******************** POSTING RULES & NOTES ******************** #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. *****************************************************************
On Sun, Dec 18, 2016 at 2:30 PM, Andrew Pollack via Marxism < marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu> wrote: > "And his concluding paragraph, which should be a comradely call to > discussion for a new joint strategy, is instead an ultimatistic demand that > everyone follow the lead of the Great God Ocalan." > Maybe it's a fair criticism that the PYD are being (politically) sectarian. But maybe there's nothing concrete on offer in terms of alliances and a propagandistic putting forward of the model of the Northern Syrian Federation is the best that can be down in a crap situation. As for the typical crack about the role of Ocalan, Phil Hearse had some typically wry and sensible things to say about that recently: Of course the Trotskyist movement, by contrast, has never succumbed to the temptation to organise itself around the thought of a single great leader, now has it? The role of central leaders in many progressive, liberation or revolutionary movements has often been problematic. For example while he was still politically active, it appears that every major decision in Cuba went via Fidel Castro. The over-centralisation of power around Hugo Chavez in Venezuela was a major problem of the Chavista movement. In Vietnam it appears that there was a more collegiate leadership around Ho Chi Minh including Võ Nguyên Giáp and Pham van Dong. In the EZLN, who knows the real role of Subcommandante Marcos? Clearly our tradition is against the elevation of single guru, all-seeing and all-knowing leaders. But whatever the excesses around Öcalan in this regard, you have to make an all-round judgement of the movement. When you are the leadership of a movement supported by millions; when you insist on women’s equality at all levels; when you urge people to take control of their lives and destinies through democratically organised solidarity and struggle; and when hundreds of thousands start to do this in practice, then the social effects will be massive and long lasting. Against all that, the excesses of extolling the virtues of’ ‘Apo’ won’t count for much. In any case the movement has had no contact with Ocalan at all for over a year, and only spasmodic contact for some years before that, as he is held in isolation on the prison island of Imrali, so for practical purposes, while there is no doubt that his ideas are hegemonic, the leadership of the movement has to take its own decisions on both tactical and strategic issues. Full: 'Analysing the Kurdistan Workers Party', http://links.org.au/kurdistan-workers-party-pkk-analysis-hearse-parker-de-jong _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
