tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3563811638411839784.post544091940184708142..comments2023-05-15T07:11:30.874+02:00Comments on Leherensuge: A critique of the Latin American "new left" governments from the leftMajuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12369840391933337204noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3563811638411839784.post-24294165045879390862010-05-27T15:47:51.900+02:002010-05-27T15:47:51.900+02:00"Maju, you have realised those who really tri..."Maju, you have realised those who really tried to destroy the states in the latest decades screwed up things on a big big scale, right?"<br /><br />Destroy? Who has tried to destroy the state? Some liberals want to lower taxes for the wealthy and pollution restrictions but keep the police and the army as fat as possible (or even more). <br /><br />Let's face it: the state is the army. And whatever else it does is merely accessory. The elite needs troops to make sure that the system of exploitation they control is stable, to make sure that property deeds are respected (at least by the poor) and that ration coupons... erm... money is at least backed by lead, as not anymore by gold. <br /><br />That's the state once you take off the clothes and crumb redistribution to the worst-off slaves. You can read a good synthesis in Kropotkin's essays: laws in defense of private property and the very state apparatus and guns to enforce those laws. There are also laws against murder and violence but these essentially serve to defend the state and property of the oligarchs. <br /><br />Could another state be possible? The USSR showed us that not really: that, given a state, an opportunist elite would use it for their own selfish purposes. <br /><br />So the only choice is for the people to take all power at all levels, specially at lower levels. That's democracy in the real sense of the word: popular power. <br /><br />However I admit that it's difficult to implement and, meanwhile, the states continue causing trouble and sustaining exploitation by some elites.Majuhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12369840391933337204noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3563811638411839784.post-53275047352747475512010-05-27T11:35:17.787+02:002010-05-27T11:35:17.787+02:00"somehow"
There's the rub.
Maju, yo..."somehow"<br />There's the rub.<br /><br />Maju, you have realised those who really tried to destroy the states in the latest decades screwed up things on a big big scale, right?<br /><br />Does Khmer Rouge ring a bell to you?<br />A state cannot collapse less you want massive destruction of the population. And why would you like that? We are not living in Paleolithic times, man. We are just way way way way too many to want to go back to those times.Keplerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11125538872924743270noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3563811638411839784.post-69016178505724176432010-05-26T15:45:20.174+02:002010-05-26T15:45:20.174+02:00"Real socialists are so hard to find...por qu..."Real socialists are so hard to find...por qué será?"<br /><br />Because of money. That's why states also have to be destroyed and the economy transformed radically. <br /><br />But in any case, the Capitalist system is suffering from terminal illness, so we need a new mule, because this one cannot really pull the cart anymore.<br /><br />But sure, there's a severe lack of real people (i.e. not subservient to money), specially in power positions. It's a serious problem we'll have to solve somehow.Majuhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12369840391933337204noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3563811638411839784.post-79612901067036165112010-05-26T12:13:18.065+02:002010-05-26T12:13:18.065+02:00Very interesting article. Real socialists are so h...Very interesting article. Real socialists are so hard to find...por qué será? It is like trying to catch the wind.<br />Agrarian reform in Venezuela: the government claims to have "recovered" over 2 million hectares.<br /><br />Here pro-government:<br />http://www.correodelorinoco.gob.ve/economia/gobierno-nacional-ha-rescatado-40-latifundios-y-ha-elevado-25-produccion-alimentos/<br /><br />Do you believe it?<br />Do you think Venezuelan farmers are better off now? <br /><br />I will write more on the agrarian reformS in Venezuela next month or so.<br /><br />As for socialist revolutions in Latin America: it really sounds like the coming of the Messiah<br /><br />"Criticism of the Left by the Left, as it should be."<br />I suppose the Left does not have a right to criticize the Right. Or does it?<br />(not that I believe this division of right and left makes any sense in the XXI century...specially as the Lefties keep telling us any failed system is not really them and any of their leaders who start screwed it up are not like the real left)Keplerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11125538872924743270noreply@blogger.com