[Marxism] Why do we criticize?

[Kai]

Eli,

I have to sharply disagree with you here. Being anti-imperialist does not
absolve a group of criticism. I wont speculate on Ruthless's understanding
but mine is clear: simply being anti-imperialist isn't enough. If you are
anti-imperialist, like Hamas but you fight for replacing all of Israel with
an Islamic state, you ought to be criticized for that. The mujahadeen were
fighting against Soviet imperialism, yet they were throwing acid in the face
of women who didn't wear the full islamic garb covering all of their body
and 90% of their faces. Do they get a pass on that type of thing, or the
fact that they advocated an repressive islamic state
which later materialized in the form of the Taliban?

We ought to be critical, because if a group is fighting a just cause
(anti-imperialism) but simply wishes to replace some other entities
oppressive rule with their own, what is the point? Unless I'm missing
something huge here, thats not marxism, and its not dialectical. Even if
these groups were nominally Marxists or substantively in some respects, as
is the case with the FARC, they still ought to be criticized for profitting
off of cocaine, among other things.



On Sun, Mar 1, 2009 at 5:22 PM, Eli Stephens <elishastephens at hotmail.com>wrote:

>
> There's been a long discussion, mostly between Ruthless Critic and
> Jscotlive, around the question of criticizing anti-imperialists who might
> not meet with our 100% approval on some ground or other - FARC, Hamas, etc.
> Here's a key assertion from Ruthless in this discussion:
>
> "Marxists *must* get out of this habit of defending some entities merely
> because imperialism attacks these entities. They *must* be criticized for
> their failings, whether they are under attack by imperialism or not. That is
> the only principled position for Marxists to take."
>
> Actually it's rather interesting that in this one paragraph, Ruthless goes
> from saying we shouldn't *defend* some entities to saying we *must* (must!)
> criticize them.
>
> So why *do* we "criticize" things? Well, we criticize our *own* imperialist
> governments because we want to overthrow them, and we need to rouse and/or
> educate those who will effectuate that overthrow. But why would we criticize
> an *anti-imperialist movement* in *another* country (and here I'm referring,
> as I believe Ruthless is, to *public* criticism, not criticism in a private,
> internal discussion amongst revolutionaries)? Not to belabor my lame
> analogy, but I think this relates directly back to my "cooties" theory (
> http://archives.econ.utah.edu/archives/marxism/2007w47/msg00158.htm). It's
> very uncomfortable to be accused of being a "Saddam-lover" or an "apologist
> for Ahmadinejad" or a "supporter of Hamas or FARC terrorists" etc. People
> like Ruthless want to remain pure, uncontaminated by the "cooties"
> associated with something that people (liberals, generally) perceive as
> unacceptable about, e.g., FARC, Cuba, Hamas, etc. Far easier to join in the
> criticism (as if there isn't already enough).
>
> What I'm saying, then, is that criticism of imperialism is about
> overthrowing imperialism. Criticism of anti-imperialists is, in my opinion,
> about one thing and one thing only - the criticizer. Allowing the criticizer
> to feel good about him or herself, *at the expense of the anti-imperialist
> movement* being criticized.
>
>
> Eli Stephens
>  Left I on the News
>  http://lefti.blogspot.com
>
>
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