On 11/17/09, Ralph Dumain <rdum...@autodidactproject.org> wrote: > When I responded to your recent posts, I found this old post sitting > right next to it in alphabetical order in my in box. I should have > been more attentive, but this is what sleep deprivation does to a > person: you just keep going on semiautomatic pilot. > > The Obama presidency is already dead in the water, and I'm not so > much interested in debating the Middle East. My interest in the > Jewish question, for example, is mostly historical, but I find it > remains such a hot issue that I can't say anything at all about the > Jews in any capacity without others immediately connecting it to > Israel and denouncing me as a Zionist, though I've never written a > single word in support of Israel of any of its policies, and I'm > generally interested in questions unconnected to the Middle East. I'm > not so much interested in making a political intervention as cleaning > up the polluted rhetoric that effectively detracts from clarification > and intelligent intervention, and I'm only interested in doing that > because of the filth I'm constantly exposed to on the Internet even > while minding my own business. > > However, as I've insisted, the politics of desperation and > spectatorship are symptomatic of the moribund state of the left, if > not everywhere in the world, anywhere I've had contact with people. > And there's another point I made some time ago that didn't get > noticed. It's quite one thing for people in the region to take > extreme positions out of desperation, or to confront the problem > concretely without taking on a more sophisticated perspective. It's > quite another for spectators a half world away with no particular > connection to the Middle East acting like rabid dogs.
^^^^^ CB: Somebody told me the other day that half the Israeli army has duel Israeli-US citizenship (?) ^^^^^ On the > contrary, it's just because of the distance that political > spectators--who may also double as useless "activists"--from the > scene of the carnage, need to be exercise greater clarity in their > grasp of the historical logic of the situation and in their agitprop. > But just the opposite is happening. > > Secondly, there's the question of the corruption of young minds being > recruited into radicalism by sectarian organizations. I'm not proud > of what I was thinking as a teenager, and I see 20-year olds now, > gung ho fresh converts to radicalism, adopting the most awful sound > bite approaches to political problems, worst of all the impossible > politics of the Middle East, without any background of historical > depth or personal life experience. It's all the politics of empty gesture. > > What does it in fact mean to support anyone long distance? What is > the significance of "taking a position"? It's child's play who decide > to be against, but who is there there to be for? > > The degeneration of politics, including oppositional politics, makes > it increasingly impossible to simply take a position backing any > particularly political player? If there's anything worse than secular > nationalism, it's religious nationalism. If there's anything worse > than bourgeois politics with a democratic face, it's outright fascist > politics. Who then is there to back, especially from thousands of miles away? > > I don't trust the left to do anything competently. Pointless > floundering is its stock-in-trade. > > At 08:54 AM 11/17/2009, yves coleman wrote: > >I dont know why this old post comes up now, a year later after it was posted > >! > > > >To answer your questions. I dont know what I would do if I was an isolated > >individual who "wanted to do something" in an unfavorable situation both for > >me and for the working class historically. The decision would depend on many > >specific factors I cant list here and which would be more related to fiction > >than to reality. > >If I was in a position to form a group or to join a group defending class > >positions I would not loose my time in Stalinist (German CP) or > >nationalist-antisemtic (Hamas) or third wordist groups (Chavez party). > > > >As regards the Hamas, I would not even try because they would probably kill > >me given my opposition both to religion, clerical fascism and antisemitism. > > > >And if I was living in Venezuela today (which I did many years ago) I would > >knock on the door of El Libertario and see if their acts correspond to their > >nice words... And then decide. > > > _______________________________________________ > Marxism-Thaxis mailing list > Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu > To change your options or unsubscribe go to: > http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis > _______________________________________________ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
