-----Original Message-----
From: Kelley <kwalker2 at gte.net>
>i have been pushing people to address their claims that the left must fight
>(violently) fascists with their failure to acknowledge that these folks are
>proto-fascists. what you're asking is that we allow the forces of fascism
>to emerge because it is apparently only that crisis that will be THE
>contradiction that will force a viable, strong left to emerge.
>
>that's fine with me. i want certain people to speak honestly and directly
>about that instead of hiding it.
Well, Kelley, in the first place, I don't think people like the Taliban, the Saudi family, or the Islamic republic of Iran -are- fascists in any reasonable sense. But they aren't progressives, and I have no trouble labeling the Taliban and the Saudi family as reactionaries. But what is this business of allowing the forces to emerge? They DID emerge. The U.S. government helped them emerge. So now what? Who is going to put them back in the bottle? The U.S. government again?
The choice is not between U.S.-supported democracy today and reactionaries tomorrow. The choice is between reactionaries today, backed up by the U.S., and "somebody" tomorrow, possibly including reactionaries, but -without- U.S. backing. The second is better than the first! And two more points:
(a) this business of welcoming fascism in order to provoke a crisis that will advance the left is an old European ultraleft idea, but it's not mine. What I'm talking about is allowing the ordinary forces of national development to proceed.
(b) as to forcing the left to emerge, the left emerged in the Middle East long ago, and it is only the U.S. and its local satraps which have forced it back underground. From 1978 to 1992 there was a secular government in Afghanistan, which was like a golden age compared to the Taliban. Furthermore, as Carrol emphasized, and as I re-emphasize, the 'empire' is not going to go away tomorrow. There is a very long struggle ahead, and it's entirely possible that the left will re-emerge IN THAT STRUGGLE. By the time the empire really DOES retreat, there may be much better successors on the scene than the royal Saudis and the Taliban.
lp