[lbo-talk] Shamir on Belarus elections

Richard Seymour leninstombblog at googlemail.com
Tue Jan 4 05:37:35 PST 2011


On 04/01/2011 13:06, Wojtek S wrote:
> [WS:] Because I thought that what he said about the US financing the
> so-called democracy movement in Belarus (and by implication other ex-Soviet
> states) was interesting. Are you saying that this is not true?
>
> PS. I do not know - nor do I particularly care - who Mr. Shamir is. I do
> not find alleging personal connections to "imperialism" "fascism" or kindred
> declared "public enemy" a very fruitful way of argumentation, although it
> seems rather popular with inquisitors of various stripes.

I am saying that he's a well-known Nazi provocateur and not someone the Left should be promoting. Shamir's support for Nazi movements, parties and ideologies is not an "alleged personal connection", it's an established public role, visible in his writing, most of which he doesn't go to any length to disavow.

Obviously, I can understand your position if you don't consider such people enemies, or if the only issue that matters to you is "argumentation". But - snotty accusations of Torquemadism to one side - I do vehemently consider the organised devotees of the Third Reich enemies, and I do want them to be permanently smashed, finished as a movement and as a political option. And I would just like others on the Left to consider whether that is something they want too. If so, it is not conducive to that end to promote the works of those same people.

In that light, whether or not you could construe something they say as "interesting" is as beside the point as if one were to have said: "I was reading Mein Kampf last night - Hitler! Very interesting guy, such a provocative read, so many telling points about the liberal elite! Eh? What? Antisemitism, you say? Crushing democracy, you say? Anticommunist, you say? Well, I don't find such accusations a very fruitful way of argumentation, comrade. I didn't expect the Spanish inquisition...".

-- *Richard Seymour*

Writer, blogger and PhD candidate

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