Leftology

I realized I haven’t done a link round-up in a while! In today’s episode, we have an article by Tariq Ali on the legacy of 1968, a blog post on 10 reasons why Engels doesn’t deserve the Rodney Dangerfield treatment, an article that might just make one particular Seattle grunger roll over in his grave, and a unapologetic argument for collective punishment and human rights abuses. Enjoy!

Where has all the rage gone? by Tariq Ali (via marxsite.com): Ali begins with a good overview of the events of 1968, specifically bringing up their potential (only partially realized) to spread from one country to another. However, while the exchange between Ali and some American soldiers recently back from Iraq is interesting, it does not tie in well with the theme of 1968. That is not to say that there is no connection between the two; certainly, the rejection of many Vietnam veterans (specifically Black veterans, as Ali points out) of the dominant social ideology has a lot to bring to the discussion of the current Iraq War, but Ali almost seems to switch gears without taking care to make the connection.

He does make some good points about the difference between the antiwar movements in 1968 (Vietnam) and 2003 (Iraq), specifically that the ‘68 version had considerable longevity, whereas the ‘03 movement lasted not much longer than the big protests in February 2003. However, this is hardly a fair comparison. The ‘68 antiwar movement existed in the context of growing radicalization and politicization, something ‘03 never had - in fact, in the security-state crackdown post 9/11, it is surprising it was as large as it was.

However, the main problem with Ali’s article is that it largely consists of saying things were so much better back in his day, which (and this may be somewhat glib) doesn’t exactly advance the project of socialism. There is, of course, merit in remembering past victories, if only for the benefit of our morale, but this article seems to be a bit inwardly focused, without much immediate benefit (although, as I said earlier, the description of events of 1968 is actually quite good). I give it 2 1/2 out of 5 bearded communist guerillas.

Friedrich Engels - Ten Previously Overlooked Aspects of his Life (An Unrepetent Communist): The material for this blog post comes from an upcoming book by John Green on Engels; the author lists 10 ‘interesting tidbits’ regarding Engels that were, honestly, actually pretty interesting. I have to say I found #1 the best (specifically the part in bold):

1) His early life bore an uncanny resemblance to that of Che Guevara, they both rejected comfortable privileged backgrounds espousing the cause of the poor and oppressed. He even physically resembled Guevara physically in his early years.

Click through to the article to see a picture of Engels that actually does look pretty well much like El Che. Some of the other points: Engels (El Engels?) apparently knew something like 26 languages, lived as a guerilla in Prussia for some time, and rode around on horseback in his 20s fighting duels. Sounds like someone is in need of a 19th-century version of “Motorcycle Diaries”.

Kurt Cobain Converse custom Chucks coming…. (via CBC Radio 3): Sweet, merciful crap. I mean, come on. There isn’t much I can add to this, other than to link to some other TDS articles on much the same topic, and to quote one comment:

kurt howard says:
this could be one of the most offensive things ive ever seen.
and ive seen eel porn.

No need to kill them (via benwhite.org.uk): Well, if that last story didn’t disgust you in a personal fashion, this one should do it. Here we have a fellow who has several peachy-keen ideas about how to violate the human rights of Gazans - he actually seems upset they can’t just kill everyone in the Gaza Strip. You really need to read the article, the whole thing is full of some incredibly messed up garbage. However, here are a few choice tidbits:

Tear gas cannons will fire it all across the Strip, with growing frequency. Giant speakers will make terrible sounds – sirens, screeches, and loud explosions – first it would last 10 minutes, then 15 minutes, and eventually hours. This could also include Israeli music, or chants of “Hamas is doing this to you,” just like a brainwashing campaign, time and again, and everything at very high volume that does not allow for normal functioning…. In my estimate, after 10 days like that, with Gaza citizens sleepless, their eyes burning from tear gas, their ears ringing, and covered in red paint, they would stop anyone firing rockets at Israel with their own hands.

Of course, he finishes off with this:

Nobody would be able to blame Israel, because the one pushing the button every time and in fact turning on this series of bothersome measures would be Hamas itself, the moment it fires a rocket.

It’s a bit like the old “I’m going to keep swinging my fists, and if you get hit, it’s your own fault!”. It’s nice to know there are such sterling examples of humanity out there…