On 2/11/2013 4:11 PM, Carrol Cox wrote:
... The political power to implement _any_ of these policy suggestions does not exist, and there is no present indication that it will come into existence in the next 25 years. If this is true, then debate over what the remedy should be _distracts_ from concern over how the power can be achieved to implement any sort of remedy.
Carrol, more than 150 coal-fired power plants have been stopped, from below, in even one of the world's most backward sites of eco-class struggle, your country. That's the kind of 'non-reformist reform' (to quote Gorz, Kagarlitsky, Saul, etc) remedy we need, as a short-term palliative. Longer-term eco-socialism comes through the growing realisation that it's not through 'reformist reforms' but revolution that we solve the problem. The question always is, what kinds of 'policy suggestions' - campaigns - get you to non-reformist politics and a move to gain the power needed to halt the corporate juggernaut. But why not move with the people trying to keep the coal in the hole, oil in the soil, tarsand in the land and fracking shalegas under the grass, rather than moan from the sidelines?
1) 'reformist reforms': * strengthen the internal logic of the system, by smoothing rough edges * allow the system to relegitimise * give confidence to status quo ideas and forces * leave activists disempowered or coopted * confirm society's fear of power, apathy and cynicism about activism 2) 'non-reformist reforms': * counteract the internal logic of the system, by confronting core dynamics * continue system delegitimisation * give confidence to critical ideas and social forces * leave activists empowered with momentum for next struggle * replace social apathy with confidence in activist integrity and leadership
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