[lbo-talk] Is WBAI worth saving?

[Bhaskar Sunkara]

There are some pretty hilarious quotes from Mao on the power of
consciousness in overpowering material conditions, but I wouldn't want to
insult the bastard by quoting him off the top of my petty-bourgeois head. I
do have a more sensible quote from Marx memorized.  "Men make their own
history, but they do not make it as they please; they do not make it under
self-selected circumstances, but under circumstances existing already, given
and transmitted from the past."  Third party ventures like the Greens simply
are a waste of time... objectively.  I'm not suggesting a CPUSA,
popular-frontist orientation with the Democratic Party, but I am suggesting
a united left pole of opposition that aims to achieve majoritarian support
to transcend capitalism (i'll definitely settle for a lot less in my
lifetime), as opposed to third party electoral ventures.  I made this case
before and it certainly isn't a new idea, but unfortunately without major
actors and organizations behind it a left refoundation isn't going anywhere.

 Ever. Ever. Ever.  Leftists are stuck in their ways building microsects,
mistakening the Democratic Party for a labor party, but it would be a lot
better politics than what we have now---- or the Green "alternative".

Apologize for brevity and glibness.  On a train and this wireless condition
is not going to last long enough for me to form a more through and coherent
point.

On Mon, Oct 19, 2009 at 12:31 PM, Mitchel Cohen <mitchelcohen at mindspring.com
> wrote:


> What could Greens do with such a signal, capable of reaching 18 million
> people?
>
> When it's put THAT way, I of course come down on the side of "Yes, of
> course it is worth it." I wish the battling wouldn't exist. But I also wish
> the U.S. government did not preside over a vicious capitalist economic and
> social order, and that people could explore their different perspectives as
> a positive venture that strengthens us instead of as a
> tear-you-down-at-any-cost attack in which the ends are seen to justify any
> and all means.
>
> I would be glad to participate in a forum that explores the intricacies of
> these questions as pertain to WBAI and the Greens if the folks on this
> listserve are interested in setting up that project, and the hidden traps
> that are snarling at our feet whenever we try to take a step forward.
>
>