[lbo-talk] Re: dean and rebel flags

[Joseph Wanzala]

This is not 'selective posturing' - it is dealing with the issue at hand. 
That is like saying everytime a person of color addresses an instance of 
perceived racism thay are being 'selective' by 'only' addressing 'one issue 
at a time'. The United States, Condeleeza Rice, Clarance Thomas and Colin 
Powell notwithstanding, is a white supremacist state. The 'Confederate Flag' 
and all it represents is not 'dead'. The ante-bellum South was a phase of 
capitalist development that had become outmoded - what separated the 
Northern branch of capital from their Southern counterparts was more about 
economics than race - which is why the Reformation, after providing a brief 
moment of liberty for blacks was rolled back - for all intents and purposes 
blacks a a demographic group have never recovered from the failure of the 
reformation. The Stars and Stripes are essentially an extension of the 
Spirit of the Confederacy and the Monroe Doctine which was the principal 
vehicle in which it was shrouded for many decades was undergirded by racist 
contempt for the non-Anglo-Saxon subalterns of America's Empire in the 
Western Hemisphere. Indeed, Fredrick Douglass called Abraham Lincoln a 
'sublime racist' for his ill-fated plans to repatriate American blacks to 
Haiti. Finally I think it would be very good, though unlikely, for a 
presidential candidate to ask those people who fly American flags to reflect 
on the symbolic meaning of the flag - I think any honest answers would 
reveal a range of complex ambivalences and deep dissonances.

Joe W.


>From: "Dennis Perrin" <dperrin at comcast.net>
>Reply-To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
>To: <lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org>
>Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] Re: dean and rebel flags
>Date: Thu, 6 Nov 2003 23:14:45 -0500
>
> > This symbol of malevolence and white supremacy
> > was flown for the first time since the 1860s in 1962 at the height of 
>the
> > civil rights struggle by the racist govt. of South Carolina claiming 
>that
> > they were just celebrating the centennial of the Civil War - typical of
>the
> > intellectual decietfulness of the racism behind this symbol - where
>people -
> > like yourself, want to pretend to fly the flag under other pretexts, 
>well
> > knowing the real symbolic meaning it carries. Let's get real about this.
> >
> > Joe W.
>
>As opposed to getting real about every flag? C'mon -- this is selective
>posturing over a symbol that has no real power anymore, a symbol of a dead
>regime. The Stars & Stripes has a far bigger body count under its colors, 
>so
>would you blast a politician for saying that pwogs or Dems should reach out
>to those with American flags on their cars & in their front yards? And if
>so, would you think yourself serious about American politics?
>
>DP
>
>___________________________________
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