Re: [OPE] Challenging the Left on Libya

Jerry,

I remain implacably hostile to the Marxist and Trotskyist oppressor class,
who...

- impose their schemes for revolution and liberation on other countries,
- tell other countries what is good for them and what they are capable of,
without even being asked for advice,
- theorize how foreign countries should conform to the laws of motion of
their own Marxist party,

...precisely because in doing so, they are still stuck within the framework
of imperialist thought and action. Anti-imperialism and internationalism
start at home, with what your own government, people and corporations are
doing in their foreign, ethnic and immigration policies. The Marxist
exploiters never understand that, they are always speechifying about
far-away countries about which they know nothing.

That "superradical" guy McGhee has absolutely no basis for saying anything
about the regime that will emerge out of Gaddafi's eventual downfall. We
simply do not know for sure, it is not an "inevitable law of motion". But we
can be sure that, if the new regime was no better at all than the last one,
as he implies, that this would discredit the NATO intervention force even
more. So if Gaddaffi's regime is overthrown, then there exists very strong
pressure to create a new regime much better than the old. Not only that, it
emboldens the NATO powers to intervene more, and more directly, in the
affairs of other countries.

Just because a few people hoisted a monarchy flag obviously does not really
tell you anything about the substance of the opposition to Gaddafi. Similar
things happened in Egypt (the old Egyptian flag was hoisted) but it was more
a gesture of contempt for the ruler's reign as well as of patriotism quite
independently of the ruler's nationalism. People wanted to say that they
appreciated their country quite independently of the dictator.

Any revolution involves a battle of symbols, and different warring parties
try out different symbols. This was already noted by Marx among others. But
the point is to understand what is behind the symbols, not be fooled by
them.

Jurriaan

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Received on Mon Mar 21 11:24:48 2011