Anti-Capitalizm by any other name ... Jim O'C

Barbara Laurence cns at cats.ucsc.edu
Thu Jun 14 19:07:52 PDT 2001


Way back in May (29th), Ken Gould wrote, "how about The Global Justice Movement," as a name for what may be important to remain nameless, or seen as pure negativity ("anit-globalization"), for a while, I'm not sure.

1. In the constitution (amended), there is already legal justice, much abused, but it's there, and it's been a powerful instrument for movements seeking real legal justice, e.g., substantive due process, which is first raised, in action, in the Scottsboro Boys case, I think. Putting content into the form of "procedural due process." So maybe "social justice" is better, more pointed, an expression used at one time or another all over the world.

2. Ken adds "no justice, no peace." This is a good reminder and we should say it time and time again. First justice, then peace. The bumper stickers in California say, "peace and social justice," the wrong order. The historical origins: French workers were striking all over toward the end of the 19th c. Leon Bourgeois and the Republican Party agreed, "first social justice, then peace," the strikers' slogan. Then came Clemencau, who turned the words around and kicked lots of ass. Temporarily defeating the workers. I believe, but am not sure, that the French CP came out of this reversal of word order, indicating a reversal in state policy on every front.

3. I like "genuine democracy" (rather than "direct," or any other specific modifier). Almost all I've talked with agree. Jim O'Connor



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list