******************** POSTING RULES & NOTES ******************** #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. *****************************************************************
Just one correction to David: Joanne Landy and her Campaign for Peace and Democracy have been wonderful at all points and on all questions since the regional revolution broke out. p.s. Speaking of that revolution, its flashpoint at this very moment is in Morocco, where revolutionary socialists are organizing amidst a mass uprising. See internationalviewpoint.org and my Facebook shares. p.p.s. The response to the Zionist attack on Al-Aqsa mosque in recent days would in the abstract be another flashpoint were it not for the fact that we know the Palestinian "leadership" will piss away this opportunity as well. On Fri, Jul 21, 2017 at 9:48 AM, David McDonald via Marxism < marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu> wrote: > ******************** POSTING RULES & NOTES ******************** > #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. > #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. > #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. > ***************************************************************** > > Michael writes: > > > There are good reasons why the big majority > of leftists from Trotskyist, semi-Trot (eg state-caps) and anarchist > backgrounds have been fairly good on Syria. > > I'm not so sure, and I would like to hear what you think those reasons are. > > My research on Trotskyist groups on this question, which I admit is not > exhaustive even in the English-writing world, leads me to believe that this > poisonous trend crosses all sect boundaries. > > Among the US Trot & semi-Trot groups only the ISO is actually good and > covers Syria consistently. Socialist Alternative, the sister group of the > Socialist Party (UK) has a crappy position and does not cover the issue. > Socialist Action is by far the worst I have come across, and it is the > sentimental favorite of numerous former SWP-US members because it seems to > resemble the pre-Barnes-cult SWP. SA's position is based on an extremely > narrow reading of Permanent Revolution that goes more or less along the > lines of "get a real working class and we'll talk." > > On the other hand, as Marxmail subscribers know, the Oakland Socialists > have an excellent take on Syria despite having come from a Hoxhaite > background. Hoxha, you may remember, attacked both China and Russia (then > the Soviet Union) for insufficient Stalinism. > > On the third hand is the intermediate position of like Joanne Landy and Sam > Farber who are clear on the crimes of Assad but cannot find anyone to > support and would not send a pen knife to Syria. > > It is possible that I have mis-characterized something here, and, if so, my > apologies. I'm not really up for this sort of excavation anymore unless it > yields some immediate results. > > I would say "Go figure" except there is no one but us and a large bunch of > Arabs who get this. Of the Not-Trotskyist type formations, I think that a > history of looking for or at least accepting the idea of "Third Camp" makes > it easier to see through to the actual Syrian Revolution. > > The Arab Spring has altered the world. It requires revolutionaries in the > West to do more than try to apply lessons from the past. I am re-reading > "Orientalism" to try to get a handle. > > Reading Wendy Pearlman's "We Crossed a Bridge and It Trembled -- Voices > from Syria" I was struck by the first-hand accounts from different cities, > towns, and villages in Syria of the moment when the dam broke. In numerous > cases people gathered tensely and silently until finally someone broke the > spell and unleashed the fervor brimming up in everyone's heart with a cry > of -- not "freedom", that was the second utterance -- but "Allahu Akbar." > _________________________________________________________ > Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm > Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/ > options/marxism/acpollack2%40gmail.com > _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
