[Marxism] Betancourt's halo [SIC] under spotlight

[Jscotlive at aol.com]

Luko:
 
Being heroic does not prevent making mistakes both in a tactical and a  
strategical sense. 

Reply:
 
And, again, I dispute your assertion that the FARC are making mistakes. I  
also find it unconscionable for Marxists living in the comfort of the West,  
risking nothing, judging those who are struggling on the front lines against  
imperialism.
 
They do not require our approval. On the contrary, it is we who require  
theirs for what we do and say in solidarity.
 
Luko:
 
Yeah, but defeat breeds demoralisation. There is no automatism (we  
discussed this in relation to this Irish splinter group some time ago) that  
repression results in _increased_ resistance, following the motto "let's  
provoke the ruling class to be as vicious they can get, and this will result  
in 
the people rising up". That has never worked. 

Reply:
 
Yeah, but no resistance breeds wholesale destruction. And to even suggest  
that people would 'provoke the ruling class' as you describe, as if it's some  
kind of sport they're engaged in, is simply baffling to me. Resistance 
movements  arise as necessity, not choice, and certainly in the case of the FARC. 
Sometimes  those resistance movements are crushed, occasionally they make 
advances, even  more rarely they win. Furthermore, your final assertion that action  
can never precede consciousness is demonstrably false. The experience of the  
Easter Rising in 1916 and what came after, the experience of the Cuban  
Revolution, teaches us that action can precede consciousness.

Luko:
 
This was not addressed to me, but while I have a lot of compassion with  
victims of oppression, or maybe just pity, I have sympathy for people who  
fight, and who have charted a way to fight successfully. 

Reply:
 
Oh, I see - so your approval for those who would dare get up off  their knees 
and resist their oppression is only accorded on the basis of their  success. 
What kind of solidarity is that? Seriously, again, I'm  astonished.
 
Luko:
 
Well, I am also in a position of weakness compared to the bourgeois state,  
but I would not dare to take prisoners and keep them as hostage for years,  
not even days. The so-called "Red Army Faction" (RAF) tried it and failed  
abysmally. 

Reply:
 
How very droll to compare yourself, living in Germany, with a movement  at 
war with one of the most reactionary and brutal regimes in the world. Great  
method you have there, Luko. Of course,in your sarcasm you fail  completely to 
address the point being made.
 
I hope there's isn't too much more of this to troll through.
 
Let's see.
 
Na, fuck it, I can't.