[Marxism] Re: Brazilians reject gun ban

["Carlos Eduardo Rebello" <crebello@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Brian:

What you have proven us is that various pre-Marxist theorethicians, most of
them liberal bourgeois ones (Aristotle has nothing to do, as he didn't live
in the firearms age) have argued for the right to _individual_
self-defence - something that's entirely unmarxist.

There is no revolutionary movement in Brazil today, no guerrilla or militia
being organized, and the right to bear arms plays into the hands of petty
tyrants (druglords, landowners) who sport guns against the commoners, or
into the hands of the frightened and/or despairing petty-bourgeois.Does that
sound familiar? That some Trotskysts (like, sadly, the PSTU) campaigned
against the ban is an opportunistic tweak very akin, in a very smaller
scale, to that of the KPD campaigning alongside the Nazis during the Red
Referendum.

-Carlos Rebello



> Message: 6
> Date: Mon, 24 Oct 2005 11:18:03 -0400
> From: Brian Shannon <Brian_Shannon@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: [Marxism] Brazilians reject "gun ban"
> To: Marxmail <marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Message-ID: <ebf5326040a9afe5e7f6d3c6c081504c@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed
>
> By 64% to 36%, Brazilians have rejected the government's attempt to
> disarm them. ten Nobel prize winners, President Lula, musicians and
> other artists have actively campaigned for the ban. But the people have
> spoken.
>
> Although it is being universally portrayed a victory for the misguided
> who feel they need arms for personal self-defense, it is also a victory
> for those who know that such laws are used to disarm the population and
> to give the police excuses to arrest and/or kill their political
> opponents.
>
> The right to bear arms is a universal right. In fact, Aristotle claimed
> that the best form of government was one based on those who were armed
> soldiers. There are several passages in the Federalist papers where
> Hamilton and Madison recognize the implicit democratic will that
> existed in an armed population. Of course, out of fear of it, they also
> did everything they could to curb that right.
>
> Brian Shannon>
>
>



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