><< 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.
I think that it's a great idea to try to unify all who can be unified, for instance, by not having a fixed party line on such things as market socialism. You think market socialism is the way to go, while I'm leery of it (especially based upon the Yugoslav experience); but we are still comrades, for we agree on many other things leftist. A political party needs capacious room for lively disagreements for it to sustain itself and grow, especially at this point in history. But, you know, for a party that struggles for socialism of some kind, there must be some political principles on which no compromise is possible, and I think of opposition to "humanitarian" imperialism as one of such principles. Can't Solidarity add this one to the 12-point program?
Yoshie