is bigger that it's brain.

  The longest recorded flight of a chicken is thirteen seconds.

  The Eisenhower interstate system requires that one mile in every five
must  be straight. These straight sections are usable as airstrips in
times of
 war or other emergencies.

  David Prowse was the guy in the Darth Vader suit in Star Wars. He
spoke
 all of Vader's lines, and didn't know that he was going to be dubbed
over
 by James Earl Jones until he saw the screening of the movie.

 In every episode of Seinfeld there is a Superman somewhere.

  The name Jeep came from the abbreviation used in the army for the
"General Purpose" vehicle, G.P.

  The cruise liner, Queen Elizabeth II, moves only six inches for each
 gallon of diesel that it burns.

  Cat's urine glows under a blacklight.

  The highest point in Pennsylvania is lower than the lowest point in
Colorado.

  Nutmeg is extremely poisonous if injected intravenously.

  No NFL team which plays its home games in a domed stadium has ever won
a
 Superbowl.

  The first toilet ever seen on television was on "Leave It To Beaver".

  Only one person in two billion will live to be 116 or older.



Flora Tristan <tristan-AT-iww.org>


__________________________________


13. Books


Some of you may be aware that for many years now I have done a business
in
antiquarian books. Others of you, who read to the ends of my posts, may
have noticed something different about my signature line: it now lists a
web page. Those things are connected.

I have gone high tech antiquarian, and am now listed on Advanced Book
Exchange (ABE) and my home page is

www.abebooks.com/home/ALEXCHIS/

If you go there, you will have the opportunity to either 'search' or
'browse' my catalogs. I suggest clicking on 'browse' which will bring
you
to a menu of about twenty different categories, among which is one
called
'labor, socialist, ..." Select it and click on 'show me a list' and you
can
run through the whole current catalog.

From: Alex Chis



_____________________________________________


14. Bob Dole the Pusher Man


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former presidential candidate Bob Dole said
Thursday he participated in tests of the wonder drug,
3,4-Methylenedioxy-n-methylamphetamine, otherwise known as MDMA and
commonly referred to on the street as Ecstasy, after winning his battle
against prostate cancer.

"I wasn't sure where I'd end up after the fight with cancer.  Being
exposed to it (MDMA) as part of the tests gave me new hope, new
direction and a really renewed outlook on life.  It's a great drug. I
wish I'd ... bought stock earlier," Dole quipped on CNN's "Larry King
Live", referring to sharp gains in the stock price of the drug's
manufacturer, Shulgin Pharmaceuticals after the FDA approval.

Sporting a non-traditional pastel shirt, sports jacket and AIDS
awareness ribbon, Dole chuckled through questions about his new-found
interest in the Chinese human rights issue as well as peaceful
negotiations in the Middle-East.  "Don't get me wrong, I still think
Leary was a kook, but this drug holds promise for America as we lead the
world into the next millennium of peace."

David Brock (RevDrDB2)" <dgb2a-AT-frank.mtsu.edu>


________________________________________________


15. Health Care Problems


LONDON, May 8 (Reuters) - Doctors warned on Friday that the world is
facing a
health crisis that could endanger the achievements of the past three
decades.

In a letter to the British Medical Journal, a group of international
physicians called for new approaches to tackle poverty -- the world's
number
one health problem.

``We have to accept that we can no longer deal with health while
ignoring
poverty,'' said Professor Rodrigo Guerrero of the School of Public
Health at
the Universidad del Valle in Cali, Colombia.

``We are convinced that a new approach -- not the traditional, purely
medical
one -- can go a long way, rapidly, towards improving the health of
hundreds of
millions of fellow humans.''

Guerrero and colleagues in Switzerland, Britain, Kenya and the United
States
cited poverty as the reason why babies are not vaccinated, why clean
water and
adequate sanitation are not available to hundreds of millions of people,
why
life-saving drugs are not accessible and why 600,000 women die,
unnecessarily,
in childbirth each year.

``The number of people living in absolute poverty -- earning less than
$370 a
year -- has more than doubled since 1975 and now stands at 1.3 billion.
Seven
out of 10 of these are women,'' they said.



_______________________________________________


16. Black Death and HIV


The Guardian   Saturday May 9, 1998

   Survivors of the 14th century Black Death apparently bequeathed to
   their descendants the ability to resist infection by the AIDS virus.

   That is the conclusion of a team of scientists studying a rare
genetic
   mutation that confers on its carriers protection against the human
   immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which causes AIDS.

   Although the origin of the mutation is obscure, it appears to have
   suddenly become relatively common among white Europeans about 700
   years ago - when the epidemic of bubonic plague swept out of Asia and
   into Europe in 1346. "The chance of this gene randomly drifting up
[to
   its current frequency among white Europeans] is unlikely," said
   Stephen J. O'Brien, a molecular biologist at the National Cancer
   Institute (NCI), who headed the research team.

   The Black Death killed between one-quarter and one-third of Europe's
   population between 1347 and 1350.

   All genetic mutations arise by chance. Some are neither immediately
   harmful nor beneficial. However, if a neutral mutation carries a
   hidden benefit, such as ability to resist a fatal infection, things
   can change dramatically. Mr O'Brien, his NCI colleagues, J. Claiborne
   Stephens and Michael Dean, and their collaborators, believe this
   explains the relative commonness of a mutation called "CCR5-delta
32."

   The mutation occurs in the gene for CCR5, a receptor on the surface
of
   immune system cells called macrophages. People devoid of the receptor
   (which occurs when someone inherits the mutant gene from both
parents)
   are essentially immune to HIV infection. People with one mutant and
   one normal version can be infected, but tend then to survive longer
   than infected people with two normal CCR5 genes.

   Like the AIDS virus, the bacterium responsible for bubonic plague
also
   attacks macrophages. Yersinia pestis binds to their membranes and
   injects toxins into their interiors, disabling the cells' crucial
role
   in marshalling the body's immune response. What is unknown is whether
   the bacterium uses the CCR5 receptor in doing this.

   "We're going to try to put this to the test," said Stanley Falkow, a
   microbiologist and plague researcher at Stanford University.

   The paper outlining their hypothesis appears in this month's American
   Journal of Human Genetics.


From: MichaelP <papadop-AT-PEAK.ORG>

____________________________________________________



17. Cuban Vaccines


Havana, May 8(RHC)-- Cuban Foreign Ministry spokesman
Alejandro Gonzalez affirmed that Cuba will not oppose
selling its anti-meningitis type B vaccine to the United
States.

Referring to a U.S. pharmaceutical company's request to
the White House to study the possibility of purchasing the
Cuban vaccine, Gonzalez said that Americans would also
benefit from normal exchange and commercial relations
between the two countries.

The Cuban foreign minister spokesperson added that
Washington's nearly 40 year blockade against Cuba has
limited exchanges between the peoples of both nations.
Gonzalez pointed out that the U.S. punishes those who do
business with Cuba, "never stopping to think that some
products can save lives."


________________________________________


18. New Marxism List

THE PURPOSE:
The primary purpose of the list is to gather together Marxists
internationally who are dedicated to a non-dogmatic approach to issues
of
the class struggle today. Marxism has always been confronted with the
problem of avoiding stale formulas handed down from previous
generations.
This new list is consciously designed to cut across that tendency. We
will
challenge ourselves on a daily basis to understand social reality
without
preconceptions. As Marx himself once said, he was no "Marxist." This
remains our challenge. Despite the name of the mailing list, we must
resist the temptation to turn the powerful method of Marx into some sort
of revealed truth. Fortunately, we have examples of creative Marxism to
draw upon: Antonio Gramsci's Prison Notebooks, Jose Carlos Mariategui's
journal "Amauta" and the essays of C.L.R. James. The wide range of
interests of these Marxist thinkers, and their fresh approach to social
reality, must inspire us. Everything came within their purview, from
economics to popular culture to psychology to religion. Underpinning
their
investigations was an intense desire to change society, which is after
all
the primary purpose of the Marxist movement.


HOW TO JOIN
Send email to majordomo-AT-lists.panix.com with the message "sub*scribe
marxism." (Eliminate the asterisk in your message.) Please circulate
this
announcement far and wide to progressive mailing-lists and newsgroups.

Comradely,

Louis Proyect
lnp3-AT-panix.com


__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________

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