In this case, however, the story is initially credible, because (as I said before) it is in accord with the tradition Maoist and Stalinist line on gays as well as with the norms of lots of third world modernizing societies. This is _not_ like McMartinesque hysteria about mass Satanic child abuse. And it's not intended to to condemn a Nepalese revolution generally (although speaking for myself I am _extremely_ skeptical of any revolution or movement that calls itself "Maoist" at this date), just an insistence that any such revolution meet socialist standards of human liberation. I don't think that in such circumstances judicious withholding of judgment is called for -- further investigation is called for, certainly. But in the mean time it's more than OK, it's practically obligatory, to say that there are credible reports about homophobic oppression by Nepalese Maoists, and while we western leftists support any liberatory actions by Nepalese, we condemn repressive bigotry against against gays and lesbians. We also don't want to be in the position of the Webbs and other Western leftists who ignored the Stalinist terror and justified the Great Purges. I agree with Brian.
--- Yoshie Furuhashi <critical.montages at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 1/7/07, Brian Charles Dauth
> <magcomm at ix.netcom.com> wrote:
> > > Shouldn't we wait till at least more than one
> bourgeois source confirms it
> > > before coming to a conclusion about it?
> >
> > No, we shouldn't. As a queer, I have long
> recognized the value of an
> > aggressive posture: it is always better to
> approach a situation from the
> > standpoint that non-queers will be seeking to
> preserve their privilege and
> > advantage. Queers must continually pressure
> non-queers to prove that
> > they believe in sexual liberation. Otherwise,
> non-queers are most likely to
> > backslide. Just as the moneyed elite will always
> look after their own
> > interests,
> > the majority of the non-queer sexual elite behaves
> in the same way.
>
> I don't dismiss the story out of hand, but, as you
> know from my
> postings on rape, child sexual abuse, and so on, I
> believe it is best
> to stick to well-documented facts, even when the
> matter concerns
> generally socially less powerful groups, such as
> women and children.
> The same goes for any other subordinated group,
> GLBTs, racial, ethnic,
> and religious minorities, and so forth.
> Well-documented facts are in
> the interest of the oppressed, as they are necessary
> tools for social
> struggles.
>
> I just emailed the Blue Diamond Society to ask them,
> first of all, if
> the society's view on the CPN(M)'s policy toward gay
> men and lesbians
> is accurately described in the IANS dispatch. (One
> can't assume that
> the media quotes activists accurately.) Then, John
> can interview
> queer Maoists and other gay men and lesbians in
> Nepal. At this point,
> obtaining more information is the most important
> thing to do.
> --
> Yoshie
> <http://montages.blogspot.com/>
> <http://mrzine.org>
> <http://monthlyreview.org/>
> ___________________________________
>
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>
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