 From the open publishing newswire: "With all due respect to Professor Parenti, the peace movement deserves more than an uncritical rant that is short on specifics. "I went with several friends to last Saturday's lecture by Michael Parenti. I really liked the first 20 minutes in which he eloquently explained the dangers of laissez faire capitalism and how power and greed can corrupt a healthy democracy. Unfortunately, these gains were wiped out when Professor Parenti launched into an incomprehensible apology for the Iraqi regime under Saddam Hussein. "Parenti argued that there were only five times when the U.N. weapons inspectors found the government to be in non-compliance (and those five were trivial if not manufactured by spiteful weapons inspectors intent on finding something wrong). His source for this argument? A statement from the Iraqi government's state department! Parenti was so obsessed with portraying Saddam Hussein as the innocent victim of American imperialism that he failed to see the situation critically." [ Read more... ] Another view: Parenti's presentation "witty, dynamic and educational"
"Saturday evening, September 14, 2002, at Portland State University, Michael Parenti gave another one of his customary witty, dynamic and educational presentations. He immediately launched into his subject by declaring that state leaders are concerned predominatly with the extraction of surplus value from the labor of people. He then defined Democracy as the antithesis of that process, as a popular reaction against surplus expropriation. "There are two kinds of Capitalism, according to Parenti.The first is Procedural, or Political Capitalism, which has no social or economic content, and is basically, 'the rules of the game.' The second is Substantive, is rule of the people for the people, where the interests of the Demos (people) must get primary consideration." [ Read more... ]  Audio, Part 1 [35 min]
The merits of Parenti's presentation
"There has been some flapping about the merits of Parenti's presentation. Some found little value in it, others found more. Perhaps, as is usually the case when attending an event, what we come away with is somewhat relative to what we bring, or at least to our expectations. "Ultimately, I believe that many of these judgements concerning the value of his speech miss the point. There were many folks present that were not activists, and perhaps much of what he said served to solidify feelings that were heretofore indistinct and in search of solidification. From the standpoint of seasoned activists, sure, perhaps he could have offered more of this and more of that. One can always find fault with anything. "But, it seems to me that his words were well received, which means, perhaps, that he struck a chord with the audience, despite the possible negativity of much of his material, and the lack of specific instructions on how to incorporate his words into future actions." [ Read more... ] Audio, Part 2 [31 min] [ Michael Parenti website | Audio File: Excerpt From February's Parenti Speech | Michael Parenti Interview on Independent Media | more multimedia at philosopherseed.org ]
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