[lbo-talk] Austerity In The Face Of Weakness

[123hop at comcast.net]

Yes, I read an interview with Castro once (late seventies) where he was asked whether he foresaw a revo in the U.S. 

He said no. He said in order to have a revo, you need "firmness of purpose...but in the U.S., you are told every ten minutes that you want something different [advertisements], so you do not have the proper mental and emotional discipline to carry out a revolution."

I thought he had a point.

j.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Wojtek S" <wsoko52 at gmail.com>
To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
Sent: Tuesday, September 7, 2010 5:26:24 AM
Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] Austerity In The Face Of Weakness

[WS:]  One more point - I think that the American left, and Americans in
general, tend to believe that everything can be manufactured - from
historical landmarks (theme parks) to a revolution.  This, no doubt, is
grounded in the American experience, where about everything - including
social relations- has been manufactured, engineered or otherwise manipulated
and messed with by planners of one sort or another.  (Norman Klein makes
that point rather effectively in his _History of Forgetting_).

Europeans, otoh, (and I suspect Asians and Africans too)  pay a far greater
attention to what is being given to them, and how it can affect what they

 can or cannot do.  That is perhaps one factor explaining why the European
left achieved some visible political successes, whereas the American left
has always stayed in the doghouse.  One cannot manufacture everything at
will - and certainly not revolutions.

Wojtek