George is being too modest here.



Like many of us, George has made a quite respectable salary for many yy (he 

was one of the original UMass Boston faculty, now retired).  But unlike the 

vast majority of us, I'm sure (apologies to Phil), he has supported 

progressive organizations, including Science for the People and TecSChange, 

to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars annually, and I'll bet 

(apologies to Phil, I know I can do better) hundreds of thousands over the 

decades.  He could have taken fancy vacations and cruises, but he eschewed 

such activities and lived modestly.  For example, he drove a 1979 VW Rabbit 

Diesel until it almost crumbled into a pile of rust, and then gave it away 

with a great running engine to someone who needed it and could fix the body. 

  He also has set up a foundation with a board of progressives who will 

eventually determine the dispersal of his estate.



And he fought the academic establishment at UMass in order to teach and have 

students receive science-elective credit for his hugely popular course 

"Science for Humane Survival".



I haven't read the referenced article yet, but I am quite certain (sorry, 

Phil) that George's "philanthropy" was by no means "propping up capitalism". 

  Quite the contrary.  It was strengthening the opposition.  More of us 

should follow his example.



And, incidentally, the work of TecSChange also should not be characterized 

as philanthropic in the traditional sense.  Their progressive nonsectarian 

board carefully considers the politics of their work and the work of 

cooperating recipient organizations all over the world.



No "liberal do-gooders" here.





----Original Message Follows----

From: George Salzman <[log in to unmask]>

To: Science for the People Discussion List 

<[log in to unmask]>,        Eric Entemann 

<[log in to unmask]>

CC: Carmelo Ruiz Marrero <[log in to unmask]>,        Charlie Welch 

<[log in to unmask]>,        Joan Roelofs <[log in to unmask]>

Subject: Propping up capitalism without wanting to

Date: Thu, 26 Jul 2007 10:44:29 -0500

















Oaxaca, Thursday 26 July 2007



Friends,



      Carmelo Ruíz Marrero is the friend whose fury at Alexander

Cockburn's arrogance and stupidity about his position on global warming

first restirred my interest in the Science for the People listserv. We

lost Carmelo, who is doing yeoman's work in a way I believe SftP ought

to function. We lost him because of the childish personal attacks then

going on within the group. Carmelo, like Charlie Welch at TecsChange

and Eric Entemann teaching at Roxbury Community College, are DOING

Science for the People. Here's an item Carmelo sent today that rings

true to all my experience. In particular it ought to speak to all of us

who think of ourselves as middle class and yet want to be part

of the struggle for human emancipation. The link is



http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_6262.cfm

.



      The article begins



How Foundations & Non-Profits Prop Up Corporate Control



    The Third Sector as a Protective Layer for Capitalism



By Joan Roelofs



NameBase.org, Posted on July 25, 2007



      Straight to the

Source











Those who wish to promote change should look closely at what sustains

the present system. One reason capitalism doesn't collapse despite its

many weaknesses and valiant opposition movements is because of the

"nonprofit sector." Yet philanthropic capital, its investment and its

distribution, are generally neglected by the critics of capitalism.

Most studies of the subject are generously funded by the nonprofit

sector itself; few researchers have followed up on the observation of

Marx and Engels in The Communist Manifesto:







"A part of the bourgeoisie is desirous of redressing social grievances,

in order to secure the continued existence of bourgeois society.... To

this section belong the economists, philanthropists, humanitarians,

improvers of the condition of the working class, organizers of charity,

members of societies for the prevention of cruelty to animals,

temperance fanatics, hole-and-corner reformers of every imaginable

kind."







The United States is unique in the size and scope of this sector which

spends over $400 billion annually. Its tax-free wealth is largely

unaccountable: just imagine the land, the buildings, their contents,

and the investments of churches, private universities and schools,

museums, zoos, teaching hospitals, conservation trusts, opera houses,

etc.



_______________________________________________









      What the middle class does with the wealth over which we have

control is a significant part of the problem, in my opinion. We ought

to think about it. Maybe it would be good if more of us were, like

Eric, compulsivly frugal (referring to the thread on the internet

divide).



Sincerely,



George



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