That's brilliant Frederic. I have not followed French politics for years and I am glad to hear what you say! Here, maybe I am missing it, but it seems there is no parallel. Tell more about it, what you think are the strong points.
On Tue, May 3, 2022 at 3:19 PM Frédéric Neyrat <fney...@gmail.com> wrote: > > dear Brian, > > "Archaic communism" is certainly a wrong way to speak about Mélanchon: I > mean, it's certainly what Macron thinks, what all the persons who used to > vote for the "Parti Socialiste" (sic) in order to set up a neolibreal > society think, what many former leftists in Multitudes think (some > renegades, to use Badiou's concept), but to call "archaic communist" an > anti-nuclear Party promoting one of the most daring ecological programs > that exists nowadays is weird, to say the least. That being said, there are > many problems in La France Insoumise, but Mélanchon was able to evolve in > so many good ways that, well, what do you want? And it seems that a leftist > coalition is possible these days for the next elections. That's not bad I > think. That's something al least. > > In solidarity, > > Frédéric > __________________________________ > ________________ > > > On Tue, May 3, 2022 at 3:08 PM Brian Holmes <bhcontinentaldr...@gmail.com> > wrote: > >> I think this debate is totally interesting, and I certainly would be >> against screening articles for political correctness! The latter can only >> be achieved by debate and real understanding. >> >> What's characteristic about this moment is that established political >> positions have collapsed, including that of the socialist Left whose >> blindspot has always been communist authoritarianism, whether historical in >> the case of the USSR or extant in the Chinese case. This could be an >> important chance for everyone to learn something new, and crucially, to >> come up with new policies. But it isn't happening, not yet anyway. Instead >> we have a "fog of partisanship" in which center left, center right and far >> left all rehash their worldviews, even as the old authoritarian demons >> reassert themselves and the new challenges of climate change start getting >> serious. The victor of the ideological struggle, for the moment, is the >> emergent national-populist right, whose core program of deglobalization and >> re-shoring is buried under culture wars and the thrill of polarization. We >> may soon get the chance to see what that buried agenda gets turned into in >> the USA, where the culture-war rhetoric appears primed to score major >> electoral victories. >> >> Under these conditions it becomes harder to categorize and label >> individual positions. As in the case of Applebaum, valuable concepts and >> assessments are mixed with confusion and self-justification. You have to >> simultaneously identify the true parts AND remember the enormous mistakes >> that these individuals have made, as well as the horrors perpetrated within >> policy networks that they still support. It is so easy for an old Cold >> Warrior to talk about the cities bombed during WWII, and still easier to >> just forget Fallajuh in Iraq, where the Americans, acting in a rebooted >> Cold War mode, committed one of the most murderous acts in human history. >> To think there is no danger of another Fallujah is, imho, as naive as to >> think that Russia should not be confronted today. >> >> The article that Michael Benson sent on Applebaum continually makes the >> point that she is unable to ascribe any fault to her own side for >> generating the fascistic national-populism that so many of her old friends >> now embrace. Perhaps the author is keenly aware that the center left is, if >> anything, worse on that score. Global neoliberalism and the ardent belief >> that borderless commerce would soothe the slumbering authoritarian beast >> were the creations of the center-left in the Clinton-Blair-Schroeder years. >> Not only did that fail spectacularly with Russia and China, it also failed >> with the US, British, French and perhaps other working classes, leaving >> them desperate on both the economic and cultural levels, and therefore open >> to all kinds of opportunistic rhetoric. >> >> I was certain that capitalist globalization would ruin national systems >> of solidarity, spark a populist backlash and supercharge climate change, so >> I opposed it. Now in the US, neither the center nor the far left can even >> talk about political economy in any coherent way - the center because it >> can't admit abysmal failure, and the socialist left, because it has >> accepted its role in the culture war, which is to call the other side >> racist pigs and consider that a platform. In France the situation is worse: >> the center parties have disappeared in favor of a national-populism aligned >> with Russia (Le Pen), a catch-up neoliberalism that arrived decades too >> late to succeed (Macron) and what looks to me like another archaic >> communism (Melenchon). What you don't see are assessments of the major >> trends attendant on capitalist globalization: their origins, their effects, >> and the ways to valuably intervene. >> >> thoughtfully, Brian >> >> On Tue, May 3, 2022 at 6:11 AM allan siegel < >> allansie...@internet-mail.org> wrote: >> >>> Dear Michael and Nettimers, >>> >>> I do not favour a pre-screening of articles or anything of the like. >>> Rather I am concerned about pointing out and contextualizing certain >>> political arguments. Although she may think otherwise Applebaum represents >>> a strata of opinion makers that specialises in a specific political >>> terrain; in her case the Soviet Union, Eastern and Central Europe, etc. She >>> operates within binary paradigms of East vs. West, democracies vs. >>> autocracies etc.. She sits in an intellectual grandstand formulating >>> opinions not exactly based on rigorous research but rather stemming from a >>> form of entitlement in which the publications and books she has written >>> spotlight and self-validate her opinions. She is not alone in her role as >>> an ideological agent whose mission is to buttress forms of political >>> discourse that take place within specified boundaries. These forms of >>> delimited discourse are the bedrock of mainstream media - within the U.S. >>> especially. A mainstream wherein the voices of activist movements in the >>> U.S. have been historically marginalised, silenced and sometimes killed. I >>> am simply stating facts here. >>> >>> >>> So, let me cut to the chase: the CIA, FBI, and all the various stripes >>> of intelligence agencies have used journalists and writers as pollinators >>> of skewed opinions and ostensible facts in order to maintain a >>> superficially neutral status quo - all under the banner of a so-called >>> democracy. >>> >>> Given the current extreme political tensions, and the proposals to >>> hopefully avoid a full-out war and resolve the crisis, I was prompted to >>> draw attention to Anne Applebaum's bona fides and the pool within which she >>> swims. Especially given the clouds of misinformation floating across the >>> horizon. >>> Best >>> >>> Allan >>> >>> # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission >>> # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, >>> # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets >>> # more info: http://mx.kein.org/mailman/listinfo/nettime-l >>> # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nett...@kein.org >>> # @nettime_bot tweets mail w/ sender unless #ANON is in Subject: >> >> # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission >> # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, >> # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets >> # more info: http://mx.kein.org/mailman/listinfo/nettime-l >> # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nett...@kein.org >> # @nettime_bot tweets mail w/ sender unless #ANON is in Subject: > >
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