[Marxism] Tariq Ali's logic

["Jurriaan Bendien" <andromeda246@xxxxxxxxx>]

Tariq Ali argues:

"Should Bush be punished for going to war or
not? If you say "yes," then you have to punish him, and the best way to
punish him is to remove him from office. Then you come to Kerry."

But how is Bush punished by being removed from office? This argument doesn't
seem particularly well-taken. You might as well argue that Bush would be
"punished" more by a second term, in which he would be forced to confront
the fracas of his policies.

Whoever wins in the elections, wil win with the support of only a minority
of the electorate, and that win cannot be seen as an endorsement of the
majority of voters.

I think the task of a radical is, to see the farcical democracy in the US
for what it is - a democracy in which the majority of Americans is
disenfranchised from any say in federal policy, where elections are ruled by
nepotism, and where the "Democrats" try to prevent other parties even from
the very ability to stand in elections. The real fight is a fight for
democracy as such.

How can Tariq Ali be all enthusiastic about Chavez's empowerment of the poor
Venezuelan masses, while in the United States he supports the richest
senator in the Congress? I recall how Ali became really enthused about
Gorbachev, and his "reforms from above". We all know what happened there.
Whatever was progressive in Gorbachev's policies, was undone by the system
of which he was himself a part. Why should it be any different in the USA,
which has a bureaucratic apparatus proportionally larger than the Soviet
Union ever had?

Socialists have never argued that winning votes for the parliamentary
talkshop is the main concern in elections. The main concern is to use the
opportunity of increased interest in politics to advance alternatives, and
get people involved in political activity on the basis of what they
themselves believe.

Lesser-evil logic culminates in the conclusion that the future of the world
depends on casting a vote for a candidate you don't really believe in
anyway. But the future of the world doesn't depend on that, it depends on
getting support for a genuinely progressive policy, and if it's the summit
of political wisdom to cast a vote for Kerry, this doesn't say much for your
socialism.

Jurriaan






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