Adios Amigos

["Ben Seattle" <Left-Transparency@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi everyone,

This will be my last post on marxmail.org for some time.  I am
unsu_bbing so that I can focus on other projects.

                   *         *         *

Néstor has informed me that he will not be replying to my post
"Bourgeois nationalism vs. the class struggle".  The exchange, he
believes, would be neither useful nor interesting for readers.

I will add here that I hope that no one here believes that I
believe that national struggle in a semicolonial country is a
betrayal to class struggle.  I was awakened to political thought
as a result of a national struggle: the national liberation
struggle of the Vietnamese people against US imperialism.
National struggles in oppressed countries are often progressive
in character.  What I consider mistaken is to lose sight of the
class struggle.

                   *         *         *

Many readers are aware that Néstor and I previously came into
contradiction concerning bourgeois nationalism, the class
struggle and the topic of dealing with political activists by
throwing them into jail.

In June of last year I made a series of posts explaining why the
left and progressive movements should oppose the imprisonment of
Zhang Shanguang, a political activist in China.  Zhang was
imprisoned for giving an interview (in which he described local
peasant peasant protests against increasing taxes) to Radio Free
Asia (which is, essentially, directly controlled by the CIA).
Néstor (and many others) believe that the national contradiction
between China and US imperialism is paramount and overshadows the
significance than the internal class struggle in China.  I argued
that workers and peasants in China should have the right to
organize and to make their views known--and that this right
should extend to making use of news outlets controlled by
imperialism.  The principle at issue is that revolutionaries and
political activists are not serfs and have the right to make use
of contradictions between their enemies.  (More information on
this can be found in the "notes" section below.)

Now many people believe that I am mistaken.  But in this
event--why not oppose me with calm, scientific argument in an
open, public forum?  If I am wrong then surely the _reasons_ that
I am wrong, the principles that are at stake, would be important
for activists to understand.  I therefore challenged Néstor to
oppose me with scientific argument.  Néstor, however, did not
have the ability to oppose me with scientific argument--and for
this reason felt that he had no alternative except to expel me
from the Leninist-International email list.

Néstor, of course, has the right to expel me from L-I.  But
revolutionary activists also have the right to draw conclusions
concerning the weakness of an ideology that is simply unable to
defend itself using principled scientific arguments in an open
public forum.  As the communications revolution unfolds those
ideas which are insufficiently robust to defend themselves in the
light of the sun will be swept away.

                   *         *         *

I will also note that I never did get a response from José
concerning my recent posts on proletarian democracy in relation
to a modern economy and in relation to Cuba.  The fact that José
has not responded to me does not, of course, prove that the
principles I support are correct.  However it does suggest this
as a possibility.

                   *         *         *

Finally I invite everyone who has been reading my posts, friend
and foe alike, to subscribe to the theorist list (see info
below).  The theorist list consists of my posts to various
forums.  The volume is generally less than ten posts per month so
your mailbox will not be flooded.  And the quality of the posts,
at least in my opinion, is reasonable.

Sincerely and with revolutionary regards,
Ben Seattle
----//-// 17.Sep.2000
www.Leninism.org

     ========================================================
     Read "Notes of an Information Theorist"
     --------------------------------------------------------
     Watch Ben apply the tactics of "information war"
     (characterized by intelligent listening and calm,
     scientific argument) to help transform the marxism space
     into a powerful weapon against bourgeois rule.
     --------------------------------------------------------
     Archive: http://www.egroups.com/group/theorist/
     To subscribe: theorist-subscribe@xxxxxxxxxxx
     ========================================================

----------------------------------------
Notes:
----------------------------------------

I have created a page dealing with the principles related to the
imprisonment of Zhang Shanguang.  It can be seen at:
http://Leninism.org/stream/99/zhang/intro.asp

Two of the key posts that I made (in reply to Louis Paulsen and
Vladimir Bilenkin) are as follows:

Subject: Zhang Shanguang and the principles of our recovery
(reply to Louis Paulsen)
Date:    Tuesday, June 29, 1999
http://Leninism.org/stream/99/zhang/7principles.asp

Subject: Will democratic rights undermine
         China's struggle against imperialism?
         (reply to Vladimir)
Date:    Thursday, July 08, 1999
http://Leninism.org/stream/99/zhang/0708-bensea-vb.asp

<>