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The Plough
Vol. 4- No 9
Sunday 25th March 2007
E-mail newsletter of the
Irish Republican Socialist Party
1) Editorial
2) Jailed for wanting a better society
3) Unfair Media?
4) Philip Agee
6) From the Media
a. Activistism-Left Anti-Intellectualism and its Discontents
b. Bolshevism, the Road to Revolution,
7) What’s On?
Editorial
In this edition we carry a rather long piece by three comrades from
the USA entitled “Activistism-Left Anti-Intellectualism and its
Discontents.” The article while dealing with the anti-war movement
has something to say to us in Ireland whether in the anti-war
movement or in republican opposition groups. Many young comrades
come into political activity wanting to do something and so
sometimes rush into a frenetic round of activity including pickets,
marches meetings etc. In the course of all this action they
sometimes forget what it is they are actually trying to achieve and
when the energy runs out and they “burn out” they sometimes walk
away from political struggle disillusioned. They would have been
better to think, read and explore the revolutionary ideas of
Marxism. We also carry a letter from a reader complaining about
references to RSF in the Plough Vol 4-7. To give the readers a
better understanding of the issue we have reprinted the original
statement by the president of RSF along with a response to the
letter. We are also happy to reprint an article from a comrade from
the CPI, which is directly relevant to republicans and gives an
excellent definition of what is a political prisoner.
Jailed for wanting a better society
“A political prisoner is a person who is being jailed for wanting a
better society and fighting for a better life for the people” (Fidel
Castro, 1997).
By Hermann Glaser-Baur
The 17th of March is connected to St. Patrick by most people on
these shores and to St. Gertrud by many on the continent.
When asked about March 18th a majority on both sides of the waters
would probably have to think twice. The old and politically
important significance of the day has been “forgotten”; the
bourgeois media are trying their best to keep it that way.
Until the 1920s the 18th of March was commemorated as “the day of
the commune” because of the start of the uprising in France on March
18th 1871. 25 000 people lost their lives and over 3 000 died in the
prisons of the French ruling class after the bloody defeat of the
commune. Remembering them and the almost 14 000 revolutionaries who
were sentenced to life-imprisonment was a central task of the
commemorations and when the 4th world-congress of the Communist
International decided in 1922 to found the “red-solidarity” movement
(in some countries it was called “red help”), the 18th of March was
chosen as the world-wide day of solidarity with political prisoners.
Despite repeated attempts to ban it, illegalise it and brand mark it
as an invention by the “enemies of the state” and terrorists, the
18th of March remained a day of many huge demonstrations of
solidarity with political prisoners all over the globe. Saco and
Vancetti’s lives couldn’t be saved but others were and the huge
impact of the “red help” made it one of the first organisations to
be banned by the German, the Italian and later the Spanish fascists.
It took until the 1980s until the German “Rote Hilfe” had been
re-built and in 1996 they decided (along with Libertad, an anarchist
group) to re-vitalise the tradition of the day of the political
prisoner. Much needed it is, in a time, when Guantanamo Bay is only
the tip of an iceberg of jails in which people are stripped of any
human rights, tortured and murdered.
In Germany, to give but one example, Christian Klar, one of the
early members of the “red army fraction” (often referred to as the
“Bader-Meinhof group”) has been imprisoned for more than 24 years.
His request for pardon is likely to be refused by the German
president because he sent a message of solidarity to this year’s
Liebknecht-Luxemburg gathering in Berlin. This is been viewed by the
authorities as prove that he is still an enemy of the state.
Imagine: One of the leading “democracies” of the world denies a man
pardon after 24 years in isolation- and high security prison, simply
because he dared to send greetings to a gathering of 80 000 people
who came to remember two working class leaders who had been killed
by elite soldiers of that very state.
Klar’s case is in the centre of the “red help” publication for March
18th this year.
The term political prisoner has been given a strange tinge here in
Ireland. People on either side of the sectarian divide would view
members of “their” community as POWs and political prisoners whereas
those on the other side are often looked upon as gangsters.
Communists have a much clearer definition: “A political prisoner is
a person who is being jailed for wanting a better society and
fighting for a better life for the people” (Fidel Castro, 1997).
Those people need our solidarity on March 18th and beyond –
world-wide.
Unfair Media?
For release
1ú Márta/March 2007
Press Release/Preas Ráiteas From Republican Sinn Fein
Republican Sinn Féin candidates not given fair media coverage
Statement by the President of Republican Sinn Féin Ruairí Ó Brádaigh
Publicity regarding Republican Sinn Féin‚s six candidates in a
similar number of constituencies in the current Six-County elections
have not been given fair coverage by the print media not indeed by
radio or television.
The excuse is that this occurs because the establishment refuses to
recognise us as a party‚, regarding our six candidates as six
Independents‚ and treating them as such. Minority viewpoints are
getting scant or no coverage with the notable exception of Robert
McCartney and his UKUP who is himself standing as a candidate in six
different constituencies.
Republican Sinn Féin is organised throughout Ireland with a national
office in Dublin and another office in Belfast, a monthly newspaper
published without a break for 20 years and a coherent political
philosophy as our election manifesto indicates.
A prime issue in this election is the question of English policing
here. Our election workers continue to be harassed by the RUC/PSNI
as they go about their work.
On last Sunday February 25 our Director of Elections Michael Lavelle
was stopped in Lisnaskea, his car was searched and he was generally
harassed. On Wednesday February 28 as he and the election campaign‚s
Director of Finance JJ McCusker were returning from Belfast,
following a tour of constituencies, they were again stopped on the
M1 near Dungannon, had their car searched and were generally
harassed.
On both occasions the election workers made their positions and
responsibilities clear. Will Martin McGuinness and other Provo
candidates who accept the British police in Ireland, in order to,
“Teach them manners” (Their words) speak out now and condemn such
tactics or do they condone them as an integral part of British rule
which they have agreed to and seek to administer through Stormont?
Ends.
Letter on Comments On Republican Sinn Fein
Hi,
I don't believe your negative comments towards RSF candidates is
very helpful in regards to seeing a united Ireland free of British
imperialist rule. How can you make statements like?
" Republican Sinn Fein’s complaints that they were denied proper
coverage in the media is really a pathetic attempt to hide the
reality that they have little support from republicans within the
nationalist community. Their obsession with “English” as in their
statement of Friday 9th of March, 07 “To consolidate English rule”
and “by unscrupulous English governments.” is a blatant attempt to
appeal to a reactionary form of nationalism playing up people’s
dislike of the English, a view shared by many people world wide. "
(The Plough Vol 4-7)
You should know above any other about media control and it's
effects. Is it not the imperialists that are in control of the
media? I must ask do you have a problem with the fact that some
people have a real aversion to the "English" being in and
controlling Ireland. Is it not a fact it is none other than the
English that conquered, enslaved and continue to do so to this very
day. It is not a fact that the English are the prime target in Eire
simply because it is England that continues to be Eire's master. I
think it is pathetic, after doing your best to demean RSF and their
candidates; you would then throw out a false olive branch stating
that we need to consolidate.
At least RSF hasn't completely given up their stance for an armed
struggle in Ireland as everybody else including yourselves have. I
would think this might be a proper time to quote Mao,
"the power of politics is always won over the barrel of a gun"
sincerely,
Joe Mc Daid
PS. This is coming from a person that is a life long supporter of
Fidel Castro and sees Che Guevara as one of the greatest men in the
history of man. I have fought against imperialism my entire life. Che
didn't believe in giving up the armed struggle.
EDITORIAL RESPONSE.
Joe’s comments are welcome as they provide an opportunity to openly
discuss some issues that are sometimes left alone.
1/ First as regards the media it is true that they are controlled by
pro-imperialist elements. But so what? They were also controlled by
the same elements when provisional Sinn Fein first entered the
electoral field. Despite negative media coverage PSF vote rose and
rose because they tapped into a nerve within the nationalist
population. They engaged with the people. Republicans have always
had to deal with a hostile media. So that’s nothing new. RSF’s vote
was small because they have little support. In West Belfast even the
Workers Party did better than them.
The IRSP experience of RSF itself has not been positive. Their
members have in the past mistakenly accused us of supporting the
Good Friday Agreement. They refuse to work jointly with other
groups. Recently on a white line picket they refused to acknowledge
the presence of IRSP members on the picket. They refused to engage
as an organisation with concerned republicans on policing debates.
This elitist and superior attitude towards other republicans needs
to be attacked politically and does Joe think we should simply
suppress differences and not mention them. Lets have a bit of
honesty here.
2/ We make no apology for attacking the use of the tern “English”
Words are also weapons and these words downplay the actual role of
Imperialism in its world role. To use the term English is to reduce
the struggle in Ireland to an anti-English one. Many of our best
elements of the English working class have supported the right of
the Irish to self –determination. It also downplays the role
British regiments played in the suppression of republicans including
those made up of Scots and Welsh soldiers.
3/ As regards the question of armed struggle perhaps Joe can clarify
RSF’position. I understood that they have no links with anyone else.
They claim to be a stand-alone party with no links to anyone else.
They themselves are not engaged in armed struggle to my knowledge
but do support republican prisoners who have engaged in armed
activity. That being the case one would think they would support all
republican prisoners. But they don’t. Perhaps Joe could explain why
they are selective in which prisoners they support. Might that also
stem from an elitist attitude?
The IRSP position is that there is no basis for armed struggle at
this time. And we have spelt this out clearly on many occasions.
Those who elevate armed struggle to a strategic level regardless of
objective conditions just do not understand revolutionary politics
no matter how many posters of Che they have on the wall. One cannot
separate either Che or Mao from their politics. Both were committed
communists and both also engaged in building socialism as well as
having engaged in armed struggle. Armed struggle with out politics
is the road to defeat demoralisation and destruction.
4/As regards olive branches Joe the position of RSF as regards joint
work is forbidden by Ard-Feis resolution so our suggestions were not
directed at them but to other republicans and socialists. If on the
other hand RSF began to reach out to others then we have no doubt
that the IRSP would be prepared to sit down and openly and honestly
discuss areas of agreement and differences with them.
PRESS RELEASE
PRESS RELEASE - Announcing the Visit to Ireland of Philip Agee
Gerardo Hernandez
Antonio Guerrero
Ramon Libation
Fernando Gonzalez
Rene Gonzalez
Free THE MIAMI Five
Irish National Campaign seeking Justice for the Miami Five
Campaign Update 11 March 2007
PRESS RELEASE
Announcing the Visit to Ireland of Philip Agee
After blowing the whistle on the dirty tactics of his CIA bosses in
the
70s, Philip Agee was forced into exile. Thirty years on he has found
a safe haven in Cuba, but his fight to expose the complicity of
Washington in terrorism goes on.
Free the Miami Five and Cuba Support Group Ireland are pleased to
jointly sponsor the visit to Ireland of this former CIA undercover
agent and author later this month.
Agee is in Ireland to bring attention to the case of the Miami Five
and to promote a new film by Bernie Dwyer and Roberto Ruis called
"One Man's Story: Philip Agee, Cuba and The CIA". This is a follow
up to the filmmaker's previous successful tour of Ireland with their
"Mission against Terror" film, also on the case of the Miami Five.
We are pleased to confirm that all public meetings will be chaired
by very distinguished human rights academics, attesting to the
global profile of the case of the Miami Five and the miscarriage of
justice that has seen them spend eight years in jail in the USA for
seeking, through entirely non-violent means, to prevent terrorist
crimes against
Cuba.
The following is the tour itinerary:
BELFAST Peter Froggatt Centre, Queens University Belfast, 1pm Friday
30
March 2007
- Chaired by Professor Denis O'Hearn
DUBLIN Walton Theatre, Trinity College Dublin, 7.30pm Tuesday 3
April
2007
- Chaired by Professor Ivana Bacik
GALWAY Town Hall Theatre, 8pm Thursday 5 April 2007
- Chaired by Professor William Schabas
Admission free, all welcome.
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2030677,00.html> A
shameful
injustice
Philip Agee
Saturday March 10, 2007
The Guardian
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2030677,00.html>
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2030677,00.html
There is a wave of progressive change sweeping Latin America and the
Caribbean after the many lonely years in which Cuba held high the
torch, with free universal healthcare and education, and world-class
cultural, sports and scientific achievements. Although you won't
find a Cuban today who says things are perfect - far from it -
probably all would agree that compared with pre-revolutionary Cuba,
there is a world of improvement.
George Bush, the antithesis of this process, is now in Brazil at the
start of a mission to lure five countries away from regional
economic integration. However, the many thousands in the streets
demonstrate the region's vast repudiation of Bush and what he stands
for, something polls reflect unanimously.
All Cuba's achievements have been in defiance of US efforts to
isolate Cuba; every dirty method has been used, including
infiltration, sabotage, terrorism, assassination, economic and
biological warfare and incessant lies in the media of many
countries. I know these methods too well, having been a CIA officer
in Latin America in the 1960s.
Altogether nearly 3,500 Cubans have died from terrorist acts, and
more than 2,000 are permanently disabled. No country has suffered
terrorism as long and consistently as Cuba.
The Cuban revolution has always needed intelligence capabilities in
the US for defence purposes, even before it took power in 1959. Such
was the fully justified mission of the Cuban Five, who have been in
jail since 1998 after being convicted of conspiracy to commit
espionage in Miami, where they had no chance of a fair trial. Their
sights were set exclusively on terrorist operations against Cuba -
activities ignored by the FBI - and they neither sought nor received
any classified government information. Their cases are still on
appeal, and will be for years, but their biased convictions rank
with the legal lynching in the 1920s of
Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, the anarchist immigrants,
among the most shameful injustices in US history.
Current US policy can be found in the 2004 report of the Commission
for Assistance to a Free Cuba (updated last year with a secret
annexe). A fundamental goal - the same, I remember, as in 1959 - is
the isolation of Cuba to stop this bad example spreading. If
successful, this would mean no less than annexation by, and complete
dependence on, the US, in fact if not in law. Other goals still
intact are to foment an internal political opposition and economic
hardship, leading to hunger and despair.
Yet nearly 50 years of US economic warfare hasn't worked, even
though
Cubans estimate the cost to them at more than $80bn. After the
freefall in the early 1990s, with the collapse of the Soviet Union,
the economy began to recover in 1995. By 2005 growth was 11.8% and
in 2006 12.5%, the highest in Latin America. Exports of services,
nickel and pharmaceutical and other products are booming, and the US
has not been able to stop this.
In the end efforts to isolate Cuba have failed. Last September Cuba
was elected, for the second time, to lead the Non-Aligned Movement
of 118 countries, and two months later the UN voted for the 15th
consecutive year to condemn the US embargo, by 183 to 4.
In 2007 Cuba has diplomatic or consular relations with 182
countries, and Havana hosts seemingly endless international
conferences. In recent years Cuba's resorts have been attracting
more than 2 million tourists annually. Far from isolating Cuba, the
US has isolated itself.
More than 30,000 Cuban doctors and health workers are saving lives
in 69 countries, many in difficult areas. Meanwhile 30,000 young
people from dozens of countries are studying medicine in Cuba on
full scholarships. All come from areas lacking doctors.
Cuba's literacy programme, known as "Yes I can", has been adopted in
nearly 30 countries, with thousands of Cuban volunteers teaching.
The scheme, conducted in Spanish, Portuguese, English, Creole,
Quechua and Aymara, has helped some 2 million people to read and
write, most of whom continue their education afterwards.
Thanks to this international assistance, Cuban prestige and
influence - and international solidarity with Cuba, - have never
been greater. It was to defend these worthy programmes that the
Cuban Five, unjustly convicted, went to Miami in the 1990s. Freedom
for them should be the cause of everyone for whom human rights and
justice are important, both in the US and around the world; and that
cause can be supported in 300
Free the Five solidarity committees in 90 countries.
Philip Agee, a former CIA secret operations officer, is author of
Inside the Company: CIA Diary. He travels in Cuba and Latin America
as a campaigner, and manages an online travel service to Cuba.
For more detail on Philip Agee see: "The Spy who Stayed out in the
Cold": <http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,1986660,00.html>
http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,1986660,00.html
For a review of the film "One Man's Story: Philip Agee, Cuba and The
CIA" see: <http://www.cubasupport.com/PhilipAgeeTour.html>
http://www.cubasupport.com/PhilipAgeeTour.html
WHO ARE THE MIAMI FIVE?
Five Cubans who were trying to stop Miami based terrorist groups
from carrying out violent actions against the people of Cuba. They
were found guilty of charges ranging from murder to espionage by a
court in Miami, which relied on the evidence of convicted
terrorists. All are innocent of the charges brought against them.
Extensive intimidation of jurists by these same terrorists was a
feature of the trial. They are currently appealing their
convictions.
CAMPAIGN AIMS
The release and exoneration of the five victims of this obvious
miscarriage of justice.
CAMPAIGN DEDICATION
The campaign is dedicated to the memory of the 3,478 Cubans killed
and
2,099 maimed at the hands of US-based terrorists groups since 1959.
CONTACTS
Campaign Chairperson: Eleanor Lanigan - 087 2426755 Secretary:
Simon McGuinness - 087 2360234
POST: 282 Clontarf Road, Clontarf, Dublin 3
E-MAIL: freemiami5@eircom.net WEB SITES: www.
<http://www.freethefive.org> freethefive.org, www.
<http://www.FreeForFive.org> FreeForFive.org, www.cubasupport.com
________________________________________________________________________
From the Media
ACTIVISTISM
Left Anti-Intellectualism and its Discontents
by Liza Featherstone, Doug Henwood & Christian Parenti
http://www.lipmagazine.org/articles/featfeatherstone_activistism.shtml
"We can't get bogged down in analysis," one activist told us at an
antiwar rally in New York a while back, spitting out that last word
like a hairball. He could have relaxed his vigilance. This event
deftly avoided such bogs, loudly opposing the US bombing in
Afghanistan without offering any credible ideas about it (we're not
counting the notion that the entire escapade was driven by Unocal
and Lockheed Martin). But the moment called for doing something more
than brandishing the exact same signs˜ Stop the Bombing and No War
for Oil˜ that activists poked skyward during the first Gulf War.
This latest war called for some thinking, and few were doing much of
that.
So what is the ideology of the activist left (and by that we mean
the global justice, peace, media democracy, community organizing,
financial populist and green movements)? Is the activist left just
an inchoate "post-ideological" mass of do-gooders, pragmatists and
puppeteers? No. The young troublemakers of today do have an ideology
and it is as deeply felt and intellectually totalizing as any of the
great belief systems of yore. The cadres who populate those endless
meetings, who bang the drum, who lead the "trainings" and paint the
puppets, do indeed have a creed. They are activistists.
That's right, activistists. This brave new ideology combines the
political illiteracy of hypermediated American culture with all the
moral zeal of a 19th-century temperance crusade. In this worldview,
all roads lead to more activism and more activists. And the one who
acts is righteous. The activistists seem to borrow their philosophy
from the factory boss in a Heinrich Böll short story who greets his
employees each morning with the exhortation "Let's have some
action." To which the workers obediently reply: "Action will be
taken!"
Activists unconsciously echoing factory bosses? The parallel isn't
as far-fetched as it might seem, as another German, Theodor Adorno,
suggests. Adorno˜who admittedly doesn't have the last word on
activism, since he called the cops on University of Frankfurt
demonstrators in 1968˜nonetheless had a good point when he
criticized the student and antiwar movement of the 1960s for what he
called "actionism." In his eyes this was an unreflective "collective
compulsion for positivity that allows its immediate translation into
practice." Though embraced by people who imagine themselves to be
radical agitators, that thoughtless compulsion mirrors the pragmatic
empiricism of the dominant culture˜"not the least way in which
actionism fits so smoothly into society's prevailing trend."
Actionism, he concluded, "is regressive.... It refuses to reflect on
its own impotence."
It may seem odd to cite this just when activistism appears to be
working fine. Protest is on an upswing; even the post-9/11 frenzy of
terror baiting didn't shut down the movement. Demonstrators were out
in force to protest the World Economic Forum, with a grace and
discipline that buoyed spirits worldwide. The youth getting busted,
gassed and trailed by the cops are putting their bodies on the line
to oppose global capital; they are brave and committed, even heroic.
But is action enough? We pose this question precisely because
activism seems so strong. The flipside of all this agitation is a
corrosive and aggressive anti-intellectualism. We object to this
hostility toward thinking-not only because we've all got a cranky
intellectual bent, but also because it limits the movement's
transformative power. Our gripe is historically specific. If
everyone was busy with bullshit doctrinal debates we would prescribe
a little anti-intellectualism. But that is not the case right now.
The Real Price of Not Thinking
How does activist anti-intellectualism manifest on the ground? One
instance is the reduction of strategy to mere tactics, to horrible
effect. Take for example the largely failed San Francisco protest
against the National Association of Broadcasters, an action that
ended up costing tens of thousands of dollars, gained almost no
attention, had no impact on the NAB and nearly ruined one of the
sponsoring organizations. During a postmortem discussion of this
debacle one of the organizers reminded her audience that: "We had
3,000 people marching through [the shopping district] Union Square
protesting the media. That's amazing. It had never happened before."
Never mind the utter non-impact of this aimless march. The point was
clear: We marched for ourselves. We were our own targets. Activism
made us good.
Thoughtless activism confuses the formulation of political aims. One
of us was on a conference panel during which an activist lawyer went
on about the virtues of small businesses, and the need for city
policy to encourage them. When it was pointed out that enthusiasm
for small business should be tempered by a recognition that smaller
businesses tend to pay less, are harder to organize, offer fewer
fringe benefits and are more dangerous than larger businesses, the
lawyer dismissed this as "the paralysis of analysis." On another
panel, when it was pointed out that Alinsky-style community
organizing is a practical and theoretical failure whose severe
limitations need to be recognized, an organizer and community credit
union promoter shut down the conversation with a simple: "I just
don't want to discuss this."
The antiwar "movement" is perhaps the most egregious recent example
of a promising political phenomenon that was badly damaged by the
anti-intellectual outlook of activistism. While activists frequently
comment on the success of the growing peace movement˜many actions
take place, conferences are planned, new people become activists˜no
one seems to notice that it's no longer clear what war we're
protesting. Repression at home? Future wars in Somalia? Even in the
case of Afghanistan, it turned out to be important to have something
to say to skeptics who asked: "What's your alternative? I think the
government should protect me from terrorists, and plus this Taliban
doesn't seem so great." The movement failed to address such
questions, and protests dwindled.
On some college campuses, by contrast, where the war has been seen
as a complicated opportunity for conversation rather than
sign-waving, the movement has done better. But everywhere, the
unwillingness to think about what it means to be against the war and
how war fits into the global project of American empire has also led
to a poverty of thinking about what kind of actions make sense. "How
can we strategically affect the situation?" asks Lara Jiramanus of
Boston's Campus Anti-War Coalition. "So we want to stop the
humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan˜what does it mean to have that as
our goal? I don't think we talk about that enough."
We're not arguing for conformist ideologies. The impulse to resist
hierarchy and mind-control is one of the more appealing and useful
facets of the new activism. Consider the campus anti-sweatshop
movement, which includes members of the International Socialist
Organization, SDS-type radical democrats, anarchists and
plain-vanilla liberals. This movement's willingness to embrace
radicals and non-radicals alike has been a strength, attracting both
policy wonks and people who like to chain their throats to the
dean's desk. Such flexibility is usually commendable. What bothers
us about activistism as an ideology is that it renders taboo any
discussion of ideas or beliefs, and thus stymies both thought and
action.
Thoughtful people find censorious hyper-pragmatism alienating and
can drop away from organizing as a result. But that's not the only
problem. It's important to encourage better thinking, says Jiramanus,
"so hippie-to-yuppie doesn't happen again." As she points out,
without an analysis of what's really wrong with the world˜or a
vision of the better world you're trying to create˜people have no
reason to continue being activists once a particular campaign is
over. In this way, activistism plus single-issue politics can end up
defeating itself. Activistism is tedious, and its foot soldiers
suffer constant burnout. Thinking, after all, is engaging; were it
encouraged, Jiramanus pleads, "We'd all be enjoying ourselves a bit
more."
Increasingly, there are activists who treat ideas as important. "We
need to develop a new rhetoric that connects sweat-shops˜and living
wage and the right to organize˜to the global economy," says the
University of Michigan's Jackie Bray, an anti-sweatshop activist.
Liana Molina of Santa Clara University agrees: "I think our economic
system determines everything!" But about the student movement's
somewhat vague ideology, she has mixed feelings. "It's good to be
ambiguous and inclusive," so as not to alienate more conservative,
newer or less politicized members, she says. "But I also think a
class analysis is needed. Then again, that gets shady, because
people are like, 'Well, what are you for, socialism? What?'"
The problem is that activists like Molina who are asking the
difficult questions that push into new political terrain are very
often forced to operate in frustrating isolation, without the
support of a community of fellow thinkers.
From Whence Came This Malady?
Steve Duncombe, a Direct Action Network activist, author and NYU
professor, says his fellow activists "think very little about
capitalism outside a moral discourse: Big is bad, and nothing about
the state except in a sort of right-wing dismissal-state as
authoritarian daddy."
Activistism is also intimately related to the decline of marxism,
which at its best thrived on debates about the relations between
theory and practice, part and whole. Unfortunately, much of this
tradition has devolved into the alternately dreary and hilarious
rants in sectarian papers. Marxism's decline (but not death: the
three of us would happily claim the name) has led to wooly ideas
about a nicer capitalism, and an indifference to how the system
works as a whole. This blinkering is especially virulent in the US
where a petit-bourgeois populism is the native radical strain, and
anti-intellectualism is almost hard-wired into the culture. And
because activistism emphasizes practicality, achievability and
implementation over all else, a theory dedicated to understanding
deep structures with an eye toward changing them necessarily gets
shunted aside.
Marxism's decline isn't just an intellectual concern˜it too has
practical effects. If you lack any serious understanding of how
capitalism works, then it's easy to delude yourself into thinking
that moral appeals to the consciences of CEOs and finance ministers
will have some effect. You might think that central banks' habit of
provoking recessions when the unemployment rate gets too low is a
policy based on a mere misunderstanding. You might think that
structural adjustment and imperial war are just bad lifestyle
choices.
Unreflective pragmatism is also encouraged by much of the left's
dependency on foundations. Philanthropy's role in structuring
activism is rarely discussed, because almost everyone wants a grant
(including us). But it should be. Foundations like focused entities
that undertake specific politely meliorative schemes. They don't
want anyone to look too closely at the system that's given them
buckets of money that less fortunate people are forced to bay for.
Nonprofit culture fosters an array of mind-killing practices.
Brainstorming on butcher paper and the use of breakout groups are
effective methods for generating and collecting ideas and/or
organizing pieces of a larger action. However, when used to organize
political discussions these nonprofit tools can be disastrous. More
often than not, everybody says something, breakout groups report
back to the whole group, lists are compiled-and nothing really
happens.
What is to be Done?
Our point is not that there should be less activism. The left is
nothing without visible, disruptive displays of power. We applaud
activism and engage in it ourselves. What we are calling for is an
assault on the stupidity that pervades American culture. This
implies a more democratic approach to the life of the mind and
creating spaces for ideas in our lives and political work.
We're not calling for leadership by intellectuals. On the contrary,
we challenge left activist culture to live up to its
anti-hierarchical claims: Activists should themselves become
intellectuals. Why reproduce the larger society's division between
mental and physical labor? The rousing applause for Noam Chomsky at
the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre was hardly undeserved, but
ideas don't belong on pedestals. They belong in the street, at work,
in the home, at the bar and on the barricades.
We put out this call˜to indulge a bit of activistism lingo˜because
the current moment demands some thinking. With still-wide approval
for Bush and his endless war, waving one's Stop the Bombing sign
from ten years ago won't build a mass movement.
The movement is also undergoing a fascinating rhetorical shift, as
activists reject terms like "anti-globalization," which
emphasized˜not very lucidly˜what they're against, in favor of
slogans like "Another world is possible," which dare to evoke the
possibility of radically different economic arrangements. What would
that other world look like?
Activists must engage that question˜and to do so, they have to do a
better job of understanding how this world really works.
Intellectuals briefing activist groups on some aspect of how things
are often face a tediously reductive question: "That's all very
interesting, but how can we organize around that? What would be the
slogans?"
The spirit we wish to inspire was expressed a few years ago by a
Latin American graduate student. Seeing one of us holding a copy of
Aijaz Ahmad's In Theory, he exclaimed with all seriousness:
"That book is like having an intellectual grenade in your hand.
Hasta la victoria."
In many other countries, activists' tiny apartments are stacked with
the well-thumbed works of Bakunin, Marx and Fanon. We'd like to see
that kind of engagement here. And judging at least from the European
experience, it would pay off even in activistism's own pragmatic
terms: Protests in major European cities routinely dwarf our own,
and activists there have far more influence on mainstream discourse
and even government policy. In the long run, movements that can't
think can't really do too much either.
Bolshevism, the Road to Revolution,
(This book was launched at the book fair in Cuba and is 758 pages
long andwas sold for 50 Cuban pesos. Alan Woods has visited Cuban
previously to launch REASON AND REVOLUTION, the book which he wrote
together with his long-time comrade Ted Grant, published here last
year.
(On March 6, Granma daily ran a FOUR-PAGE LONG FEATURE ANALYSIS of
Iran and U.S. war threats against it, also written by Alan Woods:
http://www.granma.cubaweb.cu/english/news/art19.html Keep in mind
Granma is an eight-page paper and this took up half of the paper.)
==================================================================
GRANMA
February 16, 2007
http://www.walterlippmann.com/docs1175.html
A CubaNews translation by Ana Portela.
Edited by Walter Lippmann.
original:
http://www.granma.cubaweb.cu/2007/02/16/cultura/artic06.html
An instructive book for today’s revolutionaries.
OCTAVIO BORGES
The title, Bolshevism, the Road to Revolution, by the British
writer, Alan
Woods, presented at the Cuban XVI international Book Fair, 2007, is
an instrument of struggle for today’s revolutionaries.
Published by the Friedrich Engels Foundation in Spain, the text
revives original sources of Marxism and demonstrates important means
to conduct a revolutionary process and the fundamental need to count
on a solid vanguard party.
Woods explained that, after the fall of the USSR, reactionary forces
pronounced the death of socialism, communism and Marxism and an
opening up of a period of peace and prosperity, which was soon
broadly disproved by reality.
There is nothing left of these bourgeois illusions today, he
emphasized, adding that, although fierce campaigns of lies still
continue against Marxism, its ideas are still very valid today and
so necessary for the new generations who want to change the world.
According to the considered opinion of the British researcher, any
person who does not know history has no choice but to act in
ignorance. For this reason, it is absolutely fundamental for new
generations to fully know the theories and practice of Marxism,
among which are the need for a party to lead the masses.
He pointed out that this book is for the present and future and
explained that the Bolshevik Party that led the Russian Revolution
was very democratic, alive and bonded to the working class and not
the monster of totalitarianism which the bourgeoisie presents it as.
What’s On?
We won’t pay campaign-Anti-Water rates campaign
7.30pm Monday 26th March
Larne Leisure Centre
Bawnmore, Belfast
7pm Wednesday 28th March
Millgreen Youth Centre
Shankill Rd, Belfast
7pm Thursday 29th March
Shankill Leisure Centre
Coiste na nIarchimí
In Partnership with the Belfast Film Festival presents
Societies In Transition: Policing For The People
Queens Film Theatre
20 University Square, Belfast
Thursday 29th March
10.00 a.m.
Screening of highlights from Barry Curran’s documentary for
Northern Visions/NvTv, ‘Sinn Féin and Policing’ featuring
interviews with Gerry Kelly (SF), Alex Atwood (SDLP,) Anthony
McIntyre (journalist)
and Jude Collins (Broadcaster)
The film will be followed by a panel discussion between
Jim Auld - Community Restorative Justice (Falls Road)
Tom Winston - Alternatives (Shankill Road)
Dawn Purvis - (PUP MLA and member of Policing Board)
Jennifer McCann - (Sinn Féin MLA)
Admission Free - Everyone Welcome
Here are the films that will be screened here at an Chultúrlann as
part of
the Belfast Film Festival.
7.30pm, Monday 26th March - Sacco and Vanzetti, Tickets
£4.50/£3.50
IRISH PREMIERE
7.30pm, Wednesday 28th March - Mise Éire, Tickets £4.50/£3.50
Scannáin ar stair 1916 le léacht beag riomh le Fiontán de Brún
Historical film on 1916 with a short lecture before with Fiontán de
Brún
10.00am & 1.00pm Thursday 29th March - Mise Éire Schools
Screenings,
Tickets £3.50 7:30pm Thursday 29th March - Frongoch £4.50/£3.50
7.30pm Friday 30th March - My Country My Country, Tickets
£4.50/£3.50
Scannán faoi cogadh Iraq a bhain Oscar
An oscar winning film about the Iraq war
Jameson BoxOffice: 02890330443 or you can now book tickets online at
www.belfastfilmfestival.org <http://www.belfastfilmfestival.org>
___________________________________
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The Republican Socialist Youth Movement have re-launched their
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It can be viewed at www.rsym.org.
Republican Socialist Youth Movement. www.rsym.org
An Glór / The Voice
News sheet of Belfast Republican Socialist Youth Movement
January 2007
Circulation: 400
- Brit police never acceptable
- Maghaberry Prison protest continues
- Assets Recovery Agency, a question of money
- Support the Turkish death fast
- Ard Fheis rejects any move towards INLA decommissioning
- Volunteer Davy McNutt RIP
http://www.rsym.org/pdf/magazines/anGlor1.pdf
The Republican Socialist Youth Movement have produced a short video
on the situation concerning Shannon airport and its continued use by
American troops and the CIA. The video can be viewed at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bH0WqJb95l8 .
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To unsubscribe to the
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or john.martinps@virgin.net
It is the policy of the
Plough to acknowledge information and articles from other sources.
The Republican Socialist
Youth Movement have re-launched their website.
It can be viewed at
www.rsym.org
An Glór / The Voice
News sheet of Belfast
Republican Socialist Youth Movement
January 2007
Circulation: 400
- Brit police never
acceptable
- Maghaberry Prison protest
continues
- Assets Recovery Agency, a
question of money
- Support the Turkish death
fast
- Ard Fheis rejects any
move towards INLA decommissioning
- Volunteer Davy McNutt
RIP
http://www.rsym.org/pdf/magazines/anGlor1.pdf
The Republican Socialist
Youth Movement have produced a short video on the situation
concerning Shannon airport and its continued use by American troops
and the CIA. The video can be viewed at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bH0WqJb95l8
Subscribe to the bi-monthly
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