Nandor Tanczos on NZ greens

Russell Grinker grinker at mweb.co.za
Fri Dec 17 02:45:28 PST 1999


My rather blunt NZ correspondent replies to Nandor...

-Russell

You might email that list in response to Nandor and ask how the German Greens' participation in the German imperialist government represents 'non-hierarchical' organising principles and whether the bombers which so many European Greens so enthusiastically supported laying waste to chunks of Serbia flew in 'non-hierarchical' formation and their crews operated by consensus and the bombs they dropped were somehow 'non-hierachical' and 'consensual'.

What a load of friggin' bullshit.

Nandor wrote:


>The only two points I consider worth concerning myself with are:
>
>1/ Do the Green represent radical social change?
>I doubt any political party will ever represent radical social
>transformation. In fact I would say by definition they cannot.
>Radical transformation I believe would mean the destruction of the
>kinds of hierarchical power systems that nation states depend on.
>
>I try to be very clear when talking about the Greens that the answer
>to our problems does not lie in voting Green. It lies in the
>transformation of everyday life. However, having Greens in government
>can help that process, given the tendency of green politics towards
>non hierarchical forms of organisation and a preoccupation with
>making decisions at the lowest possible level.
>
>I would also say that the radical transformation of society does not
>lie in old school left wing politics. It lies in a fundamental change
>in our relationship to each other and to the world around us.
>Destruction of the life support systems of the earth (whether in
>pursuit of jobs or share dividends in the short term), exploitation
>of other people both within our locality and globally, destruction of
>our human communities and the social webs we depend on, and the
>torture and murder of other people and species all result, I think,
>from a fundamental error: that somehow we are separate from the world
>around us, other people, the forests that give us oxygen, other
>species of animals, the air and water......
>
>We must as a matter of urgency begin to look at our planet and its
>inhabitants as a part of, and made up of infinitely complex,
>interconnected systems. The desire for social justice, non violence,
>participatory democracy and ecological wisdom can then be seen as
>simple self interest.



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