Doug alerted us to Tariq Ali's latest thoughts:
> >>Yesterday afternoon, I recorded an interview >with Tariq Ali, who was visiting NYC, ... He >reiterated his emphasis on the importance of >defeating Bush (which means electing Kerry) - and >dismissed Ralph in the harshest
> terms, using words like "juvenile" and >"narcissistic."He said he got lots of emails >responding to his last appearance on my show, in >which he emphasized the importance of defeating Bush (which means electing Kerry). The only hostile ones came from the U.S. Supportive ones came from Latin America, Africa, and Europe. He said American leftists should stop emulating the Bush administration and think not so much of their preferences, but those of the outside world instead.>>
REPLY: Well, I have a fond recall of Taiq Ali during the period he later vividly writes about in "Street Fighting Man" - and I distinctly recall that after the days of Black Dwarf (invigorating stuff), Ali was a leading light of the International Marxist Group. Consistent with their theoretical gurus, they advocated... secretly joing the Labour Party to subvert the LP from within; & creating a new revolutionary broad party. Thanks for the sage advice to North Americans Tariq: You sure made a left party out of the LP that could withstand Mrs T; & allow the Blair milk-sops to delete Clause 4 & get on with the real task of the day - make more $$ & *Lick Bush's Arse*. .
Again: Those that dump on Nader like this, are quite guilty of returning to the personality politics that they high-mindedly accuse others of. I warrant that Nader (with all his opportunist flaws etc) - has feet that would at least feel the heat of leftists a little - unlike Mr Heinz's highly insulated tootsies.
John says below:
"> How does he know that the people calling in from the US were 'leftists'?
> This guy apparently has a lot of credibility with leftists outside the US, so he should be listened to. However, I'm not sure I follow the reasoning as to how electing Kerry is going to make it safer for the rest of the world. Elite Europeans, Africans and Latin Americans can be as naive and misinformed about the US federal government as, well, Canadians, Australians, Japanese, Koreans, etc. "
Agreed.
Hari Kumar