Heartfield defining, reply to Max

paula laflame at mindspring.com
Sat Nov 13 15:54:09 PST 1999


At 06:36 PM 7/2/99 +0100, you wrote:
>Max wrote,
>
>"Funny you don't sound like a libertarian. Louis has been posting
>the most awful stuff about LM on PEN-L. Nor are you a communist.
>So besides smart and interesting, what are you?"
>
>You're too kind. I appreciate that the trajectory of LM magazine, one I
>had a hand in, strikes a lot of people as a bit odd. But the truth is
>that the times are a bit odd, if one pays attention to what has changed.
>
>My own orientation is as anti-establishment as it has always been. But
>the difference is that there is a new establishment in place. Today's
>establishment has borrowed a lot of the rhetorical tropes and themes
>that were once the property of the left.
>
>That has meant a lot of one-time radicals have been swept up in
>"humanitarian" imperialism, or "anti-racist" policing strategies. But my
>orientation has always been anti-state, for working class independence.
>
>So I'm not afraid of being called a libertarian. I appreciate that in
>the US especially (we have never had 'libertarian' candidates in British
>elections) that seems like a synonym for pro-capitalist. But liberty was
>never a goal that should have been surrendered to the right anyway.
>
>The way I see it the most important single struggle today is against
>state intervention, whether in the Balkans, on the streets or in the
>home.
>
>And speaking as someone who's political education was Capital Reading
>Groups as much as it was campaigning, I never saw the struggle against
>state power as any different from the struggle against Capital. I've
>always been a fan of the German state derivation theorists, Altvater and
>Hirsch, for the way they made that very point. The state is the ideal,
>total capitalist.
>--
>Jim heartfield

Jim, I've never put it into words, but what you're saying here has been bothering me for years. How to advocate that, ok, first off, everybody lives a comfortable life. I mean that's what my philosopy boils down to on the level of acceptable conversation with "normal people".(not you guys) It's tough to be anti-government when out here. In the Rube Gallery that means, well we know what it means. Everybody I speak to, almost, has these feelings, including "nice" people who do not see the inevitable conclusion to their various shades of reaction against the guv. The Big Cigars own the vocabulary and I find it hard to get past that. At least out here in the Gallery.

Plus there's the fact that somebody who runs things is going to take their money and they naturally assume that they will be pauperized by the commies. And nobody wants someone coming and taking all their money. Not even Leftists I'll wager. So it's hard to explain myself. Out here, you know where.

Hey you guys, I can type now! And do lots more stuff, though not enough, on the magic box. I may upgrade after the masses of new Netizens have sated themselves this xmas. Apple? Also I hate my Epson. Makes a lot of noise, shakes, and the ink to print up a simple 'lost cat' flyer, has cost a fortune. Is their a better way? I guess I could have had copies made. Wasn't thinking. Two cats gone. Foul play. 6 weeks of utter despair, but, no booze, so things are groovy. And I haven't given up on the cat's quite yet. One more idea. Hope you all are swell. It's sure nice to come into a small bit of sanity. So does everybody like Apple? Or is a Linuxfordummies in the offing and worth the wait? The wealthy won't be having my problem for long, they're going to be interacting with their SUV's through voice-command. General Magic, that's the talking computor company that ate all my money, and General Motors will be the ISP for the Big Cigars. Say, maybe that's why they deregulated the phone companies? To have a separate communications infrastructure? Sorry, rambling.



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