tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11704331.post4162446785875026005..comments2023-11-05T03:12:10.925-06:00Comments on Renegade Eye: John Peterson: The Spanish Revolution 70 Years LaterFrank Partisanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03536211653082893030noreply@blogger.comBlogger85125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11704331.post-75559643909485105892009-01-01T23:12:00.000-06:002009-01-01T23:12:00.000-06:00Chris I.G. John Peterson would appreciate that. ...Chris I.G. John Peterson would appreciate that. I'm going to tell him.Frank Partisanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03536211653082893030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11704331.post-2558762238496696292009-01-01T19:06:00.000-06:002009-01-01T19:06:00.000-06:00Quite an interesting speech.I will translate the w...Quite an interesting speech.I will translate the words to Greek and i will put subtitles on the video.CHRIS I. G.https://www.blogger.com/profile/08131989010074291375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11704331.post-17089097870486830082008-12-30T22:14:00.000-06:002008-12-30T22:14:00.000-06:00I saw tonight the movie Revolutionary Road. It is...I saw tonight the movie <A HREF="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0959337/trailers" REL="nofollow">Revolutionary Road</A>. It is about the conformity of suburban life, in late 1950s Connecticut. Word is that Kate Winslett is probably going to win an Oscar. She again teamed up with Leo DeCaprio, who was also outstanding. <BR/><BR/>I'm in a few weeks, going to repost this.Frank Partisanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03536211653082893030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11704331.post-14956718646210219072008-12-30T15:20:00.000-06:002008-12-30T15:20:00.000-06:00Okay, I see where you're coming from. Yeah, it doe...Okay, I see where you're coming from. Yeah, it does sound like you've got the best of both worlds. <BR/><BR/>The sprawl has been a big problem here for a while, usually a bunch of numbmuts that want to swallow up as much property as they can so they can increase their tax revenue with strip malls and fast food chains, etc. Everything is about tax revenue, and the more they rake in, the more they manage to waste, and nothing is ever really accomplished. <BR/><BR/>I was telling somebody earlier he could expect any day for Bull Run Park to become The Ronald MacDonald Bull Run Memorial Park. Do you know what he told me? He said they already tried that, only they was going to attach the Disney name to it. "Disney's America" with no mention of Bull Run, but the Virginia locals raised so much hell they dropped it. <BR/><BR/>That's what it takes, enough people standing together and saying enough's enough.SecondComingOfBasthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03336586430250490679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11704331.post-28689699684236244752008-12-30T13:24:00.000-06:002008-12-30T13:24:00.000-06:00I should add that I am a person who likes both sol...I should add that I am a person who likes both solitude - for study and writing - and social involvement. My town has a rich cultural and political scene, furthermore some of my old friends from the 60's settled here. So I have the best of both worlds.Larry Gambonehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04965037776214596919noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11704331.post-56758624839877556322008-12-30T13:18:00.000-06:002008-12-30T13:18:00.000-06:00PT, that is why I live where I do. Cities are fine...PT, that is why I live where I do. Cities are fine to live in for a while, but a more rural or village environment is better for me at least. I am a 5 minute walk from the woods and sea shore, a 15 minute walk from down-town and have a double lot - space for gardens and trees. Mind you the idiots who run this town managed to almost destroy it by allowing shopping malls and suburban sprawl, so if you want more than food, books and antique shops you have to drive for miles. I like to walk - or at worst a 5 minute bus ride for my needs.Larry Gambonehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04965037776214596919noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11704331.post-49534354372932129292008-12-30T08:51:00.000-06:002008-12-30T08:51:00.000-06:00HaHaHaHa FIVE MILES? Wow. There must not be much g...HaHaHaHa FIVE MILES? Wow. There must not be much going on worth anything if five miles is such an ordeal. Hell, rent some movies. Toronto and other Canadian and European cities might be better than most American ones, but they would still grow old to me. I guess I'm just not a people person. I like privacy and solitude too much, and nature. <BR/><BR/>Gambone, if you move to most American cities and stay for very long you will become a tried and true believer in "Social Darwinism".LOLSecondComingOfBasthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03336586430250490679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11704331.post-36339796507368578572008-12-30T00:11:00.000-06:002008-12-30T00:11:00.000-06:00I'm too Bohemian for the burbs.I'm too Bohemian for the burbs.Frank Partisanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03536211653082893030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11704331.post-39526625484605766062008-12-30T00:01:00.000-06:002008-12-30T00:01:00.000-06:00Ah, PT, the big cities I have lived in are Vancouv...Ah, PT, the big cities I have lived in are Vancouver and Montreal - with half-years in Toronto and London UK. Downtown living here is preferable to the boring suburbs where you have to drive 5 miles to do anything. These Canadian cities are more like European cities than US ones with their devastation. (Exception being Portland OR and San Francisco)Larry Gambonehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04965037776214596919noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11704331.post-67348465391430540652008-12-29T15:18:00.000-06:002008-12-29T15:18:00.000-06:00Interesting conversation. I enjoyed reading it.Interesting conversation. I enjoyed reading it.Graemehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04230080850680753260noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11704331.post-53334676386176857492008-12-29T13:24:00.000-06:002008-12-29T13:24:00.000-06:00Gambone, you must have lived in a really shitty su...Gambone, you must have lived in a really shitty suburb. They can't be all that bad. I'd take anything over life in the city, or at least life in the inner city. I've lived in them all. I lived in both the suburbs and the inner city in both Phoenix and Cincinnati. I live now a little more than fifty miles out of Lexington Kentucky, and I admit it's not that great, but in most cases, as long as you have reasonably good transportation, that kind of arrangement strikes me as the best situation. <BR/><BR/>If you live way out in the rural area, you're all right as long as you have a good storage area and a deep freeze and you can stock up, but you're still at the mercy of too many unpredictable factors, like gas prices for just one example. You're just too isolated in the event things aren't going that great, or your health takes a bad turn, etc. Of course as long as things are going good, you can really get used to it.SecondComingOfBasthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03336586430250490679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11704331.post-7589855439699098012008-12-28T23:47:00.000-06:002008-12-28T23:47:00.000-06:00That is exactly my living situation PT, and we cho...That is exactly my living situation PT, and we chose it deliberately after living for 36 years in big cities. I should add the chief reason I ever lived in a large urban setting was to find work. We also lived for 5 years in the suburbs, (1999-2004) a situation I would not wish on anyone.Larry Gambonehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04965037776214596919noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11704331.post-73067608841781627492008-12-28T23:46:00.000-06:002008-12-28T23:46:00.000-06:00Foxessa: The discussion was about how rural based ...Foxessa: The discussion was about how rural based movements like FARC or the Zapatistas, are doomed to win even their modest demands, unless they have urban working class support.<BR/><BR/>Larry G: One of the anarchists who was arrested at the RNC demonstration, said at a rally, he is not going to vote for the prosecutor, when she files for governor. She is losing the anarchist vote.<BR/><BR/>Celticfire: The various nationalist sects you listed, are groups woefully lost in 1970s nostalgia. Tell me that the Urban League or NAACP are moving towards nationalism, then I would take notice.<BR/><BR/>The Panthers Maoism brought them down, more than the state. They were reduced to popular front politics, being for good Democrats as opposed to bad Republicans. Contrary to Huey Newton, he didn't live in the third world. Their program was rhetoric. Lumpen elements don't have the stability necessary for revolution.<BR/><BR/>The French Communist Party was Stalinist, not revisionist. A revisionist is someone like Marcuse.<BR/><BR/>In real life you work with nationalists, feminists etc. You don't become one.<BR/><BR/>You'll counter there are revolutionary feminists and nationalists. When they are revolutionary, is when they put on their Marxist hat.<BR/><BR/>Pagan: Point taken.Frank Partisanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03536211653082893030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11704331.post-5425753088608818182008-12-28T18:18:00.000-06:002008-12-28T18:18:00.000-06:00I never said that, or if I did I misspoke. I meant...I never said that, or if I did I misspoke. I meant there are many people, not necessarily most, that prefer life in rural communities or small towns than big cities. I'm one, but I don't claim to speak for all, or even most. Cities have their advantages too, as I also said, but if I had to choose between the two, it would be a small town. The best of both worlds would consist of a small town within driving distance of a larger metropolitan area, say within fifty miles or so.SecondComingOfBasthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03336586430250490679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11704331.post-2648667399703453002008-12-28T17:31:00.000-06:002008-12-28T17:31:00.000-06:00pagan temples declaration that most people prefer ...pagan temples declaration that most people prefer to live in a rural community is unfounded by either fact or cultural history.<BR/><BR/>I grew up as rural as you can grow up in this age, in this nation, and I couldn't wait to get away. Women in particular don't find rural life attractive, which explains why there are all these bachelor agribiz farmers in North Dakota who can't find a wife.<BR/><BR/>I have lived all my adult working life in Manhattan, and I'd rather live here than anywhere else, unless the nation turns out-and-out fascist, and then I'd have to leave the country.<BR/><BR/>Love, C.Foxessahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06754083123669916994noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11704331.post-19811690884972110962008-12-28T14:18:00.000-06:002008-12-28T14:18:00.000-06:00I’m not going to cast big stones at the Fight Back...I’m not going to cast big stones at the Fight Back people especially when none of them seem to be engaged here to represent their line. But, clearly I am not a member of Fight Back! and have no intention to be.<BR/><BR/>It’s true that the number of Black nationalist groups asserting the desire for an independent autonomous black nation in the U.S. south has declined since the 1970’s, and will probably continue to do so as the Obama administration moves forward with “change”. <BR/><BR/>However, there are still sectors calling for an independent nation. The Uhuru Movement, New Black Panthers (I believe do), and the Black Radical Congress as well as small and isolated groups on college campuses, etc. So they do exist.<BR/><BR/>W.E.B. Du Bois, Robert Williams and Huey P. Newton all traveled to China to receive support from the PRC and this was a profound moment for proletarian internationalism.<BR/><BR/>Lots of left groups have dissolved (I’ve been in some that have) and more have sold out or become Democrats, or completely apolitical. That’s politics and being a revolutionary is a multifaceted challenge with the horizon of bourgeois right attempting to pull you back in (Obama’s “hope”…) – no ideology completely posses the fortitude from these traps. <BR/><BR/>The French CP was closer allied to the revisionist forces than the revolutionary ones. The transitional demands method is ultimately an economist one, but there have been some impressive exceptions, like International Marxist Group (IMG) that ralied to defend squatter rights. All over the world in practice, the Mass Line has proven more correct, however.<BR/><BR/>I’ve said this before and I will say it again – class struggle is inherently larger and more complex then “worker vs. boss” – though there is that aspect, that only makes up a portion of that aspect (certainly in the context of the puny number of unionized workers, and that they are usually white males).<BR/><BR/>Class struggle has to encompass what the Combahee River Collective (a Black feminist Lesbian collective in Boston) calls Intersectionality, that forms of oppression (race, class, gender, sexuality, nationality, etc.) in fact, intersect. This idea is controversial among Marxists because it appears on the surface to contradict Marx and the primary contradiction, when I would argue it does not, because it recognizes the oppression is the primary contradiction in that context. In fact I would say the simple “worker vs. boss” mentality and every other form oppression is necessarily secondary is reductionist and mechanical that cannot fully grasp the terrain of oppression and resistance within which revolution must be grounded.celticfirehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14692685782905110663noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11704331.post-472293849420855682008-12-27T15:40:00.000-06:002008-12-27T15:40:00.000-06:00Yes, I have had some real verbal brawls with some ...Yes, I have had some real verbal brawls with some of our sectarian comrades. This was especially true years ago when much of what called itself anarchism consisted of fringe types who though rioting was the answer to everything or that we should go back to living in caves. Thankfully, I have lived long enough to see a re-birth of serious movements – the new revolutionary syndicalism and the new platformist anarchist communism. The older forms (rooted in the 1930's) of these tendencies, while focused on class struggle, tended to be sectarian, thinking they had all the answers and treating other tendencies as enemies. But the new formations, the creation of a younger generation of seasoned militants, see themselves as one of the tendencies and believes in the necessity of working with a broad front of groups. (I met with the Int. Secty. of the CGT-E in Barcelona in 2004 and was very impressed by that organization. I also supported NEFAC when living in Quebec and found the young comrades of that group very mature and knowledgeable.)Larry Gambonehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04965037776214596919noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11704331.post-35013823543160424742008-12-26T20:56:00.000-06:002008-12-26T20:56:00.000-06:00Celticfire: Unlike FRSO, you don't duck political ...Celticfire: Unlike FRSO, you don't duck political discussion. Again they rely on procedural maneuvers. <BR/><BR/>Tariq Ali's wife is the owner of "New Left Review," which is connected to Halliday's book "Mao."<BR/><BR/>The FRSO union and international work, is just tailism. They support FARC and PFLP without criticisms. They control a union at the University of MN, which PL used to control. They led a losing strike. I like how they organize people on welfare, by having free food at all meetings. Actually the FRSO line is no different than the CP, except more "activist." I think MIM would even be healthier than them. They are atleast upfront politically.<BR/><BR/>If there was a movement for a black nation in the south, or any other similar movement, it should be supported. There is no such movement in the real world. Afro-Americans have the same goals as others. I don't think parties based on race or religion should be encouraged at the same time.<BR/><BR/>The Panthers were based on lumpen elements. They degenerated into the Democratic Party, after every ultra left and oppurtunist mistake. Why didn't they take up Trotskyism? They had no perspective beyond nationalism in practice.<BR/><BR/>Both Fatah and Hamas only offer neoliberalism. They will turn Palestine into a haven for cheap labor. Only socialism can solve the national question. How could water rights and energy be negotiated. Most Zionists support a two stage solution, because of birthrate alone, will make Israel as a Jewish state, a joke.<BR/><BR/>What difference does it make if Kosovo is a country, when its economy is tied with Serbia? Small nations are pocket change for the big powers. Kosovo doesn't have the right to oppress Serbians who live there. Self determination that divides workers, needs to be opposed.<BR/><BR/>I think even Dem. Rep of Congo is a country. If its called a country, it's until something changes.<BR/><BR/>Avakian is probably correct about Puerto Rico.<BR/><BR/>The "Hope from People" group is made up of Obama supporters. They have no strategy, next to mindless activism.<BR/><BR/>In France68 the Communist Party leadership, worried more about the workers on the streets, than the romantic students. That was the biggest general strike in all of history. Alan Woods was there.<BR/><BR/>Larry G: You probably have more heat from some who call themselves anarchist, then other tendencies.Frank Partisanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03536211653082893030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11704331.post-72913925978945186552008-12-26T17:17:00.000-06:002008-12-26T17:17:00.000-06:00Celticfire, Ultra-leftism = sectarianism, refusal ...Celticfire, Ultra-leftism = sectarianism, refusal to work with those deemed reformist, (often condemning them as worse than reaction) overstating need for militance given existing conditions.<BR/><BR/>None of the major anarchist organizations are ultra-left by this definition. Not the CGT-E, the CNT-F, SAC, the WI and the USI to mention the largest anarcho-syndicalist groups. Not the International Anarchist Federation with its French (Federation Anarchiste) Italian, Spanish, British, German and Argentine groups. Not the Platformist anarchist communists of Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Uruguay, Mexico, New Zealand, South Africa and about a dozen other countries.<BR/><BR/>Some of the AIT syndicalists are sectarian ultra-lefts. But the AIT is only a small minority of the syndicalist movement. “Autonomists” and black blockers are ultra left – but they too are only a small fringe of the total movement. The insurrectionist tendency is ultra left, but they are insignificant in comparison with mainstream anarchism. Ultra lefts might make up 10-15% of the total anarchist group membership.Larry Gambonehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04965037776214596919noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11704331.post-325276758051708882008-12-26T00:06:00.000-06:002008-12-26T00:06:00.000-06:00I’m gonna just go free-style with Renedade eye bec...I’m gonna just go free-style with Renedade eye because we’ve been exchanging shots for years now and I feel comfortable doing so, please don’t interpret it as disrespect, because I have nothing but genuine love and respect for anyone brave enough to discuss revolutionary ideas in these times, that said, I need to point out errors, or I would be a liberal.<BR/><BR/>“The IMT is relatively new to the US.” <BR/>Fair enough. I recommend a much <A HREF="http://freedomroad.org/content/view/10/102/lang,en/" REL="nofollow">better analysis</A>.<BR/><BR/>“The right to self determination is not an absolute right, if it for example divides the working class.”<BR/><BR/>Ahh that old stick Trot groups use to beat up on things that don’t fit into their orthodoxy of the “working class.” Understanding the need to draw in millions is not the same as insisting “you can’t do anything” (because of your class nature, or because of your youth, or because of your distance from the quasi-official, often non-radical, so-called “working class movement,” etc.)<BR/><BR/>The “Stalinist” French CP denounced the Paris 68 uprising for the same thing and some of the “Communist” groups in Greece are doing it right now to students today. <BR/><BR/>Revolution, especially and definitely a socialist revolution which aims the overthrow of ALL existing social relations and deep, profound changes to life in general, can not be so narrow as to wait around for some union shop stewards to get their head out of their ass.<BR/><BR/>“The logo of the youth group is multiracial. If the white guy was on the side, it would be OK?” <BR/><BR/>I’m just curious. Why is the white guy always in the lead? I could remove the lettering and it would look a hell of lot like Apartied South Africa propaganda. Just a comradely prod to think of something more revolutionary ; ) <BR/><BR/>“The GPCR was Mao unleashing thugs on his political rivals.”<BR/>That’s a whole lot of fucking political thugs. In Marxist terms it might be called a revolutionary movement, even wave. Was Lenin just a red gangster too, picking on up standing citizens like Kerensky?<BR/><BR/>“Do you think FARC could win by itself, without the help of workers. That group doesn't even call for socialism.”<BR/><BR/>I respectfully concede on this point. FARC is a mixed bag and difficult to fully uphold. Still I defend them from some of the more audacious reactionary lies, but the truth is they have made grace errors.<BR/><BR/>“During the election your blog had a vague call for activism, in light of the Obama campaign. Is Obama part of the "block of 4 classes?"<BR/><BR/>Nope. But something <A HREF="http://hopefrompeople.com" REL="nofollow">like this</A> might be. <BR/><BR/>There are two organizations with the name Freedom Road Socialist Organization. <BR/><BR/>Fight Back! pretty much takes an orthodox Stalinist position. I would imagine my name would be mud in their company, yet I will have deep respect for their union and internationalism work. In the same regard I respect Ted Grant for his precision analysis of Stalinst decay in the USSR.<BR/><BR/>You said: “I can't wait for Celticfire to explain Maoist attitudes toward Chinese national minorities under Mao.”<BR/><BR/>I’m not sure what you’re asking about here—Tibet? Elaborate please. <BR/><BR/>RE said “The idea of national liberation is obsolete, in a world capitalist economy. What if Puerto Rico didn't belong to the US? It still would need ties to the US. I think Puerto Rico should have the right to do what they want. I also think smart choices should be encouraged as socialism.”<BR/><BR/>I fundamentally disagree, and would point out that you and Bob Avakian end up on the same page. Avakian doesn’t really support self-determination, but in Stalinist fashion, words of self-determination but not in practice and he pretty much admits this.<BR/><BR/>Is national liberation “obsolete” for Palestine, or Ireland? <BR/><BR/>I think unraveling the white-supremacist basis for this country will mean breaking up the basis for that oppression, in this case, national oppression. <BR/><BR/>Why didn’t the panthers take up Trotskyism? Because it didn’t offer them anything related to their specific conditions of oppression. Trotskyism was a “European” thing. <BR/><BR/>This is not to say there aren’t some problems with Stalin’s definition of a nation ("a historically constituted, stable community of people, formed on the basis of a common language, territory, economic life, and psychological make-up manifested in a common culture") because there are some shortcomings, but in this regard, theoretically at least, he was right. In practice Stalin was a national chauvinism.<BR/><BR/>We can talk about MIM’s Maoism in the same way we can talk about LaRouche’s Trotskyism – it’s a joke.<BR/><BR/>Renegade Eye says “Trotsky was known to be more European in outlook, as opposed to Russian nationalist or Asiatic.” All too true. He was an intellectual chic revolutionary who was too cool to hang with the dirty unwashed backward peasants like Mao. <BR/><BR/>John Peterson wildly claims that the rights of self-determination as they apply the oppressed Black population “represented an abandonment of the Marxist definition of the term” (quoting the terrible Black Struggle and the Socialist Revolution, WIL)<BR/><BR/>I fundamentally (and I emphasize, fundamentally) disagree. The works of Harry Haywood, Malcolm X, Robert Williams, Huey Newton, and Assata Shakur all identify with the need and DEMAND of a separate Black nation, Azania. Interesting to note also is that all these revolutionaries spoke admiringly of Mao Zedong and his leading role in providing guidance and inspiration to national liberation struggles.<BR/><BR/>But leave it to Trotskyists to tell them there wrong because it ain’t “European” enough.<BR/>Fuck that.<BR/><BR/>I like Tariq Ali and have a soft spot for him since his interviews with John Lennon about being a revolutionary. But that's nostalgia, and not politics per se.celticfirehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14692685782905110663noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11704331.post-52515340698005151682008-12-25T20:30:00.000-06:002008-12-25T20:30:00.000-06:00Celticfire: I found out the avatar was created by ...Celticfire: I found out the avatar was created by a teen, based on a Soviet poster.<BR/><BR/>I wouldn't call anarchism ultraleft per se. There are some libertarians, who are rightist as well. Atleast the anarchists, deal with the problem of the state, unlike Maoists in Nepal, or Mao himself.<BR/><BR/>I don't think it's smart to give blanket solidarity, to hooliganism in Greece. The outrage needs proper channeling. Without a political program and revolutionary leadership, the movement is bound to fail. You know that as well as I do. <BR/><BR/>There is no such thing as revisionism. It is Stalinism and social democracy that are playing their usual role.<BR/><BR/>At St. Paul during the RNC we saw both rightist and left errors. The Maoist FRSO leading "Dump McCain" slogans, and the social anarchist adventurism. There was two coalitions. They had an agreement not to attack each other. More democratic would have been for the whole community to agree on one program, with majority rule.<BR/><BR/>I think its been awhile, since Tariq Ali thought of himself as Trotskyist.Frank Partisanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03536211653082893030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11704331.post-90439703192427394752008-12-25T19:30:00.000-06:002008-12-25T19:30:00.000-06:00Hi Larry,That’s awesome and very admirable that yo...Hi Larry,<BR/><BR/>That’s awesome and very admirable that you have a friend that was in Mujeres Libres. I didn’t say Larry that the Trotskyists were successful, as I said, it was there <I>intention and plan</I> to do so, obviously it did not work out. <BR/><BR/>Anarchism, generally is an expression of ulta-leftism, and one of the reasons it never produces empirical results. That doesn’t mean there aren’t significant and sharp exceptions – I’m in Portland where Bring the Ruckus is big, and they definitely are an exception. Being a youngin’ myself in SDS there’s a number of them, especially aligned with the ParEcon thinking, that’s essentially an ultraleftist line on economic matters. I’m not saying anarchists are counter-revolutionary or something absurd like that (the opposite, actually) but that anarchism (like all other revolutionary ideologies at this time) suffers from distinct errors. Overall I don't think anarchism offers strategies or organizing methods that can unite broad masses for revolutionary transformation. <BR/><BR/>(I recommend reading <A HREF="http://leftspot.com/blog/?q=afterwinter" REL="nofollow">After Winter Must Come Spring</A>) but anarchists to find themselves sparking movements where communists fail to (like right now in Greece where revisionists are denouncing the anarchists and students in ridiculous fashion because the “working class movement” isn’t involved.)<BR/><BR/>I unite with the anarchists in Greece.<BR/><BR/>That said, I respect Tariq Ali, but he too reflects Eurocentrism. Not being from the first world doesn't mean de facto you're not Eurocentrist, as beign a woman means you're not automatically not a woman hater. Because as bell hooks will tell you, there are women that hate women.celticfirehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14692685782905110663noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11704331.post-76655913449735211132008-12-25T03:29:00.000-06:002008-12-25T03:29:00.000-06:00Larry G: I think you'll like reading this. Our do...Larry G: I think you'll like reading <A HREF="http://www.marxist.com/black-struggle-and-socialist-revolution.htm" REL="nofollow">this</A>. Our document about the Afro American struggle, and how we approach nationalism etc. It includes differences with the SWP. It was mostly written by John Peterson.<BR/><BR/>It destroys the old Stalinist lines about the Black Nation in the South etc.<BR/><BR/>I don't think solidarity movements that are third world cheerleaders, have use for anyone. <BR/><BR/>I can't wait for Celticfire to explain Maoist atitudes toward Chinese national minorities under Mao.<BR/><BR/>I think the SWP positions were incorrect, but you are correct, they kept alive Malcolm X's ideas better than anyone. After you read JP's document, I think you'll have a new understanding of the SWP line.<BR/><BR/>The idea of national liberation is obsolete, in a world capitalist economy. What if Puerto Rico didn't belong to the US? It still would need ties to the US. I think Puerto Rico should have the right to do what they want. I also think smart choices should be encouraged as socialism.<BR/><BR/>Pagan: Trotsky was known to be more European in outlook, as opposed to Russian nationalist or Asiatic.Frank Partisanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03536211653082893030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11704331.post-57645187747061169442008-12-25T01:10:00.000-06:002008-12-25T01:10:00.000-06:00All this talk about Eurocentrists has me confused....All this talk about Eurocentrists has me confused. If I didn't know better I'd swear you were talking about the liberal wing of the Democratic Party or the moderate wing of the Republican Party, or both. <BR/><BR/>I should have known you were talking about Trotskyists, though, since Gambone defended them. With the two I mentioned, it's too blatantly obvious for there to be a rational defense. <BR/><BR/>No, this is not an attempt at comic relief.SecondComingOfBasthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03336586430250490679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11704331.post-6629742558128781022008-12-25T00:54:00.000-06:002008-12-25T00:54:00.000-06:00The Union Anarchiste formed a united front with Tr...The Union Anarchiste formed a united front with TrotskyISTS, not Trotsky - sorry for the typo.<BR/><BR/>I wonder how Tariq Ali and Hugo Blanco would react to being called 'Eurocentric"? I also wonder why a bunch of "Eurocentrists" would have a significant influence in Sri Lanka, Bolivia, Peru and Argentina (and today Pakistan) ?<BR/><BR/>I also remember the US SWP was at the forefront of support for the African American struggle. The first pamphlet I read on Malcolm X was by them. They also were the main force in support of the Cuban Revolution - as was the group that I was a sympathizer of in 1967 - the League for Socialist Action (Canadian 4th Int. section)Larry Gambonehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04965037776214596919noreply@blogger.com