Ron wrote: > Your hope is reasonable, but how do pen-l members define projects that will > make a difference?
Good questions. Here's a silly lesson from the empirical work that has been done on game theory, a lesson that one can use in reference to Michael's point on how his intended original goal with PEN-L hasn't yet panned out. When most people (I should probably speak for myself) try a new game, usually we do not have the patience to analyze it and use some sort of systematic approach to spot a solution. Even in high-stake games, if time is of the essence, we take quick though not necessarily well pondered action. So we try a random approach and see where it leads. It is only after repeating the game that, by trial and error, we start to isolate approaches that lead to better results, etc. So to speak: Our initial approach is "numerical," not "analytical." So, let me reformulate my question a little: Knowing what we now know about how these lists work, how they make it easier for us to go against one another in infantile penis-size contests (because this is a mostly male environment), etc., how should we proceed to induce mutual collaboration in concrete struggles, here or wherever? Isn't it times to evaluate results and draw inferences? First off, it makes no sense to complain about the raw material, ourselves as we are. It is what it is, as we now say. Personally, I devote a certain amount of focused energy (much less than I'd like, but that's a separate problem) to three organizations with very different (yet convergent, in terms of class struggle) agendas. Most of this work is outside the e-world. Or, I should rather say, the e-world is a used as an instrument to the work in the r-world. Now, whenever any of these structures gets into email discussions, people get all riled up over things that do not necessarily have immediate practical implications. I'm glad that my comrades in these organizations do not pay much heed (if at all) to PEN-L or the other two or three lists I typically browse or post to, because -- chances are -- doing so would make them less inclined to interact with me. But how about the upside of these lists? I like the idea of having contact with people in far-away places. I like the idea of having open-ended discussions (even heated debates) over issues that do not have an immediate practical implication. The question is, How can we transform the general dynamics of these discussions to advance the goals we do share? Another random thought: I like Syriza's approach. Alexis Tsipras is saying (I'm paraphrasing, of course), "We are not anti-EU. On the contrary: The current managers of the EU are a disaster. We will save the EU. We'll rebuild it around the interests of working people." Translated into Communist-Manifestese: Our response to the crisis will be Greek and European in form, but Working-Class (yes, Global Working-Class) in content. (Cf. how Tsipras refers to North-African, Arab immigrants as an integral part of Europe, etc.) Syriza is sponsoring all sorts of conferences and discussions across European left formations. Right on. So here's a couple of suggestions: In NYC, May Day actions are being organized now by unions, OWS people, etc. It'll be fun to march on May Day with fellow PEN-Lers. Some of us will be attending the Left Forum in June, also in NYC. We may want to stage some Progressive-Economics teach-in somewhere in NYC (Times Square? Liberty Square? Bryant Park? Washington Square? Union Square? All of the above?) on one or two of those Left-Forum days with a focus on reducing the labor day, stopping environmental mayhem, demanding job-growth policies, exposing the Democratic Party and Obama as the worst enemies ever of the working class, explaining people why we should hit it or else it won't fall, showing people why Marx was right, or whatever the heck we fancy as our top political priority? How about a debate on any of these issues at any of the places above? Could URPE perhaps co-sponsor these actions? I'll see to that. Any chance we could hook up with people from the other interlinked lists? I don't have my Gramsci nearby, but there's a piece in the Ordine Nuovo in which he equates socialism as a movement with people becoming *aware* of their amazing power as individuals, individual power that can only find expression and multiply itself n-fold as a result of cooperation with others, unity in action. Look around, the rulers are not doing a very good job. We can definitely do better than them. The bar they are setting is not that high, is it? _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
