Re: [Marxism] Re: Is the struggle to unify China anexpressionof"GreatHan chauvinism" today?

["Carlos A. Rivera" <cerejota@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

----- Original Message -----
From: "rrubinelli" <rrubinelli@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>

>  And although I am hesitant to
> agree with Carlos twice in two days, I think he has hit the mark
> straight on.

And what do you think about me agreeing with you!!!

We should share heart pills or something...

>  In its "independence" movement Taiwan is  much more akin
> to Ian Smith's Rhodesia than Mugabe's Zimbabwe.

And on and on. Analogies abound.

Now lets, possibly, disagree.

I really don't like Mugabe, but he has indeed been a champion of Zimbawean
independence and national self-determination.

I mention this because some have noted that this position might seem to deny
self-determination whenever supported by imperialism but accepts it when
not, while it is much more profound and case-by-case.

A good example is the Irish self-determination struggle, which has massive
support even by avowed right-wingers in the USA.

Yet I support it.

And there are other examples, the occupation of Lebanon by Syria, or the
partition of Cyprus, in which various positions can be understood as correct
even if opposed. These are rare exceptions, and hence the inherent
contradictions of Marxist analysis regarding these situations, don't
invalidate ML per-se, just makes us admit it isn't as monolithic as we
thought it was.

Again, I believe that practical observation of the nature of the struggle,
its support even among a minority of the national masses, and the interests
of the national working class, and the interest of imperialism in the
region, are much more important factors in supporting a movement than
anything else.

Also, lets not foget, annexation can indeed be a form of national
self-determination, although it is a rare form, in the same way that denial
of annexation is a form of breaching national self-determination, a still
rare but more common form.

The biggest example of how denial of annexation is a breach of national
self-determination is the USA itself. The Revolution (calling it war of
independence is in my opinion a revisionist thing) was started not by a cry
of independence, but a cry for annexation: Taxation without representation
is tyranny!

Yet the denial of this self-detemrination led to independence as the only
other option for a national body thirsty to self-determine...

sks




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