alanjjohnstone
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i think many members of the Socialist Party have learned is never to trust in language and how political views are expressed. You may well be right that some still feel that there is a potential with Left Unity for genuine expression and i am too much of a cynic but all i see is confusion.http://internationalsocialistnetwork.org/index.php/ideas-and-arguments/organisation/left-unity/116 “A revolutionary party is not the vanguard of the class by virtue of its ideas, but instead revolutionaries aim to relate to the vanguard of the class, namely its most advanced, conscious elements, and unite them in a common organisation.” This is quite meaningless to me.We appear to have the “vanguard of the class” and it is not because of the ideas that they represent that they are the vanguard but because they are defined to be “in struggle” (“strikes and occupations to anti-cuts campaigns and bedroom tax protests” ) But aren’t we all involved in one way or another with the class struggle? Those holding the most reactionary of politics of my postal colleagues were often at the fore-front of our strikes. It is not a life-style choice but an objective reality for workers that we cannot hide from. And the distinguishing factor is a differing consciousness specifically because of ideas and not simply of the action that is engaged in. It is acknowledged in this contradictory paragraph “…the task of revolutionaries is to win those sections of the class engaged in struggle to revolutionary methods and ideas, not through abstract propaganda, or by somehow manoeuvring themselves into leading positions in the movement, but by uniting with them in common organisations with common objectives, and winning them to a revolutionary programme through argument…” (my emphasis)Anyways we can always hope against expectation that miraculous events may transpire within Left Unity and the Peoples Assembly. Again this should probably be on the Left Unity thread.
Another article by a Syrian blogger well worth the read and i'm pretty sure it will not be getting any links to it by the mainstream media.“Nietzsche once said, "Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster.”" That has proved to be very prophetic in the Syrian scenario…To us, a rebel fighting against tyranny doesn’t commit the same sort of crimes as the regime he’s supposed to be fighting against. He doesn’t loot the homes, businesses and communities of the people he’s supposed to be fighting for. Yet, as the weeks went by in Aleppo, it became increasingly clear that this was exactly what was happening.”http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/05/syria-revolution-aleppo-assad.html “So who was “us,” and why did we feel that we were any different or better? Well, by “us” I mean, and at the risk of sounding rather elitist, the civil grassroots opposition movement in Aleppo, who for months were organizing peaceful protests and handing out aid at considerable danger and risk to our own lives. “We” truly believed in the higher ideals of social and political change, and tried to emulate them. We tried to model ourselves on the civil rights movement of the US in the 1960s, Mandela’s struggle against apartheid, and the teachings of Gandhi: precisely what similar civil movements in other Arab Spring countries such as Tunisia and Egypt had done before. For “us,” a revolution was a slow, deliberate and committed struggle for change. Like water drops repeatedly beating down on a boulder, eventually we would break it. But for “them,” well, their idea of change was throwing a ton of TNT at that boulder and having it, and everything around it, blown to smithereens. "We,” well, we mostly came from the educated urban middle class of the city. We came from all walks of life, all sects and all areas, and we didn’t care.We never asked where that guy or girl was from or what they worshiped. Each one of us gave and contributed what we could, in the capacity we could. The leader of our group was a young Christian lawyer, a very active and dedicated young woman. The rest of the volunteers in our group were a microcosm of Syrian society; veiled girls, Shiite boys, rich kids and poor working class all working together for ideals we strongly shared and believed in.”“Whatever is left of Syria at the end will be carved out between the wolves and vultures that fought over its bleeding and dying corpse… “
Been a while anything has been added to this thread. Perhaps Occupy is dead, or as some of their activists proclaim , now re-directed and active in specific particular aspects of resisting capitalism…as i sid in one post – regressed back to single issues having just joined the dots and identified the whole economic system as culpable. This article offers another post-mortem centred on the views of David Graeber. http://www.alternet.org/occupy-wall-street/anarchists-vs-liberals-whats-about?paging=off “Liberals tend to be touchy and unpredictable because they claim to share the ideals of radical movements—democracy, egalitarianism, freedom—but they’ve also managed to convince themselves that these ideals are ultimately unattainable. For that reason, they see anyone determined to bring about a world based on those principles as a kind of moral threat.” – Graeber The article highlights how “At the core of much of Graeber’s book is a dubious belief that process itself is more important than any particular issue. Graeber, a member of the OWS facilitation group, rhapsodizes about the general assembly, which operated by consensus with “at least two facilitators, one male, one female, one to keep the meeting running, the other to ‘take stack’…We discussed hand signals and non-binding straw polls or ‘temperature checks.’” The article pointed out that “Horizontal decision making at general assemblies and small groups could go on for hours. Far from being democratic, the time-consuming process discriminated against people with jobs, those who had to take care of children or sick people, those with health problems of their own and those unfamiliar with anarchist culture and jargon, among others. Just as is the case with liberal structures, horizontalism encourages democracy in some contexts and dampens it in others…Graeber is not clear about what happens when anarchists “with a small a” don’t like a decision made by a larger group of people via the consensus process.” The structure of Occupy’s democracy was also the core of many of those within the WSM crticisms and was expressed in a number of discussion posts. The article repeats the folly of equating no leadership with structurelessness which was indeed stated in Socialist Stnadard article if i remember correctly. (I find it mildly amusing that one ex-member’s enthusiasm for Occupy’s style of democracy has evolved into support for a left-wing united front which endeavours to create another political party by participants possessing principles of top-down decision-making and who sadly have not presented any self-criticism of such policies they hold but in fact desire to replicate them within Left Unity) We would take issue with the article in that the wau forward was formulating reform demands and formally engaging with reformists. But our slant on anti-reformism is not touched upon in any depth by this critique of the anarchist no-compromise, no-surrender version of anti-reformism.
As in the debate with class and the creation of a class calculator, the media offers excellent and effective means to convey a message that woud be worthwhile for ourselves to copy.Surely, it is not beyond the capabilities of some of our more skilled and talented members to create similar flow-diagrams…a modified one of this for starters, incorporating Adams criticisms but also on other topics and having it placed in our educational section.Naturally, it may mean these members re-prioritising, for a time, what they already do and accomplish for the party.We should always be searching for easy straight forward methods of explaining our case and with economics we all know how it can be a struggle to understand all the various conflicting and sometimes complementary theories. A graphic illustration can make things clearer than just text or even a lecture could.Just a suggestion…shoot it down if you wish.I have neither the specific knowledge..(but i could acquire that, if the Party wants to be patient)…nor the computer soft-ware to make such a diagram that can go online…(but i could acquire those once i know what is required and search it out) …But i am sure it would be more convenient for another member, or members, more savvy on both these things, to accept the invitation and take up the challenge.Perhaps even one of our many committees that may be covered by such a remit could attempt such a venture. Or possibly a branch could undertake the task if they deem education of sufficient importance to devote themselves to it over and above what they already strive to do.Just a thought.
The UK/US/French position appears to be a minority one, although we would't know it from the BBC news.German Chancellor Angela Merkel officially stated on Wednesday that Germany will ''under no circumstances'' send weapons to rebels in Syria. A group of independent UN experts stated that the majority of the Syrian rebel militants do not fight for democracy.“It was said the rebels were angels, but there is only a minority of fighters with a democratic history who believe in the Syrian mosaic and want a state for all,” Paulo Pinheiro, who took part in UN investigation, told reporters. "The majority of rebels are very far from having democratic thoughts and have other aspirations,” .http://rt.com/news/air-defense-syria-assad-993/Also reported but not widely in the UK media since it doesn't serve the governments propaganda agenda and adding to the evidence that suggested to the UN envoy Del Ponte that oppositionist groups were behind its use, not the Syrian government "12 suspected Al-Nustra members were arrested in southern Turkey and anti-terrorist police seized 2 kilograms of the sarin nerve agent."http://rt.com/news/sarin-gas-turkey-al-nusra-021/But we always should remember in an intelligence propaganda war – all sides lie !!But while Al Jazeera was a valuable resource for anti-war info during the Iraq war, it irepresents Qatar government position in regards to Libya and now Syria. It appears we need to make more use of the Russian media but who themselves are more sympathetic to Assad.Oh, for the day we have our own WSM observers on the ground reporting!! Who fancies Damascus for their Summer hols?
I see that Tim Yeo appears to have joined the ranks of those who decline to blame human [capitalist] activity as a cause of climate change.http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/climatechange/10086694/Tim-Yeo-humans-may-not-be-to-blame-for-global-warming.htmlIt seems from this Australian university research that such denial is common amongst free-marketeers.http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/04/22/1902101/study-finds-free-market-ideologues-doubt-climate-science-yet-buy-conspiracy-theories/?mobile=ncThe authors also state : " if an overwhelming scientific consensus cannot be accepted as the result of researchers independently converging on the same evidence-based view, then the very existence of the consensus calls for an alternative explanation."Thus, we have the basis of a conspiracy !!
Oh, i am sure that Russia support for Assad has a lot to do with the fact that it is Syrian ports that permit its Mediterranean warships safe harbour facilities.I also think that Canada's neutrality is because of its staunchly pro-Israel stance in not permitting any possibility of leakage of arms to its enemies.Little mention of the boost of American military personnel in Jordan.Nor is there any doubt why the Russian diplomats are insisting on Iran having a key seat in the up-coming "peace" conference.It is rarely mentioned that Syria is an ex-French protectorate and was invaded by the British during WW2 to replace the Vichy authorities.I have been reading quite a lot of criticism of Fisk's position for having the temerity of questioning the motives of Hezbollah, an organisation he has always exposed over the years as a Iranian proxy. He simply pointed out that the self-defence and liberation of the miniscule bit of Lebanon that the Israelis still occupy justification for its military wing is exposed for what it is with their intervention in Syria – utter cant.But I see on another topic that the Brits have their own "Guantanamo Bay" in Afghanistan. Also the BBC ensuring the army position is sympathised with."British soldiers in Helmand will have welcomed the comments by Defence Secretary Philip Hammond on the BBC today that the only alternative to holding prisoners was to "release them onto the battlefield".http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22699473
A few more links from my own blog where i think my point on the threat of militarisation of protests were made ( not on SOYMB, it appears)http://mailstrom.blogspot.com/2012/06/syria-all-hope-not-yet-lost.htmlhttp://mailstrom.blogspot.com/2012/12/the-non-violent-class-warriors.html
http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/05/28/how-obama-and-al-qaeda-became-syrian-bedfellows/An article on the US role in arming the Jihadists. Oxfam : “Sending arms to the Syrian opposition won’t create a level playing field. Instead, it risks further fueling an arms free-for-all where the victims are the civilians of Syria. Our experience from other conflict zones tells us that this crisis will only drag on for far longer if more and more arms are poured into the country.”It seems that Hague/Hollande think that lifting the arms embargo is a negotiating ploy to force concessions out of Assad pre-international conference. The Russians have countered with their own version of lifting the arms embargo with anti-aircraft missiles to Syria as a warning not to try another Libya ….more effective missiles will most likely provoke more Israel intervention…Fisk a long-time observer and always very much a cynic of Hezbullah motives in Lebanon when the Trots were all declaring we are all Hezbullah describes the threat from them in widening the conflicthttp://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/hezbollahs-war-in-syria-threatens-to-engulf-lebanon-8632689.htmlPar for the course, the BBC (and Guardian) repeats UK government propaganda as if the whole Iraq disinformation experience had not happened and lessons from Libya/Mali have never been learned…Once more we have to go in search of contrary views from the alternatives to the mainstream media websites.What annoys me most is that when this all began with peaceful protests groups opposed the support of foreigners or even exiles, that they warned of the consequences of militarisation of the protests.Apologists for Assad conveniently forget that he brought this upon himself with his suppression of democracy.http://socialismoryourmoneyback.blogspot.com/2011/08/revolution-without-leaders.htmlhttp://socialismoryourmoneyback.blogspot.com/2012/04/syrian-struggle-for-democracy-is-on-two.htmlhttp://socialismoryourmoneyback.blogspot.com/2013/01/syria-plague-upon-both-houses.html
I'm not sure if this is just a bit of clever placement of "establishment" news such as we had in the General Strike with police v strikers football or a genuine sincere Xmas Day Truce 1st World War game of footie between Brits and Huns but worth noting.Tea and biscuits and a game of football between mosque and EDLhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-22689552Nevertheless, it is an echo of our own approach that the solution to political violence is not counter-violence but a reasoned rational response, not demonisation
Social Democracy is another description of ourselves that has become a "dirty" word.No matter how we try to qualify it …Commonwealth too has been corrupted into meaning the ex- British Empire."Real existing socialism" is now a description used by those who believed what they had in the Eastern Bloc was socialism."True socialism" is what Marx and Engels attacked in the communist manifesto.One ex-Edinburgh branch member thought up the name Whoopee Party to describe his celebratory-style politics.
As one Edinburgh branch comrade often reminds us, with patience and perserverance its possible to piss a hole through stone.The sale of Standards should not be the guage of success, but the numbers of passer-bys who see the stall and come to recognise and associate it with the words socialist party.
Channel 4 reported that There are approximately 100,000 rebel fighters in Syria, and as many as half of those may be regarded as jihadists – fundamentalist fighters who believe that they are fighting a holy war. http://www.channel4.com/news/syria-rebels-jihadist-nusra-war-assad-free-syria-army How many are Syrian or foreign fighters? However the substance of the claim that the UK, US, EU and their Arab League allies are providing them i don’t think can be disputed. This article mentions the figure 10,000 Islamistshttp://www.dw.de/murky-allegiances-for-jihadists-in-syria/a-16739076 According to this report 5,500 foreigners have joined the civil war in less than two years. That does not include Syrians.http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/9970074/Syria-becoming-new-cradle-for-foreign-extremists-research-warns.html Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said “It’s no longer just a few hundred al Qaeda affiliated people. It’s a substantial number of radical extremists that have come from all over the world,” According to Der Spiegel humanitarian mission is the euphemism foreign jihadists use when they try to explain their presence in Syria. But we now have the Lebanese Hezbullah openly involved in hostilities for Assad. But jihadists is another of these words that has become commonly used in recent and could mean anything to anybody.
It is not particularly recent.We should not forget that many Afro-American militants in the 60s and 70s chose Islam and to become Black Muslims.Malcom X and, of course, the most famous of them all, Cassius Clay, Mohammed Ali. But there is also the extremist black nationalist Louis Farrakhan.They chose Islam to break with what they considered to be the slave religion – Christianity. A naive re-writing of history of Islam's own connections with Africa's slavery and the slave-trade. But also from a belief that racism did not exist within Islam that doesn't bear out from the divisions between black and Arab North Africans.It is unconnected but in south India along the Malibar coast, Islam was the religion many Hindu's adopted since it supposedly freed them from the caste system. However the reality is that caste followed them into their new religion and this has also applied to the Christian converts from Hinduism.It's a cliche but they always say converts are the most committed…requiring to prove themselves more than those born into a religion.
Not an ideal article but SOYMB has done a critique of Islam here.http://www.socialismoryourmoneyback.blogspot.com/2013/04/sunday-sermon-islam.html
