Re: [R-G] Samir Amin on the catastrophe facing billions of peasants

[Macdonald Stainsby <mstainsby@xxxxxx>]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Fred Feldman" <ffeldman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

> I'm not sure what Samir Amin really  means to say about Mao here,
> probably because I haven't read his previous work. But  I definitely
> agree that "Marxists" who still spend valuable time warning against
> "peasant deviations" in today's world are way, way out to lunch.

Isn't this a bit of a red-herring? Perhaps the Sparts, but they don't learn
anything anyhow. Who is running around denouncing peasants these days?

The real problem is recognising these essentially class struggles are being
waged for non-class conscious aims (in the terms we are used to identifying
themselves as such), but that the new consciousness is becoming one of
self-determination. For peasants, as the lecture by Joao Pedro Stedile (I know
I'm missing an accent on his name, please someone correct me on this) points
out, the way to self-determination is two fold: land and autonomy from the
traditional institutional parties. Say what you will about this, this *is*
much of the movement.

For others, such as indigenous peoples in Palestine, Bolivia or Canada, the
struggle is also two fold: land and autonomy from "being swallowed" by the
forces of both the global economy and the local dominating nations. This kind
of breakdown has much to teach us here, and though painfully shallow, the
movement (or embryonic movement) that goes beyond simple demands and
mobilizations relates to this. Extreme democracy, fused with cultural
self-determination.

Macdonald




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