Forum threads to display

What is Progress, and what is the connection between technology and progress? Is there a genetic lottery,and if so how should we respond to it? How do these questions relate to being left-wing or right-wing?

A forum discussion thread about progress. This link will take you to our main forum.

All that is solid melts into air! "Modern bourgeois society, a society that has conjured up such gigantic means of production and exchange, is like the sorcerer who is no longer able to control the powers of the underworld that he has called up by his spells." - The Communist Manifesto

"Modern bourgeois society, a society that has conjured up such gigantic means of production and exchange, is like the sorcerer who is no longer able to control the powers of the underworld that he has called up by his spells - Communist Manifesto". ( The link below will take you to a discussion about this on our main forum...)

Dialectics - it's important to study dialectics itself (Mao, Hegel etc.) because this creates an awareness or sensitivity to possibilities of things turning into their opposite that we otherwise might not even notice - it has the potential to make our thinking more fluid and flexible.

The link below will take you to a forum discussion about dialectics.

Now visit our main forum and argue with us!

Clicking on the link below will take you to our main forum. The most current topics are: "free speech- blogging"; "what sharon did"; "Dialectics"; "dangerous ideas"; "announcing the republication of 'Nazi-Zionist Collaboration' "; "fascism and the left"; "wish people would put their trust in evidence, not in faith, revelation, tradition, or authority.";"democracy"; "facing big problems";"policy on Iran"; "multiculturalism unravels";"censorship on fight dem back" ..... there are 8 pages of topics (so far) - all of which are still open for discussion.

Socialism in an age of waiting

are we in an "age of waiting"? do we need to wait for teh democratic revolution has been completed before socialism/communism will be on the agenda? can we develop "a program"?

Hamas and Egypt - Far more significant than Hamas' temporary ascendancy is the explosive effect for the region as a whole. If Hamas can be elected in occupied Palestine and Fateh can become a loyal opposition aiming to win back power in later elections, why can't the Muslim Brotherhood be elected in Egypt and the most important Arab state become a democracy too? Every regime in the region will be shaken to its foundations. And not just shaken.

what do we think about the success of Hamas in the recent Palestinian elections? What should our attitude be to militant Islam in the Middle East?

Chomsky: drowning not waving...The US ruling-elite forgot how to install puppets, is the stunning conclusion we are asked to draw from an interview by znet with Noam Chomsky given on 27/12/05. patrickm discusses the interview - their differences are that Chomsky believes the USA just wanted to install puppets in Iraq, while patrickm thinks that they are real 'bourgeios democrats'. That is to say, the politicians of Iraq are as free as the politicians of the USA, Australia, or any other western liberal-capitalist society.

"The US ruling-elite forgot how to install puppets, is the stunning conclusion we are asked to draw from the following interview with Noam Chomsky given on 27/12/05". patrickm discusses an interview that Noam Chomsky gave to znet in December 2005. Their differences are that Chomsky believes the USA just wanted to install puppets in Iraq, while patrickm thinks that they are real 'bourgeios democrats'. That is to say, the politicians of Iraq are as free as the politicians of the USA, Australia, or any other western liberal-capitalist society. Figures from Iraq elections demonstrate that people the USA does NOT support are being elected. But Chomsky claims that the 'apparent' will of the people is for US troops to leave. Since the Iraqi government has not asked them to leave, Chomsky thinks that demonstrates they are puppets. This means that leftists in the West should feel free to ignore them, instead of helping them. patrickm goes on to discuss the difference between the Vietnam war and the Iraq war. A long debate ensues from there - lots to keep you reading.

Multiculturalism - At one time to support multiculturalism was to be politically correct. What do "multiculturalism", "liberalism" and"cultural relativism" mean exactly and where do they fit in an analysis of progress?

discussion of multiculturalism

Fascism and the Left

"One consequence is that we are in some respects more vulnerable to confusion, doubt, liberalism, cynicism and so on than other left groups that feel more confident about their (manifestly wrong!) lines. The reason horses are given blinkers is that it keeps them working away steadily without getting distracted by things they might see. Groups that have attached themselves to a foreign state, or that merely reflect a reformist current in mainstream bourgeois ideology, have a secure basis for their activity and can work away at it for years after it has ceased to have any social relevance or has become purely reactionary."

What is the pseudo-left? The pseudo-Left opposes modernity, development, globalisation, technology and progress. It embraces obscurantism, relativism, romanticism and even nature worship. At May Day rallies, the pseudo-Left whines about how things aren't what they used to be.

Discussion about what we mean by the term "pseudo left"

Israel's POWs - What's Israel's game plan in its war with Hezbollah? Talking and acting tough but actually preparing Israeli opinion for withdrawal from the West Bank?

What's Israel's game plan in its war with Hezbollah? Talking and acting tough but actually preparing Israeli opinion for withdrawal from the West Bank?

Middle East settlement - The Orwellian process in which "Oceania is at war with Eurasia, Oceania has always been at war with Eurasia" seems almost complete. What looks like war mongering against Iran and exceptionally bellicose propaganda for brave little Israel with ludicrous claims that it is defending itself from extinction at the hands of murderous terrorists and denying that the root cause is the Israeli occupation and disposession of the Palestinians ends up making withdrawal from the West Bank and establishment of a Palestinian state look like a minor tactial adjustment to help isolate Iran.

 

Draining the Swamps - in 2002 Noam Chomsky said we need to 'drain the swamps' of the Middle East (that is, overthrow the fascist tyrants of the MidEast) to make sure we breed no more terrorist "mosquitoes". We agree, and we say that is just what Bush is doing.

This is a link to one of our discussion threads. At the top of the thread is a link to some email correspondence between us and Chomsky - he refuses to see that draining the swamps is what Bush is up to.

Super Imperialism - This thread starts off by asking, "What is the ruling class like at the moment"? A ruling class dominated by multi-national corporations is different to one dominated by 'national' or 'local' corporations. There are bitter struggles going on right now inside the ruling class about which sort of business should have the upper hand. There have been all sorts of changes in the world since the fall of the Soviet Union. Once again, the ruling class fights inside itself to decide, for instance, if they should just prop up friendly dictators like Sadaam or the House of Saud, or if they should try and overthrow them. We need to be able to think clearly about this so that we can start asking 'when does revolution become possible?'.

Building Democracy in Iraq - There is a lot of good, interesting analysis going on here. Site members are really tring to stretch themselves far beyond 'gotcha!' debating points, to work out what to do now in Iraq.

There is a lot of good, interesting analysis going on here. Site members are really tring to stretch themselves far beyond 'gotcha!' debating points, to work out what to do now in Iraq. This thread was spun off the Maoism, Stalinism and Anti-Communism thread. It starts with owenss stating that US troops should leave iraq because they are not up to the job of promoting democracy, and youngmarxist's rebuttal of that point. Arthur Dent follows up by saying that owenss view is reactionary, that what owenss wants will lead at best to a religious dictatorship over most of the current Iraq. owenss' reply says that militias are the main problem in Iraq, and also mentions Congressman Murtha's switch from supporting the war to speaking out against it. Youngmarxist responds to both points owenss response to that recommends an article from the Atlantic Monthly in support of the original opinion. Keza reads the article, disagrees with it, and says it appears to deliberately try to tell a very gloomy story. Asks owenss for analysis of Iraq, rather than disjointed criticism. The exchange continues, and keza posts some useful links. patrickm takes up owenss point about the militias - patrickm points out that militias were always going to arise after the destruction of Sadaam's dictatorship.

Policy on Iran - This thread starts with a link to a Christopher Hitchens article, which asks what the Left should do about the priestly regime in Iraq. After a brief reply with some links, a very strange cat indeed is thrown amongst the pigeons. The reply says that "most of the material appearing on current US and Iranian strategic intentions is disinformation". Suspicion is that Shi'ite Iran and the USA are in an unspoken alliance, since Sunni militants like Bin Laden and the Wahabi fundamentalists in Saudi Arabia are their common enemy.

This thread starts with a link to a Christopher Hitchens article, which asks what the Left should do about the priestly regime in Iraq. After a brief reply with some links, a very strange cat indeed is thrown amongst the pigeons. The reply says that "most of the material appearing on current US and Iranian strategic intentions is disinformation". Suspicion is that Shi'ite Iran and the USA are in an unspoken alliance, since Sunni militants like Bin Laden and the Wahabi fundamentalists in Saudi Arabia are their common enemy. Also flatly stated that the USA has no capability to invade Iran, and also that they don't want to. Goes on to discuss belief that regime change on Saudi Arabia is what the US neo-conservatives really want. The article then turns to the fact that Islamic parties like Hamas are now able to win elections. Some people say that this is a failure for US policy, while suggested in return that this was inevitable, given that the USA really wants to spread capitalist democracy throughout the Middle East. Not because it is nice, but because it has no choice at all. The thread ends with a challenge for the Left to reply to President Ahmedi-najad's letter to President Bush.

Third Anniversary of Iraq War - Byork (No, not the megafamous one) starts the thread by referring to a 'defeatist' article in 'The Age' (Melbourne's 'liberal' broadsheet, roughly similar in outlook to the Guardian in the UK, or National Public Radio in the USA), on March 14th, 2006. Was Bush's infamous 'mission accomplished' mistake avoidable? Was it even a mistake?

Byork (No, not the megafamous one) starts the thread by referring to a 'defeatist' article in 'The Age' (Melbourne's 'liberal' broadsheet, roughly similar in outlook to the Guardian in the UK, or National Public Radio in the USA), on March 14th, 2006. Was Bush's infamous 'mission accomplished' mistake avoidable? Was it even a mistake? What about Bush's lies on WMD, and the disbanding of Sadaam's old army once the US won in Iraq? Were there any other choices at all? What effects have these things had on getting long-term support for the war? There's a copy of a letter that byork wrote to the editor of 'The Age' in reply to the article. The thread moves on into the American Civil War, and discusses the similarities between Bush and Lincoln - espcially the fact that Lincoln lied about slavery - for years he insisted he did not want to get rid of it.

Iraq, the Mideast, and South Asia - a collection of links to our best posts on the topic.