I'm not going to necessarily respond to this type of message
every time, since I find it as tedious at times as anyone
else does. However the implication seems to be that marxists
have a special obligation to defend their positions in a way
that others don't. I want this correspondent and others who
make similar suggestions to know that I work pretty hard and
I don't have unlimited time to try to convince the likes of
you of the need for anti-capitalist revolution. I will post
just whenever it suits me and when I have a comment that I
think needs to be made. I won't be dragooned into defending
my position agaisnt you or anyone else when I don't feel
like it or I don't have the time or when I think it's a
waste of time anyway. I won't be told when to speak and when
not to speak. I think you just need to consider your choice
of words a little more carefully friends before you carry on
with all this "shut up" stuff. OK? As for the "best I can
do", er no, I save that for better company, believe me!
Tahir
Dr Tahir Wood
Director: Academic Planning Unit
University of the Western Cape
Phone: (021) 959 3371/3385
Fax: (021) 959 3170
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 10/06 9:24 AM >>>
Says Tom Warren (Emarkadero):
"THANK YOU, TAHIR.....very much for taking the issue
seriously enough to have
written this post. I for one appreciate it more than I can
articulate."
I know it's been a frustrating several months for you, Tom,
as well has it
been for me. Still, the reason for your effusive gratitude
eludes me. You're
merely holding their feet to warm coals. As I read Tahir's
answer to "our"
question:
1) Capitalism is bad
2) The Manifesto criticises capitalism
3) Capitalism sucks
4) Mark criticises capitalism
5) Marx has an alternative
6) Capitalism and private property are useless
7) Some think capitalism is not useless so we debate
8) Boshevism is not marxism
9) Tahir despairs of defending marxism
And that's the best they can do?
First, lets get the namecalling out of the way. I am not a
capitalist,
redbaiter or (ugh) economist (neoclassical or otherwise). I
am a goddam
treehugging, EF!ing, H. Sapiens of the first order --- one
who understands
his place in the natural system and is smart enough to
recognise adumbration,
obfuscation, flim-flam and overintellectualized persiflage
when he sees it.
Tom finally, loquaciously, asked the questions that I had
asked Tony about
two months ago (before I unsubbed, when it seemed that a
direct,
understandable answer was not forthcoming). I thought for a
second that Mark,
in his latest post, was going to get around to finally
answering "the
questions" that I joined this list to investigate --- and he
danced around it
once again.
I'm not disputing anyone's point here. I'm not debating. I
agree: CAPITALISM
SUCKS! I'm just tired of endless banal negative criticism,
the on-the-ground
details of which, as an environmentalist, I may well be more
familiar than
many of you.
What I want to know is:
1) What is the socialist or Marxist plan for avoiding the
Crash? (Forgive me
for feeling that whining about capitalism is not a viable
approach.)
2) How would socialists reconstruct a "sustainable" social
order after the
crash of capitalism (bearing in mind the severe energy and
resource
contraints likely to pertain at that time)?
3) What is the socialist "vision" for a sustainable society
which would
nurture us down the millennia while, at the same time,
allowing the rest of
nature's creation to enjoy the same benefits?
To quote the esteemed Mr. Warren, "C'mon marxists ... put up
or shut up."
Hallyx
"The cost of a thing is the amount of what I will call life
which is required
to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long run." ---
Henry David
Thoreau
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