[lbo-talk] Zizek's view on the embrace of ignorance

Brad Mayer bradley.mayer at sun.com
Sat Apr 26 20:07:01 PDT 2003


At 4:51 PM -0700 4/25/03, Mike Ballard wrote:
>Most on the left are not as honest about what they want.
>
>Do socialists really just want 'nice' wage-labour or do they want to
>critique the way wage-labour is ALWAYS exploitive and propose ways
>and means to strengthen classwide solidarity to the point of abolish
>the system of wage-labour?

What socialists? If you are talking about parties of the Socialist International (see <http://www.socialistinternational.org/2Members/who.html>), of course they don't intend to "abolish the system of wage-labour." Many (most?) Communist Parties in the world have given up on the idea of abolishing capitalism. There remain some revolutionaries -- socialists, anarchists, etc. -- in "the West," but the number is so small that our maximum demands are practically _always_ off the agenda -- we mainly provide initiatives and critical edges to social movements when we can; quite often, we end up getting pushed to the margins of the very movements to which we devote our all, even when we aren't quite purged from them. ------------------

You got that right. It's been my view that once the train of events that have only just been thrown into motion by the Bush Gang have worked their way through to a conclusion, "the Left" as we've known it will have been flushed down the crapper. Unrecognizable.

Including that constellation of "stars" at the Nation, Z, etc., who should have never been mistaken for any actual _leadership_. They are not, and never have been anything other than a mutual admiration society. Very correct, very fin de siecle American.

------------------ Outside the circle of the imperial centers, too, the torch of abolitionism only burns fitfully. Look at Argentina -- its conditions today _cry out_ for a socialist or anarchist solution, and yet.... -- Yoshie -- ------------------

Menem is back!

Eyes on Menem as election day nears in Argentina Economic legacy of ex-president debated

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/04/26/MN63941.DTL

'"What do you want?" he asked supporters at a rally here this week. "Do you want to live the way we are now, with a 61 percent poverty rate, or do you want to go back to better times?"'

'Neoliberalism' is the good old days now. Rather like hoping for Clinton to bring back The Bubble.

In contrast to the tone of others, I find our new times rather exhilarating. I would have never thought that the demotion of U.S. imperialism would come so soon. Now, thanks to Bush, it's going to happen within a generation at least, if not sooner. I may actually live to celebrate it's being broken down in the ranks to the status of just another imperialist power. This will lead to drastic changes in American society.

The only catch is, the human race must survive the interregnum. And that we do our duty to refound the working class and 'socialist' (by any other name) movements.

/**********************************************************************/ Brad Mayer



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