******************** POSTING RULES & NOTES ******************** #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. *****************************************************************
" *I had an online debate with a long time former friend and comrade about Assad and Syria. Important enough as the issue of the disaster in Syria is, there’s a deeper issue too: In following the simplistic conspiracist theories like those of Michael Chussodovsky (quoted below), socialists and others have completely lost their way; they have fallen into the same methods of the Trump supporters – ignoring or outright denial of proven fact, considering everything that’s inconvenient to be fake news, refusing to consider the class forces at work. On this basis, a real working class socialist movement will never be built.* *Response to pro-Assad “left”*I’m in West Virginia right now and lack the time and energy to respond point for point to D__s “history”, but I can’t let it go unanswered. Yes, US imperialism had its conflicts with Assad, although they also worked closely together as Assad’s Syria was a favorite end point for Bush’s extraordinary rendition program. D__ makes much of some supposed involvement of US imperialism in the Syrian uprising and seems to be saying it was all a part of a US plot. When I was in Egypt during the Arab Spring, I met some Egyptians who had connections with the Republican (Party) Institute. Does that mean the Arab Spring in Egypt was all part of a plot by the Republican Party? Ridiculous. Of course US imperialism – like ALL imperialist powers – would try to find some crevice where they could find a handhold, but that doesn’t mean they ran the operation. D__ gives quote after quote from Michael Chussodovsky. Chussodovsky is a super conspiracy theorist who never, ever considers the working class as an actor on the stage of history. In this, he is just like the Arabists, who are the strategists for US imperialism who specialize in studying the Arab world. They, too, only see the different imperialist and sub-imperialist powers. D__ and other “lefts” mimic Chussodovsky and the Arabists in this. They too in effect deny the role of the Syrian masses...." Full article: https://oaklandsocialist.com/2018/03/14/debating-the-pro-assad-left/ -- *“How can we expect righteousness to prevail when there is hardly anyone willing to give himself up individually to a righteous cause? Such a fine sunny day, and I have to go, but what does my death matter, if through us thousands of people are awakened and stirred to action?” *Sophie Scholl, executed by the Nazis 2/22/1943. She was 21 years old. Check out:https:http://oaklandsocialist.com also on Facebook _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
