[DK]
My suggestion is that "the left" needs to establish a few websites,
blasting
the major parties for the errors in their ways and proposing remedies,
along
the lines several campaigners from "the right" have done. One I have
been
associated with may not be the biggest nor best, but there is enough
material there to keep you thinking for a week. It's at:
http://tonypitt.net/
(and I don't necessarily agree with much of it).
Can anyone suggest some equivalents from "the left"?
[AL] From a VERY quick glance I suspect that I would agree with far less
of it
than you do and also find it far less thought provoking...
But I agree with your description that it is "blasting the major parties
[...]
and proposing remedies" and that it is doing so "from the right".
I am not aware of any web sites that are "blasting" the major parties
(as distinct
from "whining" about them) from the "left", with the potential exception
of http://www.neither.org, which is pretty pathetic at the moment.
I would be interested in whether any others can answer this legitimate
challenge.
The most thought provoking aspects I noticed in my quick glance are:
1. It has a definate "militant spirit" and to some extent a "democratic
temper" that is entirely lacking in what currently passes for the "left"
in Australia.
2. On some major issues there is a definate convergence between the
attitudes taken and attitudes widely regarded as "left" (which I have
always regarded as not being "left" at
all). Your reply to me in the MAI thread is a good example of the
phenomenon I am talking about. Most of it articulates a view which many
"leftists" would consider close to their own and they may find it
"thought provoking" that you take that view "from the right".
My view is that there is currently no serious "left" in Australia and
what passes for "the
left", is hopelessly disoriented. The remarkable convergence of views
between One Nation, the
Democrats and the Greens (and ALP "lefts") on MAI is symptomatic of a
deeper problem. A good deal of the hysteria about One Nation from the
Democrats and Greens may be similar in character to the hostilities
between the ALP and the Coalition. Unprincipled disputes are generally
more bitter.
In answer to your question at the start of your remarks in the MAI
thread, I do think we should get down to addressing Neither
organization, but I think we should do so in parallel with
general discussions on policy. As I mentioned in "Organising Neither?" I
have little to contribute on organization... (much better at "thought
provoking" :-)
But I have put forward two concrete proposals to organize around:
1. A Vote No for the Republic Campaign headed with the subject header:
http://www.neither.org/vote_no/confound.htm
2. A "Democracy Act" campaign in a thread with that subject header:
These both strike me as especially suitable for converging attacks on
the two party
system from the left and the right, and even joint work under common
umbrellas such as a "Vote No" campaign organization and a "Parliament of
the Net".
So far there has been much more interest in less concrete policy
matters.
I do believe parallel discussion of actual organization and concrete
activities to
organize around is essential. But I am not good at focussing atttention
on such things
and can only hope that others will either develop my proposals on
concrete activities or
put forward alternatives of their own, and will also start actually
organizing.
Meanwhile, I am also convinced that the beginnings of serious discussion
of general
policies will prove important in making it possible to agree on what
needs to be done and how to do it. That will be a long process and we
are only just getting to know each other. Things won't really get moving
until the many others who may be interested have been invited to join
this list.
