Solidarity & "Humanitarian" Imperialism (was Re: Yoshie's dearth of femal...

JKSCHW at aol.com JKSCHW at aol.com
Sat Mar 18 19:14:36 PST 2000


In a message dated 00-03-18 20:38:42 EST, you write:

<< Tim Marshall acknowledged, the issue of whether to call for "peace-keepers"

has been a sore point among Solidarity activists. In fact, the panel left

the issue undiscussed, in that no consensus was likely to emerge and that

it was likely very divisive. Unlike the Dissentoids, Solidarity couldn't

bring itself to clearly endorsing "humanitarian" imperialism; on the other

hand, Solidarity couldn't clearly reject the rhetoric & practice of

"peace-keeping." For instance, at the Solidarity Youth conference, the

workshop on East Timor was led by a woman field organizer from ETAN Kristin

Sundell, who argued for UN "peace-keeping" >>

You know Soli doesn't have lines in general, beyond the 12 point boilerplate commitment to good left causes. You might as well infer, from talking to Soli member Frank Thompson any myself, that Soli supports market socialism. In fact it does not; it has members that do, like us (a minority). Likewise with "humanitarian" imperialism, which some Soli members may support, and others--like me--oppose. One of the things about being a nonline org us that we din't in fact have lines on what other groups have considered make or break issues. That may help account for whyw e are still here when many others, rigorous in their purity, are not. --jks



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