> I'm sorry, but if you're going to be a highly misleading
> representative of anarchist thought, then someone's gotta step up and
> (respectfully) correct the misconceptions. I wasn't online last week,
> and no one stepped up yet. I think people come here to be informed,
> and you misinform us.
Who are you talking about? I'm not a misleading representative of anarchist thought. Just because you disagree with me doesn't give you license to engage in an ad hominim attack. That kind of thing is discouraged here.
If you've caught up on the list finally, you may have noticed that people are tired of this thread.
If you think that I'm misinforming this list, then be specific about what your beef is about.
> (Whenever I hear a sensible anarchist define anarchism, they usually
> preface it with something like, "My view is..." or "No one owns the
> term 'anarchism.' But common to most anarchists is...")
That's odd. I consider myself to be a sensible, rational anarchist. Plenty of people tell me that they appreciate what I have to say about anarchism.
> My understanding is that he's an unusually benevolent dictator, in a
> country which faces massive threats from the most militant nation on
> earth. (Does the media even ask how we put one of the world's most
> notorious prisons on Cuban soil, Guantanamo?)
Right. That's the standard American Leftist 101 line on Cuba. The U.S. has been threatening Cuba for the past 45+ years so we should give poor Fidel a break. Nevermind the fact that one guy has ruled the country since 1959. Never mind that the guy has persecuted queer Cubans and done a bunch of other shitty stuff to Cubans.
A dictator is still a dictator. Cubans deserve something better than Castro's regime or American domination. That's a position in accordance with anarchist ideas.
> I think any evaluation of Castro's regime should take into account
> this benevolence, as well as his almost inevitable repressiveness.
> Just as when a rightwinger asks, "Why don't the mideasterners
> understand democracy?" they should really ask why the US overthrows
> mideast democracies and supports brutal client regimes.
The Cuban people are probably better off now than if they had been under the boot of American colonialism for the past 45 years. But Cubans deserve better.
Chuck