Requests for help*

by John Q on November 15, 2011

A couple of requests for CT readers

  1. I’m running a half-marathon in Philadelphia at the weekend and raising money for an East Africa Famine appeal in Australia. The Australian government will match donations dollar for dollar, and you may also be able to claim a tax deduction, so this is a real bargain. You can sponsor me here – I’m currently a dollar short of halfway to my target of $5000
  2. I’m writing a piece about social democratic responses to what Colin Crouch has called the “strange non-death of neoliberalism“, and I’m looking for books that focus on restoring more equality in market incomes, for example by rebuilding unions or constraining the financial sector, as opposed to redistribution through the tax/welfare system. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

* I’ll ask nicely, but I refuse to bl*g

Occupy Wall Street Shutdown

by Henry Farrell on November 15, 2011

I presume that most CT readers know that Occupy Wall Street was, to use the police euphemism, “cleared and restored”:http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/16/nyregion/police-begin-clearing-zuccotti-park-of-protesters.html?hp yesterday. Consider this an open thread to talk about it. While it’s a minor part of the story, the “confiscation of the OWS library”:http://www.libraryjournal.com/lj/home/892805-264/occupy_wall_street_library_removed.html.csp (as best as anyone can tell, the 5,000 odd books are now residing in a dumpster somewhere) hit me particularly hard. Trashing libraries is a very particular kind of political statement.