G'day Tony,
I'm no Catholic, but it seems to me even the Pope has realised - rather
late in the piece - that his vicious anti-leftism (especially in Latin
America) and uncritical pro-Reaganism has produced a cruel and godless
Mammon every bit as inimical to him as that fanciful red dawn. Anyway, the
ol' bloke looks bound for the pearly gates now, and while much depends on
his successor, the sad ol' fella's recent tirades may have served to put
some lead back in LT pencils.
And I agree with what I take to be your point. Where the local
left-humanism is predominantly Catholic, there be the station where our
train must start its journey. Lefties tend to focus on where they're
heading (and we tend to fight each other about the menu of destinations
quite a lot), but aren't always too discerning about their very specific
point of departure. Maybe it's a crass example, but I reckon Che had his
theory half right when he went off so pathetically to die. The half that
he got wrong was thinking a rudimentary assessment of local class relations
was enough to get the locals reaching for their musketry. New ideas are
fine (well, fundamental), but they only make sense to the locals in the
context of the ideas they already have - that's what culminates in a
transformational practice - and it is that practice which develops the idea
beyond the limits of the initially thinkable. I reckon the bringer of the
new ideas then finds his/her ideas have developed quite a bit, too, btw.
>So while others are enmeshed in Kosovo or East Timor, the practical
>question down this way, is how to build a movement where the largest
>component of activists are nuns?! What's even worse, these nuns and
>priests are the most active people working nationally for building an
>antiwar movement in the US, or ending the death penalty!
Well, on those two issues at least, it's not too complicated - as editors
tell rooky journalists everywhere - 'go with what you've got'! A movement
can start out as a religious one and transform into something more rounded
and practical. A few nuns and a granny still warm in her box is at least
somewhere to start! Look at what had happened in Nicaragua before
Paul'n'Ronnie put the fear of God and a few rounds into 'em! Trouble is,
it goes the other way, too. International Women's day (but a week away,
incidentally) started out as an explicitly socialist event (central to the
Russian Revolution, too), and has now been expropriated by another brand of
feminist altogether - one unfortunately better versed in Helena Rubenstein
than Clara Zetkin. And one who is happily contenting herself with aspiring
to an equal share of the alienation and exploitation 'won' by men half a
millenium ago. Even here, I reckon, we should support her - but whispering
in her ear all the while ...
>Thanks again, Rob, for inviting me to participate in Thaxis.
Thanks for coming!
>But what an unfortunate name this is, to attract more plebian types to talk.
We have lots of plebians, Tony! But yeah, they're being eerily quiet of
late ...
>It sounds like some sort of disease.
I kinda like it. But if the more gifted marketers present (not that one
expects too many of them in these parts ... ) think we should change the
brandname, let's do it!
Nite all,
Rob.
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