[Peace-discuss] Finkelstein on Ghandi

[C. G. Estabrook]

I hope anyone sympathetic to Occupy will read this, along with the article it's much influenced by, Alexander Cockburn's "Epitaph for a Dead Movement" <http://www.creators.com/opinion/alexander-cockburn/epitaph-to-a-dead-movement.html>. 

In fact in the spirit of the new semester and the hegemonic institution in our community, I'd like to put them both on the Required Reading list for the next AWARE meeting. Perhaps they'll help the local anti-war movement arise from its desuetude. (At last Sunday's meeting, one member offered a misty-eyed reminiscence of the days when AWARE attracted scores of meeting participants, drawn by theatrical programs and refreshments...)

And David summarizes concisely the great liberal dissimulation of the last generation, the substitution of diversity for equality as the goal of social struggle. 

Of course today we can do little more than point out that great deception, preoccupied as we are (or should be) in reducing the administration's vicious killing, at the behest of the 1%. --CGE


On Sep 4, 2012, at 9:03 AM, David Green <davegreen84 at yahoo.com> wrote:

> http://www.zcommunications.org/gandhi-and-occupy-by-norman-finkelstein
>  
> There is a lot to be learned from Finkelstein's study of Gandhi that is relevant to tactics being discussed on various local lists. Notice that elections and voting in our two party system are (tellingly) not even mentioned. Neither party is mentioned. In my opinion, Republicans promote the neoliberal agenda by proposing extreme measures. Democrats promote the neoliberal agenda by proposing compromises with Republicans. This has been a collective effort for goals that rulers of both parties support. It's worked pretty well for 36 years, since the campaign of 1976 when Carter was elected.
>  
> There are worthy goals of equality and recognition regarding race, gender, sexual orientation, immigrants, etc. still to be achieved, obviously. Unfortunately, these goals are by and large co-opted as a part of Democratic Party tactics to win votes for their ultimately neoliberal agenda, which ultimately converts genuine grievances into identity politics. That is why, even given an understanding of the historical struggle for voting rights for African-Americans, I'm left cold by all the attention being devoted to voting rights by the progressive media. Of course there are legitimate ongoing grievances and Republican outrages; but ultimately an emphasis on "working within the system" is only to the advantage of the domianant in a system based on domination.
>  
> And don't forget that both parties will try to run to the "right" of each other regarding foreign policy, especially Israel; ain't nobody gonna get my Jewish vote.
>  
> David Green
>