Louis seems to think that verbal bullying prevails in debate, and that he can win by intimidation. Not so; it is a confession of weakness that he feels compelled to argue so stupidly, without bothering to address what his opponent has stated. Perhaps I should have likened him to Gerry Healy rather than to the Sparts, for an appropriate Trotskyist metaphor.
As noted previously, were he to read my letters addressed to him privately, he would see that I have said the opposite of what he wrote. Ward Churchill openly proclaimed his alliance with the CIA -- both in telling me (and many others) of his trip with Brooklyn Rivera to beg money and resources from Eliott Abrams, and in his article with Glenn Morris in Cultural Survival, which explicitly called for an alliance with the CIA.
In some respects, this is a very old political matter, which has split indigenous people for generations. One can only weep in reading the explanations of those who joined the Confederacy, for example -- but cheer those who opposed that alliance and opted to join the slaves in their liberation struggle.
Quite a few activists have asked if I regard Ward as a provocateur (as I and many others do regard Russell Means), usually after he has failed to live up to their political expectations based on reading his publications. I have said in every case that I do not, as I have said to Ward himself. (Socialists who desire verification can easily obtain it; my activities are a matter of record in the movement.) Had I regarded Ward as a provocateur, I would not have sought to debate him in a respected movement journal.
But Ward is not a leftist, either; that is the point.
Like some of the less virtuous members of this list -- and like the people Louis has single out for warnings, which gave rise to my intervention -- Ward has politics that in a few particulars overlap concerns of the left, but he does not share our socialist aims. In those areas, we are obliged to join forces, particularly in struggles that have designated him for leadership, such as the movement to free Leonard Peltier.
This is really no different from any other sort of united front activity, as long as it is understood as such. Alas, for Louis, this seems instead to be a matter of transcendant faith, not susceptible to political evaluation and criticism.
Ken Lawrence