[lbo-talk] Surrealism in Washington

[wrobert at uci.edu]

> Surrealism continues to guide the Bush White House's Iraq policy, just
> as it does the thinking of some leftists here.  :->  -- Yoshie

     I am not sure what is the source for the continuing animosity against
surrealism.  Are you arguing that the Bush administration is
influenced by the radical rereading of the unconcious, or perhaps the
critique against western metaphysics?  Or perhaps the attempt to
create an avant garde art form that contributes to a
non-authoritarian revolutionary project?  Figures such as Breton,
Leiris, Cesaire, et al cannot be reduced to aesthetics.  All made
serious contributions to anti-colonialist and radical politics.

     On the other hand, I think we should look more at the United States'
contribution to the violence in Iraq.  I don't have the data in front
of me, but I would be curious to see how much of the sectarian
violence is from the resistance, and how much of it is caused by the
death squads tacitly supported by the U.S. to fight that resistance.

                             robert wood