At 11:34 AM 04/16/2000 -0400, you wrote:
>"Max B. Sawicky" wrote:
> > . . . Protesters' Headquarters Raided, Shut Down
> >
> > Incredible.
>
>What's incredible about it? It seems quite ordinary to me --
>but I suppose it depends on one's assumptions about
>capitalist democracy. Carrol
I think that it's important to remember -- and emphasize -- the
contradiction between the "free speech" promises of the establishmentarian
spokespeople and how the system works in practice. [*] The cynical "that's
capitalism once again" response will never attract new people to the Left.
On top of that, the "that's capitalism" response encourages maximalism
(nothing good is possible under capitalism) and even maximally giving up.
[*] In CAPITAL, Marx goes a long distance with the contrast between "what's
good according to capitalist standards" (trading at value, equal exchange)
and how the system works in practice (exploitation in production). In fact,
Cornel West in his book (Ph.D. dissertation) on Marxism and Morality,
argues that this "theory vs. practice" emphasis is Marx's main ethical
approach in his later works. Of course, that's Chomsky's emphasis, too.
Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] & http://liberalarts.lmu.edu/~JDevine
