Anti-Imperialism 101 Re: Hitchens quits Nation

Carrol Cox cbcox at ilstu.edu
Sat Sep 28 10:58:32 PDT 2002


Doug Henwood wrote:
>
> Nathan Newman wrote:
>
> >I don't believe in simple "sovereignty" or "self-determination"-- I've
> >repeatedly over the years stated as such. I am an internationalist and a
> >democrat, small d, and the only role for local sovereignty is as a unit of
> >democratic decision-making.
>
> I don't get this. If you accept local sovereignty, the South was
> right to resist federal desegregation orders. Then on what basis was
> it ok to send federal troops in - to enforce national law or by
> appeal to some higher moral law?
>

In an earlier post you suggested Nathan was getting desperate, and that seems accurate. I can't read his mind, or make even a wild guess as to his internal motives -- but from a more general social perspective, I don't see how anyone can hold the contradictory ideas of (a) support of democracy in the world and (b) support of the Democratic Party and the AFL-CIO leadership without being driven constantly to such desperation.

Carrol



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