Indymedia Misses the Cold War

Some things never change. As a young activist, I once used Indybay as a tool to help advertise events and learn about like-minded activities in the Bay Area. When I became disillusioned with this segment of the radical left, I began writing for a website that followed the insane underbelly of the Indymedia community.  Eventually, I stopped following the site closely. I moved away from the Bay, entered my professional career, got married, and lost interest in keeping tabs on some of my old comrades.

With recent events in Venezuela and Ukraine, I figured I would drop into Indybay to see if any protests were planned this coming weekend in San Francisco. Low and behold, I saw that the site had changed very little since the early 2000s, and was still the stomping grounds to totalitarians and useful idiots. Here are just a few choice pieces.

Belarus: President Lukashenko Vows to Prevent a Coup Similar to Ukraine – Steven Argue 

On February 22, 2014, a far right movement overthrew the elected government of Ukraine and seized power in Kiev. They did this with major U.S. and European Union sponsorship. Since taking power that movement has abolished the language rights of Hungarian, Romanian, Tatar, and Russian speaking minorities, banned political parties, announced their intention to ban abortion, given neo-Nazis important positions in the new government, and announced their intention to carry out extreme austerity as demanded by the IMF as a condition for membership in the European Union  

In the wake of the U.S. engineered coup in Ukraine, Belorussian President Alexander Lukashenko reflected on the tragedy saying:  

"Our military will carry out duty and tasks to maintain peace and stability in the country. We should not lose vigilance here. We should learn from other people's mistakes and prevent even the slightest manifestations of instability in our country."

… 

With big limitations, Belarus is better off than its former Soviet neighbors due to its planned socialist economy.”

I wrote about Steven Argue and his deranged worldview years ago, and I guess I should not be stunned to see that he is still plugging away on this nonsense. Belarus is a poor country, with a highly volatile economy. Yet in the world inhabited by Steven Argue, being a deformed Soviet state with the last standing dictator on the continent, is a positive sign.

All the nonsense about the changes in Ukraine being the product of the U.S. is shared by more than a few of the deranged left. My favorite was the following.

Crisis in Ukraine – Stephen Lendman 

“Washington bears full responsibility. European partners share it. Obama claimed another imperial trophy. Whether he'll keep it is another matter entirely.  

Vladimir Putin supports resolving conflict conditions responsibly. Western officials irresponsibly criticize him. Media scoundrels bash him mercilessly.”

I spent all weekend hearing that Obama was too weak to deal with the Russian incursion in Ukraine, but on the opposite end of the debate, we see he is the mastermind imperialist! Thus, Putin is the responsible actor, and the EU wants nothing more than a fascist takeover of the country. To live in this ludicrous head space must be disorienting.

What I gather from the entire discussion around events in the Ukraine, is the desire for the old Cold War dynamic that the modern left and right developed within. Some conservatives saw this as a sign that the Soviet Union was again asserting itself and required the hard-nosed leadership to deal with this emerging, global threat. Portions of the left, represented by Lendman and Argue, would like nothing more than to have their old dog back in the fight. Communism may not be the language the Russian state uses to justify its actions, but crass anti-Americanism requires a lion to stand against anything remotely liberal and Western, so Russian and Putin will do. 

Around the Web

We are finally getting some rain in my neck of the woods, which helps our water table and my reading habits. Here are a few choice bits.

Martin has an excellent series of pieces on Christian anti-Zionism. The New Centrist is back with a vengeance, and adds to Martin's conversation.

Bob on the recurring "crisis of the left" and an attempt to state what pathological and negative values the broader movement finds itself.

Michael Totten has a book coming out on Cuba in the near future, and he has been posting choice pieces to his blog. His recent bit on the myth of Che Guevara is especially strong.

JD at Shiraz Socialist answers Roger Waters' recent nonsense.

Nick Cohen on the threat the UKIP plays to the right and left in UK politics.

Ron Radosh on the Russia's Olympic fantasies.

A. Jay Adler on academic boycotts and re-colonization by theory.

Tablet has a great interview with Art Spiegelman.

Why You Should Hate the Coke Super Bowl Ad

Perhaps you don’t live in the US. Or perhaps you fall into that large number of Americans that do not bother to follow or watch American football. If you fall into either of those categories, you likely missed the benign controversy over a Coke commercial that aired during the game. The ad in question had “America the Beautiful” sung in a slew of different languages while typical American pastimes played through several clips.

Apparently, this angered some conservative pundits, who felt that this went too far in pushing America down a multicultural rabbit hole. This resulted in a knee-jerk defense of the commercial from liberal pundits, looking to score a few cheap points at the expense of scarce right-wing blowhards. Jamelle Bouie at the Daily Beast argued:

“Every so often, there are cultural hubbubs (like this one) that inspire a little liberal triumphalism—a sense that we’re on the “right side” of history, and that, in the end, we’ll win. This is nonsense. Laugh at the right-wing reaction to Coke as much as you’d like, but don’t think this reflects a favorable balance of political power.”

You see, people take Super Bowl commercials seriously for some odd reason. It’s not enough for financial interests to just sell a product, but to make a statement that will reverberate beyond the game itself. This is when American corporations try and convince us that they are as American as apple pie and Taco Bell. As ridiculous as conservative criticism of the Coke ad is, I simply have to ask: when did we buy into the idea that corporations are patriotic and moral based on their unambiguous breed of advertising?

The celebratory nature of this ad demonstrates the shallow nature present in our national discussion on social and economic issues. Columnists and media pundits have merely accepted the ubiquitous role corporations have staked for themselves in our social fabric. Did folks like Bouie consider the fact that Coke is eyeing for the largest market possible, and not interested in pushing progressive social reform? The fact that only a few morons came out in opposition to the ad demonstrates just how safe their marketing strategy is. Taking a swing at the likes of Glen Beck and Allen West is not bold, just easy. Worse yet, Coke knew that they would be championed by pundits and media personalities for free in the pages of their newspapers and outlets.

For Christ’s sake, Coke sells fizzy water packed with corn syrup. The only reason they make a “political statement” is to generate more buzz which keeps their brand name in the public discussion. We have let these soulless, nationless, capitalists frame the entire debate in a way that benefits them and their financial interests. We treat them as if they are part of our social fabric, a representation of our culture as a whole, when they are nothing more than massive companies intended to sell us goods they know we don’t need. You might enjoy a cola from time-to-time, but don’t buy some soda company’s line that they are part of our nation.

And with that, I have now added time and bandwidth discussing Coke’s ad like it matters.

God damnit. 

The Future of the EU

This is a little vault clearing on my part, as this is a paper I put together a few years back. On my recent trip to Europe, I discussed the future of the European Union with a number of folks throughout my travels. This paper helps explain some of the theoretical explanations used to describe past and future enlargements of the EU.

In 2004, the European Union experienced its fifth and largest enlargement in its history, allowing eight Eastern European countries that had previously been under Soviet influence into the organization. With the accession of Romania and Bulgaria three years later, the European Union experienced an incredible growth in the number of member states involved in the Union, bringing increased attention to the enlargement process from academics and theorists. Neofunctionalists (NF) argued that the scope of enlargement was due to “transcendental spillover of European integration” (Mariscal, 2004, p. 4), and that the process was in tune with the theory’s precepts. Liberal intergovernmentalists (LI) on the other hand, argued that the enlargement process reflected the “national interests and state power” of existing member states and the major actors responsible for domestic political decisions in leading states (Moravcsik, 2003, p. 43). To examine these competing theories of European integration, their principles will be applied to the 2004-2007 enlargement of the European Union, the economic benefits and as well as the potential future accession of Turkey into the union. While each approach claims to demonstrate an overarching theoretical explanation for EU enlargement that cross over into a number of different policy realms, I argue that while the economic benefits to major actors involved in each member state’s (MS) domestic politics verify LI precepts, the European Commission’s vital role in pushing the process forward and creating compromise between MS has been a necessary part of the enlargement process underemphasized by LI theorists.

The enlargement of the European Union to include seven new states can be seen to justify NF arguments, specifically in the role the EU played in the political process. At the heart of Neofunctionalist claims is that the “essence of integration lies in the fact that this is not the result of conscious choice” (Moravcsik, 2005 p.351) of the member states involved in the process. While enlargement was popular among Western Europeans on social grounds, it was unpopular economically (Eurobarometer, 2006, p. 40). Many Europeans in the West feared that increased enlargement and integration would increase the number of low skilled labourers in their nations, driving down wages (Ibid, p. 40). Because of this, the enlargement process was not approached with the same level of interest by member states throughout the process, forcing the EU Commission to play a leading role in directing the procedure, even though aspects of enlargement were unpopular with member states in 2004 (and continues to be so in the case of Turkey) (Macmillian, 2009, p.804).  

Neofunctionalism’s logic argues that increased power of the EU in the enlargement process comes from the Commission, in a process that developed incrementally over time known as Cultivated Spillover (Macmillian, 2009, p. 801). The Commission was able to play a strong mediating role between member states and accession states, building compromises and pushing the enlargement process forward when MS support had waned. Since member states would view the bargaining process as a zero sum game according to NF’s logic, the Commission played a significant and necessary role in “upgrading common interests” among the actors involved (Niemann, 1998, p. 431). Acting as a power broker, it was able to set the agenda of the 2004 enlargement process, and because it was a central force pushing for enlargement, as well as “its willingness to produce proposals, [it] become a significant player in the enlargement process” (Macmillian, 2009, p. 801). A separate aspect of NF is what is known as Political Spillover, which argues that collaboration and social-integration of elite technocrats at the supranational level have produced a “forward momentum of integration” that is fundamentally inevitable (Moravcsik, 2005, p.350). The collaborative process fostered by the EU brought about increased cooperation between states and actors within them, creating allegiances to the supranational actor that could mediate and press forward in ways national leaders were unable to do (O’Brennen, 1998, p.171). Due to the increased powers provided to the Commission through the integration process following the Paris Summit, its successful engagement with the European Community – Central and East European Countries (EC–CEEC) trade agreement (Niemann, 1998, p. 434), and the PHARE (Poland–Hungary: Aid for Restructuring of the Economies) programme to prepare CEE states for membership (O’Brennen, 1998, p. 172), the Commission was given more leverage by member states to act with authority. The PHARE program is an excellent example of spillover in the enlargement process. Originally intended as an aid program to Poland and Hungary, providing financial and technical support in helping both states makes the transition to a market economy (Niemann, 1998, p. 433), it was quickly extended in 1998 to included 13 countries. The expansion of the program was a result of the Copenhagen European Council, where Member States had agreed to allow Central and Eastern European states into the EU if they desired (Ibid, p. 435). The Commission recognized the functional pressure this goal would have on the EU and its member states (Ibid, p.436), and significantly increased the budget of PHARE as well as providing increased powers to the Commission (Ibid, p. 435).

Unanticipated threats from outside member states’ governmental control increased the necessity of the Commission and the European Union to participate in the enlargement process. As Philippe Schmitter argued, these unforeseen effects on existing member states by third party forces outside of their collective system, will force them to “adopt common policies vis-à-vis nonparticipant third parties. Members will be forced to hammer out a collective external position (and in the process are likely to rely increasingly on the new central institutions to do it)” (Schmitter, 1969, p. 165). Migration to member states from outside the Union represents an example of this, as the scope of the problem is larger than any single state can adequately address, which lead to an increase in cooperation through the EU’s Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) department (Boswell, 2003, p.619). While states will still develop policies that reflect their interests in the enlargement process, and look to maximize those benefits, they will be obliged to cede responsibility to the Commission when dealing with issues beyond their control (Niemann, 1998, p. 432).

Turkey’s potential acceptance into the EU also appears to verify NF’s focus on the role of the Commission in keeping Turkey’s bid moving forward, even while its accession into the organization is unpopular with most of the existing MS. Just as it pushed the 2004 enlargement and played a role as a broker between current members, it has worked to minimize conflict between governments which are troubled by Turkey potentially entering the organization. For example, the Commission pushed “member states to keep the accession negotiations going in spite of calls from leaders such as Merkel and Sarkozy against Turkey’s full membership and in favour of a less encompassing privileged partnership (Mcmillian, 2000, p. 803).” The Commission financed a further 199 projects intended to create dialogue between Turkey and the EU. All of these programs signify the strength the Commission has gained through a slow spillover process, and allows the organization to take a central political role in the enlargement process.

Liberal intergovernmentalism contends that member states are always aware of their decisions, how these decisions will affect them in the future, and that “bargaining and delegation by explicit governmental agreement better explains more important decisions in EU history” (Moravcsik, 1995, p.625). However, as O’Brennan argues, LI is “ill-equipped to account for the sheer density of issues and level of institutionalized cooperation (O’Brennan, 1998, p.169),” and is insufficient at explaining the political aspect and role the Commission has played in the enlargement of the European Union. The ability for the Commission to push forward the enlargement process even when it is unpopular with member states tells us that while states may work to guarantee economic advantage, state preferences change, and enlargement is “an ongoing process characterized by member state uncertainty” (O’Brennan, 1998, p. 169). That said, LI offers a compelling account as to why MS formulate their positions. Since states remain the defining players in LI, preferences of both the existing and applicant states, as well as the major actors at play in each state’s domestic politics, explain why states acted as they did in the accession process. Specifically, economic and commercial interests drove the enlargement process forward with the Central and Eastern European countries, and continue to do so in the case of Turkey (Ibid, p.168).  Member state governments are forced to act in the interests of strong constituents in their domestic politics, and in the case of enlargement, capitalist business interests and well-educated elites have the most to gain and are generally in favour of the process (Doyle and Fidrmuc, 2006, p. 522). These actors know what is in their best interests and “employ considerable resources to make sure their views get across to policymakers” (Loretzen, 2000, p.3). European Round Table of Industrialists (ERT), a club of some 40 multinationals concluded that the enlargement process was beneficial for business interests in both existing states and accession applicants (Ibid, p.3). Because the EU is predominantly an economic centered organization meant to deal with globalization, it “remains of preeminent importance due to its material benefits (Moravcsik to Chatzistavrou, 2008)” and beneficial for market interests active in the enlargement process.

The economic advantages to EU membership are noteworthy. Joining the EU will likely generate long-term total gains to new MS “ranging from 23 to 50 billion Euros” (Moravcsik and Vachudova, p.47). All regions that are 75% per capita GDP below the Community average qualify automatically to receive structural funds, even if other parts of their state are more prosperous (Delhey, 2001, p.211).  The 2004 enlargement created significant material benefits for the existing member states by increasing the internal market by over 100 million consumers in swiftly emerging economies (Moravcsik and Vachudova, 2003, p. 50). It is not surprising to liberal intergovernmentalists that the applicant states were willing to sacrifice more to obtain membership. Moravcsik describes this phenomenon as “asymmetrical interdependence,” as states will make concessions on some fronts without the necessity for strong coercive diplomacy because they recognize the overall benefits of these concessions” (Ibid, p. 45). The access to the collective European market, the ability for labour from the east to travel to the west, as well as the structural funds provided by the EU would provide significant economic advantages to the new states, and thus they are willing to sacrifice more in negotiations (Ibid, p. 48). Current member states also added a number of self-interested conditions to membership for the applicant states, such as lower subsidies than previous applicants, and “outlays from the EU budget to new members have been capped at 5 percent of their GDP, far lower than their predecessors.” (Ibid, p. 48) The existing members had less to gain from the addition of the new states, and therefore, were able to demand more from them in the negotiating process.

Moreover, surveys signify that the EU business community tends to support Turkish accession even when EU member states otherwise resist it (Taylor, 2008). By opening up a huge market, with a young demographic and a growing economy, business will be able to capitalize on these consumers by including them in the EU’s Economic Community. For Turkish business interests and producers, having increased foreign investment in a manner similar to the 2004 enlargement where Western businesses were responsible for helping upgrade the industry in the East (Bauer, 1998, p.13), Turkey can likely expect to see similar results. Due to the political power these actors have in the domestic politics of their nation states, it is not surprising that their concerns would be advanced by nation states.

Balance of power issues in European politics also dictate state policy preferences on enlargement. Britain has been supportive of Turkey’s accession “because it would hinder the process of political integration” (Muftuler-Bac, 2002, p.85) and draw power away from traditional power centers in Europe, such as France. Member States supportive of a more supranational EU fear Turkey’s accession will slow or halt that integration, and empower inter-governmentalists to remove decisions from the collective EU process (Ibid, p.85). Since the interdependence between Turkey and the EU is asymmetrical, and with bilateral interdependence more important to Turkey than it is EU member states, Turkey is willing to sacrifice more in the negotiating process to secure membership (Moravcsik to Chatzistavrou, 2008) (Muftuler-Bac, 2002, p.82).

While both NF and LI offer compelling accounts of enlargement of the European Union, both also fail to adequately explain all aspects of the process. NF provides reasons for why the Commission played a central role in the enlargement process, specifically in its ability to act as a power broker between various states due to the slow accumulation of power from past successful integration overseen by the organization, but oversimplifies the manner in which state actors develop their policies. LI explains how actors within each nation, largely from the commercial and business sectors, put long term goals over short term losses and have been responsible for the push towards expanding the EU’s access to untapped markets. At the core of Liberal intergovernmentalism lies the assumption that governments comprehend and weigh alternative strategies to meet their goals, and that they are not indifferent to them (Moravcsik, 1993, p.497). However, the power supplied to the Commission during the 2004 enlargement and possible future enlargement with Turkey, provides ample evidence that states do not always act to advance self interests above all other considerations. As Moravcsik points out, actors in the enlargement negotiations may sacrifice short term goals for long term objectives (Moravcsik, 2003, p. 43). While national governments may focus on long term aims, the Commission is able to spearhead the enlargement process, and direct it in ways that are not always expected by its MS (O’Brennan, 1998, p.169). As a result, both theories provide plausible explanations to the enlargement process in separate realms, with NF best explaining the political process and LI elucidating the economic leanings that fuel nation state preferences.

 

 

Sources

 

Bauer, Patricia. (1998) ‘Eastward enlargement—Benefits and costs of EU entry for the transition countries.’ Intereconomics, Vol. 33, no. 1, pp. 11-19.

 

Boswell, Christina. (2003) ‘The ‘external dimension’ of EU immigration and asylum policy.’ International Affairs, Vol. 79, no. 3, pp. 619-638.

 

Delhey, Jan. (2001) ‘The Prospects of Catching Up for New EU Members: Lessons for the Accession Countries to the European Union from Previous Enlargements.” Social Indicators Research, Vol. 56, pp. 205-231.

 

Doyle, Orla and Fidrmuc, Jan. (2006) ‘Who favors enlargement?: Determinants of support for EU membership in the candidate countries’ referenda.’ European Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 22, p.520-543

 

Eurobarometer. (2006) ‘Attitudes towards European Union Enlargement.’ The European Commission, July 2006. Available at: http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_255_en.pdf

 

Haas, Ernst. (1968) The Uniting of Europe: Political, Social and Economic Forces

1950–57. (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press).

 

Lammers, . (2004) ‘How will the enlargement affect the old members of the European Union?’ Intereconomics, Vol. 39, no. 3, pp. 132-141.

 

Lorentzen, Jochen. (2000) ‘Business Integration and European Union Enlargement.’ Background paper for “The Other Europe: Market Opportunity and Political Risk in Central Europe.” Center for Global Competitiveness, North Carolina State University, 23-26 March. Available at: http://www.unc.edu/depts/europe/conferences/eu/Pages/lorentzen.PDF

 

Macmillan, Catherine. (2009) ‘The Application of Neofunctionalism to the Enlargement Process: The Case of Turkey.’ Journal of Common Market Studies, Vol. 47, no. 4, pp. 789-809.

 

Mariscal, Nicolas. (2004) ‘Three Approaches to the Draft Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe.’ Available at: http://www.epsnet.org/2004/pps/Mariscal.pdf

 

Moravcsik, Andrew. (2008) Interview with Filippa Chatzistavrou: Athens, Greece, March. Available at: http://www.princeton.edu/~amoravcs/library/accession.pdf

 

Moravcsik, Andrew. (1993). “Preferences and Power in the European Community: A Liberal Intergovernmentalist Approach.” Journal of Common Market Studies, Volume 31, No. 4, p.473-524

 

Moravcsik, Andrew and Vachudova, Milda. (2003) ‘National Interests, State Power, and EU Enlargement.’ East European Politics and Societies, Vol. 17, no. 1, pp 42-57.

 

Muftuler-Bac, Meltem. (2002) ‘Turkey in the EU’s Enlargement Process: Obstacles and Challenges.’ Mediterranean Politics, Vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 79-95.

 

Niemann, Arne. (1998) ‘The PHARE programme and the concept of spillover: neofunctionalism in the making.’ Journal of European Public Policy, Vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 428-446.

 

O’Brennan, John. (2000) ‘Re-Conceptualizing Europe: Social Constructivism and EU Enlargement’. Available at: http://www.sam.sdu.dk/~mwi/B6__O%27Brennan.pdf

 

Schmitter, Philippe (1969) ‘Three neo-functional hypotheses about international

integration’, International Organization, Vol.  23, no. 1, pp. 161–6.

 

Taylor, P. (2008) ‘Turkey’s EU Bid: Follow the Money’, 11 February. Available at:

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSL0764375420080211

The Joy of Rabbit

Perhaps it is a sign that I am getting older or experiencing a refinement in my pallet, but I have developed a taste for rabbit over the last few years. What started out as an attempt to try more exotic food became a true love for the animal upon traveling to countries that cook it regularly. This winter, I traveled to Europe to spend some time with family in Flanders. While in Bruges, I sat down at an up-and-coming restaurant to try their specialty: locally caught rabbit.

 

I had never had the animal prepared and cooked so well, and it was a culinary highlight of my trip.

 

Every culture has its own standards for food, and rabbit is still outside of the mainstream here in the US. While not as insurmountable as raising dogs for consumption, getting rabbit on the American dinner table has significant challenges. I am unsure if the animal's "cute" factor has made it difficult to integrate into the American menu, but it is unfortunate that it remains so elusive. My family in Belgium raised the animals for decades, and my grandparents brought the tradition to the US with them in the early 1950s. Sometime during my father's youth they stopped doing so (along with many European immigrants from that time period). Thus, the meat is harder to come by, and only a few boutique groceries offer if.

 

Karen Pinchin at Modern Farmer argues that rabbit is the potential new "super meat" if only Americans could get over the stigma surrounding devouring the cute little guy. She writes:

 

"By all appearances, rabbit could be the food of the future. Touted for years by food activists including Michael Pollan, these fluffy herbivores eat alfalfa instead of energy-intensive soy or fish meal, grow quickly and thrive in clean, disease-free conditions. Plus, while their reproductive prowess may be clichéd, California farmer Mark Pasternak and his wife Myriam can’t build rabbit barns fast enough to keep up with demand. 

Three years ago the couple’s Marin-area Devil’s Gulch Ranch had 250 breeding females, or does, a number that has since quadrupled to 1,000 and makes them one of the largest meat rabbit producers in the United States. At any one time, they have 9,000 rabbits, with 300 to 500 slaughtered every week for regional grocery stores and restaurants, including French Laundry, Chez Panisse, and Zuni Café. A single doe will have multiple litters every year, and those litters will reach breeding age within months; that means a rabbit can produce six pounds of meat on the same amount of feed and water it takes a cow to produce just one pound."

Until then, I will be on the hunt for a meal as wonderful as the one I had in Bruges. 

On PISA and Poverty

This is cross-posted at Harry's Place.

The newest PISA scores have been released, and surprise, the US and Britain are trailing most of their Asian and European counterparts in both reading and mathematics. When these scores are released every three years, the same regrettable headlines are brought to head and we are reminded that our education systems sputter along the path of mediocrity. For the last two decades, this meme sat perfectly with the rise of China and Korea economically and the perceived faltering of Western dominance on the world stage, and thus produced countless reforms that were meant to put our students back in a competitive advantage.

Yet, with the growth of the charter school movement, merit pay, and rigorous testing protocols, American students have been stuck right about where they were 20 years ago. There is a reason for this, but it is rarely addressed in the media when education policy is discussed.

That central variable is poverty.

I can see many eyes rolling already. “Yet another excuse for why we can’t compete internationally from some lefty bleeding heart” is likely already filling the comments section below by incensed detractors. Some of the criticisms made of our current education model are sound: training qualified teachers and firing the bad ones while increasing the rigor of the curriculum should be paramount to reformers of all stripes.  Nor am I opposed to testing as a tool to measure student and school success. There is a lot we can learn from the highest performing PISA states, and my years teaching in Korea have given me a window into just why many Asian countries excel in this regard. However, if we are to use assessment tools like PISA to make broad judgments about our education systems, we need to look closely at what those results truly reflect.

Let’s deal with the most glaring headline garnered form recent PISA data: Chinese students are doing far better than their American and British counterparts. David Stout was quick to remind people that China was the only nation to be represented by a single city, and not their entire populace. He argues:

“Shanghainese and Hong Kong students are much better educated than those elsewhere in China. Slate quoted the Brookings Institution’s Tom Loveless as saying that  “About 84 percent of Shanghai high school graduates go to college, compared to 24 percent nationally.” In addition, Loveless points out that affluent Shanghainese parents will spend large sums on extra tuition for the children — paying fees that far exceed what an average worker makes in a year.”

China has simply cherry picked their most affluent students for testing, and completely omitted the majority of their people. In fact, Chinese rural education policy is geared almost entirely towards attendance and not testing. Poorer students from the countryside that happen to live in Shanghai, but are designated by the government as “non-residents,” are routinely denied access to the city’s high schools as not to tarnish the city’s PISA ranking.

Finland’s education system has also been championed as a model for the US to follow. Unlike their Asian counterparts, Finland does not have mandatory testing until late into a student’s schooling, practices loose curriculum management, and provides a generous welfare state making it a highly egalitarian state. Concurrently, Finland routinely comes in near the top of the PISA rankings.

However, comparing Finish test scores to American and British ones is a bit like comparing apples to oranges. Rafael Irizarry at Simply Statistics graphed data provided by the NASSP to show just how well affluent American students compare to their like-minded Finish counterparts.

Rafael explains:

“The plot on the left shows PISA scores versus the percent of students living in poverty for several countries. There is a pattern suggesting that higher poverty rates are associated with lower PISA scores. In the plot on the right, US schools are stratified by % poverty (orange points). The regression line is the same. Some countries are added (purple) for comparative purposes (the post does not provide their poverty rates).   Note that US school with poverty rates comparable to Finland's (below 10%) outperform Finland and schools in the 10-24% range aren't far behind. So why should these schools change what they are doing? Schools with poverty rates above 25% are another story.”

This glaring fact is rarely addressed in coverage related to the PISA, and adds much needed perspective to the problems facing our education systems.

None of this excuses bad schools and teachers from responsibility. Yet it does demonstrate that when variables like wealth and access are equal, Americans generally perform as well as their counterparts elsewhere. In both the US and Britain, we face cultural and social problems that have helped exacerbate our educational problems. Conservative critics of our public education systems are right to criticize waste and “feel-good” teaching policies that have only worsened our schools. But poverty matters, and as long as it remains unaddressed by the “school reform” movement, poor students will generally lag behind their more affluent brethren around the globe.

Political Organizations as Cults

The recent news of a Maoist organization in Britain that apparently held members as slaves was just the type of headline that got people's attention, but for those of us who spent years in radical politics, it does not come as a surprise. I spent a short period of time with a NATLFED associated organization, and have spent a lot of time analyzing groups of this ilk since. Arguably, it's one of the core reasons this blog began in the first place. If you haven't read it, Public Eye did an excellent overview of the organization years ago, but this strange Marxist cult can still be found in select college towns across the country.

As for this Maoist group, I have problems describing the escapees as "slaves" based on what I know so far. From my time with a NATLFED associated organization, there was never a time that I saw people physically restrained and forced to stay with the organization (although the Public Eye piece does document some cases which come pretty darn close). Members are abused psychologically: you rarely eat and thus feel worn and tired all the time. They bog you down in pointless tasks and activities that keep your mind from thinking about the point of the operation. They use liberal-guilt to get idealistic young members to submit their time and money to the organization's mission. Yet, the members that remain (and I was out the door in less than three months) often stay with these groups on their own accord. Groups like NATLFED are abusive and terrible, but the "slavery" they create is in the mind of its members. I get the feeling that this Maoist organization was similar.

Here are what others have had to say about this incident and one political organizations developing cultish structures.
- Bob has some great thoughts and a link set of his own.

-Nick Cohen in top form.

- Howie's Corner had an excellent cross post at Harry's Place on the way small Marxist groups seem to take on cultish elements as they degrade.

What Happened to the Liberal Arts Degree?

Something that is of interest to many readers here, Uncommon Knowledge has a nice conversation on the role of the liberal arts degree in the West today. There is a great irony that many of the columnists and political pundits that have decried the perceived uselessness of a liberal arts education are beneficiaries of said education. Joseph Epstein and Andrew Ferguson defend the tradition and aims of having a broad, rationalist approach to study and argue that the degree is not an end in of itself. I don't agree with everything they say (the comments about home schooling do not match up with any research or anecdotal evidence I have encountered), but generally a fine defense of the traditional liberal arts.