Oaxaca, Mexico, Wednesday 10 March 2010
Friends,
Michael Barker's thoughts have not been welcomed by Al Giordano, I believe mistakenly. If I thought, as Al apparently does, that Barker's intention is to damage the NarcoNews projects, in particular the School for Authentic Journalism, I would have no hesitation in agreeing with banning him from putting anything on Al's website. As I wrote previously, there's no reason for us to allow Trojan Horses to take part in discussions on the NarcoNews site, and it would be foolish to do so. However, my contacts with Barker have satisfied me that he is a sincere ally in the common struggle against capitalist domination.
My initial impression of Barker was not entirely favorable. He seemed to be not forthcoming, and his questioning of - I think it was Al - had a somewhat prosecutorial tone that put me off. I was blunt with him, telling him that he should have included the information that I had almost immediately reversed my foolish statement that NarcoNews should have nothing to do with the Ackerman gang, and let his readers know that I fully supported Al's taking the money. I also said Barker ought to provide the information about his living situation that Al threatened to find out by a hostile investigation. Gradually Barker and I gained each other's confidence, which led to him writing me as follows:
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Subject: Re: Michael, you're a pivotal person
From: mbarker@riseup.net
Date: Mon, 15 Feb 2010 07:46:37 -0800 (PST)
To: George Salzman <george.salzman@umb.edu>
Hi
I have now added a short paragraph as requested to my website.
http://michaeljamesbarker.wordpress.com/about/
About
Michael has been writing for alternative media outlets since 2006, and at present he is a regular contributor to Swans Commentary. He has had his work published by the following media organizations: Center for Research on Globalization, Corporate Watch (UK), Green Left Weekly, Monthly Review Zine, New Community Quarterly, Spinwatch, State of Nature, Upside Down World, and in the past he was a regular contributor to Znet.
On May 15, 2009, Michael “rejected” his PhD thesis at Griffith University, Australia. The title of his thesis was “Mediating Social Engineering: Moving Beyond Elite Manipulation of Democracy.”
Email: mbarker@riseup.net
Funding
During my Ph.D. studies (from January 2005 until July 2008) I obtained two scholarships from the Australian government, one paid for my university fees (as an international student), and the other was intended to cover my living costs (this scholarship was worth AU$18,000 or US$16,000 per annum).
From July 2008 until February 2009 I worked in a voluntary capacity writing articles which were published in the alternative media (mostly by Swans Commentary). In February 2009 my student visa expired and I remained in Australia on a tourist visa until February 6, 2010. During my final year in Australia I lived off money saved from my aforementioned Ph.D. scholarships and continued writing for Swan Commentary (for no financial renumeration). On my return to the United Kingdom (in February 2010) I have begun to search for paid work, and am in the process of attempting to claim unemployment benefits from the British government.
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The reason for this note is to bring you up to date on my thoughts, and to let you know that I posted an essay of Michael's that I think is worth reading. Titled, "Failure of Progressive Thought, it is at http://site.www.umb.edu/faculty/salzman_g/t/2009-12-14.doc
Michael Barker, the author of the article, was a primary recipient of Al's wrath after he raised questions about the possible impact of the grant of $20,000 by Peter Ackerman's so-called International Center for Nonviolent Conflict (ICNC) in support of Al's NarcoNews School for Authentic Journalism. Barker here criticizes progressive intellectuals for deflecting attention from the anti-democratic function that liberal philanthropists fulfill in the service of imperialism. Barker says, "This essay aims to shed much needed light on one notable example of such a failure, that is, the progressive defence and legitimization of a controversial organization known as the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict"
Sincerely, George
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