What are the odds of a left majority parliament in France? https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/04/french-socialist-party-agrees-alliance-with-far-left-for-june-elections
On Wed, 4 May 2022 at 02:26, Brian Holmes <bhcontinentaldr...@gmail.com> wrote: > 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: >> >> # 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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