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181 Lenin and Sex -- rank: 1000

At 07/09/01 22:37 +0100, you wrote: >I think Clara Zetkin, not Kollontai, is the source of this story, in her >pamphlet "Reminiscences of Lenin". Bits of it are reprinted in Robert >Tucker's "Lenin Anthology", and the passage on "glass of water" theory is >pp.692-3. > >Lenin: "I consider the famous 'glass of water' theory as completely >unMarxist and, moreover, as anti-social... To be sure, thirst has to be >quenched. But would a normal ...

Document Size:	6102
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Fri Sep 7 15:45:23 PDT 2001

182 Microsoft ruling - progressive response -- rank: 1000

Progressive people are often false-footed by anti-monopoly leglislation Without this, capitalism would naturally centralise so quickly into monopoly that the only solution would be socialism. Rather we need reforms that put social considerations increasingly on the agenda of accountability of monopoly capitalist companies. We should not criticise the US government for failing to pursue the anti-monopoly actions against Microsoft (except in so far as it is influenced by its ruthless need to maint ...

Document Size:	8303
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Thu Sep 6 22:26:10 PDT 2001

183 Castro: Tobin Tax Could Finance Reparations -- rank: 1000

At 03/09/01 20:36 -0500, you quoted >Key address by Dr. Fidel Castro Ruz, President of >the Republic of Cuba at the World Conference against >racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and >related intolerance Durban, South Africa. > >September 1, 2001 Very pleasing for those of us who over the years have supported radical reform of global governance, and been criticised or marginalised from the left on the grounds that this is necessarily reformist. At 03/09/01 20:36 -0500, you ...

Document Size:	10421
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Wed Sep 5 00:15:15 PDT 2001

184 Arguments for ground war -- rank: 1000

This does look like an important argument about how leftists postion themselves in relation to the 80%, shall we say at least the majority, of the population. We need to accept the reality of the strength of feeling but analyse which parts of it with which to ally, and which significant voices to amplify. Part of the reaction is shock and mourning. Once the anger has been acknowledged as not at all surprising (this was a terroristic attack after all, and designed to provoke) then it is easier to ...

Document Size:	14566
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Wed Oct 31 23:26:44 PST 2001

185 repatriate bin Laden? -- rank: 1000

At 31/10/01 22:31 -0800, you wrote: Re: the House of Saud >Since the mid-1990s, when King Fahd suffered a stroke, Abdullah has >taken on a greater share of responsibility. At 77, he has become de >facto leader, running the day-to-day affairs of the kingdom. Pity he is 77. In all other respects this article suggests that the more the imperial authorities listen to Abdullah the more they might find a solution to the just treatment of the Saudi nationals who are suspected of being behind t ...

Document Size:	5242
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Wed Oct 31 23:39:55 PST 2001

186 Change the thread title! -- rank: 1000

At 31/10/01 07:39 +0000, you wrote: >>From: Chris Burford <cburford at gn.apc.org> >> >>The price the left has had to pay for these remarkable victories by global >>civil society since Sept 11, is to be careful not to act in a sectarian >>way. To bite its tongue when ordinary people mourn 5, 000 killed in the >>WTC, and not hurl insults on the grounds that 20,000 children die a day >>unecessarily in this cruel capitalist world. > >"Ordin ...

Document Size:	7124
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Wed Oct 31 14:19:42 PST 2001

187 Change the thread title! -- rank: 1000

At 30/10/01 17:10 -0500, you wrote: >Chris Burford wrote: > >>But this seems to me eloquent of how the left has the greatest difficulty >>in seeing itself as anything but oppositional, weak, and hopeless. > >When in reality we're...? > >Doug As a small isolated group located in the spectrum of identity politics, the left is totally ineffectual and deserves to be preoccupied with its self-pity. But as part of a whole spectrum of global civil society, the left has bee ...

Document Size:	7764
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Tue Oct 30 22:12:01 PST 2001

188 54% want bombing pause - UK poll -- rank: 1000

Big fall in support for war in UK. Defence minister forced to try to defend cluster bombs. Blair to try to shore up present campaign, but is unable to discuss the dilemma of using cluster bombs against an enemy that disperses itself. Interestingly the new Conservative party leader has broken bi-partisan policy by accusing the government of not being very effective in maintaining support for the war. This is apparently some sort of mirror signal to right wingers in the US claiming that the war is ...

Document Size:	5259
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Tue Oct 30 15:32:24 PST 2001

189 Change the thread title! -- rank: 1000

Since yesterday there have been over a hundred posts entitled "Antiwar movement losing steam" - just when it is the US government and its ally Blair that is getting bogged down in more and more problems. Checking out the list just presents an impression of defeatism. I suppose in mitigation it can be said there have been over 500 question marks after it. But this seems to me eloquent of how the left has the greatest difficulty in seeing itself as anything but oppositional, weak, and ho ...

Document Size:	4987
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Tue Oct 30 12:53:26 PST 2001

190 Divisions in the anti-war movement -- rank: 1000

I would just like to suggest that it is not disastrous if there are divisions in the anti-war movement. It is inevitable that different perspectives, different ideologies, different political goals and different constituencies will manifest themselves. What is important is to continue the dialogue as well as the argument, and to try to settle on concise definitions of goals that can unite in the longer term the greatest number of people in favour of economic and political justice in the world. C ...

Document Size:	5008
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Mon Oct 29 15:51:43 PST 2001

191 aporia and Aristotle -- rank: 1000

Are we all out of date? >aporia [aporia] > >Greek term for a difficulty or puzzle (literally, "with no pathway"). >Aristotle commonly used this term to signify a group of individually >plausible but collectively inconsistent statements. The reconciliation of >such statements by considering alternative solutions, he supposed, is the >chief business of philosophy. according to a certain Prof Garth Kemerling, Newberry College, SC http://www.philosophypages.com/ Chris ...

Document Size:	5059
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Sun Oct 28 16:42:50 PST 2001

192 Observer: where is military strategy? -- rank: 1000

The lead in today's (London) Observer is highly significant. it essentially argues that a key element in a just war has disappeared: -there is no evidence that it is winnable on a military level. The Observer will be read by every member of the British government. News stories this evening report the British government advising the press not to indulge in too much speculation about how the war may not be winnable. This is almost certainly in response to the article. They say that on Tuesday Tony ...

Document Size:	9742
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Sun Oct 28 12:47:05 PST 2001

193 Is this an aporia? force and violence -- rank: 1000

In response to Greg and Chris Doss I commented: >Yes in my copy of State and Revolution I have ringed the English word >"violent" where Lenin, as you quote, refers to "this panegyric on violent >revolution" and I have noted in the margin that "Engels uses the word 'force' " from the web: Xrefer definition >Aporia > > >In Greek aporia means a tangled path blocking the way, but the term has >often been used in a literary context to describe a l ...

Document Size:	6316
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Sat Oct 27 00:40:47 PDT 2001

194 Saudi Arabia.......... -- rank: 1000

At 25/10/01 21:53 -0700, you wrote: >[from the Guardian. Clearly what needs to be established is whether >the perpetrators were financed via associates or relatives within SA. >If so, then what? If the money trail leads not to ObL, but does in >fact come from within SA itself as the below reports/asserts, it's a >whole new ball game.] CNN Friday morning carried an interview with the foreign policy adviser to the Crown Prince (Al Jabeir(?)). Already a sign that the regime has to be ...

Document Size:	7654
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Thu Oct 25 23:23:54 PDT 2001

195 Fwd: Lenin and Engels, force and violence -- rank: 1000

I had intended to send this to LBO-talk and sent it to PEN-L by mistake>>> I much appreciate the importance of Greg's textual quibble and Chris Doss's illuminating inisght into the problems of translation. Yes I was taking a bit of a swipe against ultra-leftists who IMO severely damage the possibilities for creative applications of Marx's critique of capitalist economy by simplistic, dogmatic, and mechanistic distortions. More carefully expressed my thinking is very similar to Greg's o ...

Document Size:	8064
Author:	Chris Burford
Date:	Fri Oct 26 07:48:58 PDT 2001