Forwarded from Jurriaan

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

Friends,

I made a mistake in making a grievous, revolting, horrible insult at
Xxxx Xxxxxx, which is considered sexist and violent. I made them not
taking properly into account the consequences of my actions, and without
fully considering the political situation and Xxxx's place in it.  I
apologise for this sincerely, and for denying, initially, this was so. I
do not want to persist in my error. I want to be an honest man from now
on, and try not to engage in infantile behaviour myself, unless I am
specifically asked to exhibit such behaviours in an appropriate context.

I have have exchanged views about it with a panel of friends, who gave
stern criticism, and thought about it to the point where I felt sicker
about it than I already felt. I insulted Louis as well, implicitly or
explicitly. I apologise for this sincerely as well. I sincerely
apologise also to any other person associated with the list, or who read
mails published on it, about my highly offensive utterings in recent
mails. I will endeavour never to make this happen again.

I could perhaps go into a long lecture or confession about the meaning
of my error, my communication difficulties, moral issues and the wrongs
of abuse, but you are presumably not interested in that at all, you are
not interested in the petty problems of Jurriaan Bendien and his
personal world. You are interested in making political progress, and
learning from the best models of socialist or Marxist practice,
creatively applying your knowledge to the problems we all face. I just
refer you to a popsong by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, "I won't back
down" to indicate my current frame of mind, and perhaps also yours. I
don't know their politics, but the song is a good one, in my opinion.

I have no association with Christopher Hitchens. I bought his book about
Mother Teresa once and flipped through it but did not read it thoroughly
as I planned. It disappeared from my house, maybe I threw it out, I
don't know anymore what happened there. I don't aspire to become a
mouthpiece for political conservatives, although in certain respects my
"style" has been conservative, which I admit. As I said, I remain a
socialist by conviction. If you have questions, write me.

If for any reason you require further explanation, or feel that what I
have said is inadequate or incomplete, please feel also free to mail me
your response or let me know some other way.

I am prepared to contribute to the socialist movement, but I cannot do
it all the time, I must focus on my health, and I must go into retreat
(holiday) next week to recompose myself and restoring some courage to
myself.

I wish you all the best,

Jurriaan Bendien (J.Bendien@xxxxxxxxxx)

--

The Marxism list: www.marxmail.org



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