[lbo-talk] Stop Flogging the Dead Donkey and Own the Power of aSpoiler

Wojtek Sokolowski sokol at jhu.edu
Thu Jan 13 07:52:29 PST 2005


Chuck0
> Last time I checked, there were humans living in the Ukraine with
> similar DNA to us. Rationalize sitting on your ass if you want to, but
> nobody is going to take ABB progressives seriously if they aren't
> organizing people to take to the streets. If Bush really isn't that bad,
> then why waste time opposing him? Perhaps we ought to get real and
> oppose the one party system that runs America and the rest of the world.

What makes you think that people want to be in the streets protesting? Did not it occur to you that most of them actually like this system because it gives them what they want: bread and circuses? And what does you revolutionary bunch offer to these would be protestors: personal sacrifice in the name of some abstract ideas they do not even comprehend clearly, and uncertainty of the outcome of that protest?

The Ukrainians did not protest an "oppressive regime" - for if that was what bothered them, they plenty of opportunities since Stalin. They protested because the system that provided them with bread and circuses collapsed and the bottom fell of their daily lives. People rebelled because they saw no future in Ukraine - the only real opportunity was either sex work (if you were a woman) or hard dangerous or menial work nobody else wanted (if were a man) west of the border. But even that bleak condition continued unprotected for a while - the protest erupted only as a result of well organized and paid with Western money push.

So the popular will, window of opportunity and an effective push for a protest action are what makes all the difference in the world. The US has neither and is unlikely to have all three any time soon.

Wojtek



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