1. "Overcoming Racism" by Staughton Lynd (available at the MR website:<ww.monthlyreview.org>). This is a fascinating account of a prison rebellion at Lucasville prison in Ohio in 1993. The rebellion demonstrated great unity between black and white prisoners. One white worker who helped build the unity was a member of the Aryan Brotherhood (in light of his experience in the rebellion, he broke with this group), now on death row along with four others, two white and two black, charged with murders, which took place during the rebellion). Lynd uses the rebellion (he has been involved in the defense of the five death row inmates) to discuss white racism and how it might be overcome through the normal struggles of daily life among workers. I would be interested to know what others think of it. It connects in a way to prior discussions on these lists about white militia groups, populism, etc.
2. "Kosovo and 'the Jewish Question' " by John Rosenthal. Here the author issues a stinging attack on the notion that the war in Kosovo can be justified by comparisons of the situation of the Albanians in Kosovo to that of German Jews under the Nazis. There is a quote from Hitler concerning Germans in the Sudetenland that I found remarkable in its similarity to the propaganda emanating from NATO and US and EU political and military leaders. The author then basically condemns all ethnic based arguments of self-determination. Again, I would be interested in comments, especially in how the author's arguments connect to struggles among indigenous peoples and minorities in the US and elsewhere. I think his arguments lack a concern with the objective situation that might exist elsewhere and therefore are too strong.
Michael Yates