>A socialist revolution is a political project of self-emancipation
>of the proletariat -- whether you succeed or fail, it's undeniably
>your own project. In contrast, to argue for "a massive
>reconstruction and development program," as things stand now, is to
>pray for the ruling class's sense of mercy, generosity, noblesse
>oblige, civilizing mission, or something like that.
They've got the money and the organizational resources to do it. If there were sufficient popular pressure coming from the US and the rest of the world it's conceivable it could happen - not out of noblesse oblige, but because the ruling class has been forced to. And if the demand were met - a very big subjunctive, I know - it would be a political gain for the forces that made the demand, and more importantly, a gain for the people of Afghanistan.
Besides, whatever happened to that old Trot strategy of making impossible demands? Not a bad idea in my book.
Doug