Parenti writes for a popular audience, not for other socialists (He himself
is former CPUSA). I have to disagree with Mark here. It absolutely IS
important to counter the Big Lie in Yugoslavia, completely apart from the
socialist critique of the consequences of Titoism and its progeny. Not to
shill for Milosevic, who has been washed around by the sea storm of events
as opposed to actually leading much of anything. But to pierce the
legitimizing cover of US propaganda, which has served to anesthetize US
citizens, whose acquiescence is required to continue imperial expansion.
First it's Saddam, then it Milosevic, but its also Castro. In our system's
center is money and power, but wrapped around that is force, then
bureaucracy, and all the way on the outside is legitimization. At the
stage of struggle we are in in the US, where revolution is quite dormant,
many of our efforts--reformist as they may be--have to begin by stripping
that veil of legitimacy away and exposing what's underneath.
Counter-narratives, even those sometimes flawed by a lack of deep
historical analysis, are important to raise the doubt. Very few
Americans--VERY few--have the tools available to them to engage in the kind
of thinking that goes on in this list. Haitians have a saying, "A stupid
person is a real event." This condition of mass indoctrination is a
material condition.
Cheers all,
Stan
"Teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom"
Psalm 90
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