Re: [A-List] Melvin

["Peter Hollings" <phollings@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Sad, but true.  But this is a focus on what was or arguments about what
might have been.  Suppose we focus on a diagnosis of the present, what we
want, and how to get there.  A constructive set of issues.  I realize that I
am but a lurker here on this list, but let me express my admiration for what
is expressed here and the minds behind that.  Cannot we go forward?  I have
some ideas, but from what posture do we start?

Peter Hollings

----- Original Message -----
From: "viveka" <kaliyuga@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "The A-List" <a-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, December 08, 2004 8:41 AM
Subject: Re: [A-List] Melvin


> Michael writes:
>
> > Mark Jones died of cancer aged 55. We can speculate as to the causes of
> why
> > someone as vital as he should be taken from us so early in life. After
> this
> > little episode it occurs to me that one very plausible reason for Mark's
> > premature demise was his deep frustration at the circular firing squads
> that
> > seem to be the pathological behaviour pattern of the revolutionary left.
> > Time after time, despite his constant efforts to bring people of
different
> > backgrounds together, he would find himself forced to choose sides in
the
> > most petty, arcane, and wholly unnecessary disputes such as this, amid
all
> > the very real struggles that affect us all. That sort of experience,
when
> > coupled with the sort of personality he was, might be expected to
produce
> > the destructive side-effect of despair, in addition to the obviously
> > destructive consequences for organisation and communication. How much
> easier
> > it would be to simply walk away, but how little would be accomplished.
> >
> Indeed.  Mark once mentioned that he only would return to the list after
> bouts with illness because he felt it was his sacred duty to do so,
> precisely for the reasons that Michael so eloquently outlined above.
>
> In a speech by Fidel that Walter Lippman posted on the Marxism list, Fidel
> makes mention the following:
>
> "Our Revolution is reborn each day, because the ideas we stand for, the
> justice that we defend, the cause we fight for, is today the cause, and
> there can be no cause other than that of the billions of people who live
on
> this planet.
>
>
> "I say ideas because the struggle we are speaking about will not, in
> essence, be a war, but rather a battle of ideas. The world's problems
shall
> not be solved through the use of nuclear weapons --this is impossible--
nor
> through wars.....Today, the real battle is the battle of ideas."
>
> Unfortunately the battle of ideas on this list can often degenerate into a
> battle of egos, and our enemies need do nothing more than wait for us all
to
> destroy each other under "friendly fire."  The cause has taken the very
> lives of millions of people, and all we are asked to do is put aside our
> egos for a moment, show respect and demonstrate patience.  Sad that we
can't
> make even such a small sacrifice.
>
> Maggie
>
>
>
>