Re: [Marxism] Re: The Black Scholar Editorial on Zimbabwe

[Walter Lippmann <walterlx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

We read here that one Marxist is SUPPORTIVE of some imperialist
sanctions against Zimbabwe. He's NOT in favor of those sanctions
which haven't YET been applied, but he IS in favor of the ones
which HAVE been applied. And should stronger sanctions later on
be applied, will they, too, merit support as well? Why not?

There is an international, world-wide campaign to denuncify and to
vilify the Mugabe government. It hasn't been going on for as long
as the one against Cuba, but it's the same thing. And the fact that
a Marxist could write approvingly of some imperialist sanctions
against a black-ruled African country is really quite remarkable.
We read this called "hand-slapping", which means that as far as
he is concerned, it's really not serious, not bad, not a problem
and certainly not something to get upset about or, Goddess forbid,
to PROTEST against.

Zimbabwe is under a heavy sanctions regime such as Iran and Cuba
experience. It's backed up with a world-wide ideological campaign.

Marxists really need to be aware of this fact and to pick and to
choose their weapons and their words and their priorities with 
these world realities in mind. It's similarly with Iran, as the
U.S. has stepped up its ideological preparations, its process of
"manufacturing consent" as the Noam Chomsky well described it.

We had an explosion of critical thought among some on the left 
taking on "radical Islam" just when Washington was putting forth
its campaign its. There is a campaign going on and there is real
pressure being applied. It's not coming from me. It's coming from 
the capitalist media and its ideologists. Joseph Hansen described
it so well when he described how Robertson and Wohlforth argued so
strongly for "workers democracy" in the fall of 1960 and the spring
of 1961, as Washington was preparing the people of the U.S. for the
Bay of Pigs invasions. The similarities are quite striking and it's
all the more remarkable that these campaigns should be sloughed off
as we read. One even embraces the sanctions, I guess with the small
proviso that they be "smart sanctions". In fact, the only question
some are asking is which sanctions "would work best". 

Such a symmetrically balanced approach as we read here has a quite
seductive quality. Everything fits neatly. Imperialism isn't just
TALKING. It's taking ACTION. There is a blockade against Iran and
a blockade against Zimbabwe and a blockade against Cuba and there
is a blockade against Cuba, though only Cuba has travel banned.
These are ACTIONS, not just "what imperialism states".

A better set of priorities and explanations come from here:
*********************************************************************
"This tradition of hostility is continuing today and is clearly
reflected in a series of distorted reports that have been issued by
the Cable News Network and other media outlets that essentially
parrot what is deemed as the correct perspective on political
developments in Zimbabwe. These attacks against Zimbabwe are
occurring simultaneously with a whole campaign against various
geo-political regions throughout the international community.

"It also important to keep in mind that these propaganda and
diplomatic offensives against nations such as Iran, Venezuela, Cuba,
Somalia, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and Zimbabwe are
taking place at the same time that both the American and British
administrations are suffering substantial losses in Iraq and
Afghanistan, thwarting its imperial aims that starkly stand behind
the so-called "war on terrorism." "
http://allafrica.com/stories/printable/200704040071.html
**********************************************************************

I have no hesitancy about saying that the government of Zimbabwe is
corrupt, it's not democratic, it's brutal and its beats people up.
Will there next be demonstrations all over the world at Zimbawean
embassies saying "down with Mugabe, up with democracy"?

Well, the government of Laurent Kabila next door in Congo Kishasa is
also corrupt, brutal, undemocratic and shoots its citizens down as
well, but there are no outcries about that from the imperialists,
nor from the revolutionary-minded left. Why no protest of that?
I'm not calling for it, but wondering why Zimbabwe and not Congo?

The people of Zimbabwe will have to take care of that government as
best they can. But help from Washington and the imperialist sanction
regime won't help them. Tell us when imperialism has ever helped the
peoples of the Third World to get their democratic rights? Tell us!


Walter Lippmann
===================================================================
DAVID WALTERS says:
What the US states, what Imperialism states, is only ONE factor in
how we analyze a situation. We need to start equally from the point
of view of the class struggle in those countries, something Walter
abhors doing since it makes for an uncomfortable analysis where he
might actually have to stand with the workers and peasants against
some gov't that has received some hand slapping from the US.
FULL
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/marxism/2007-April/010859.html


PATRICK BOND spells it out quite clearly:
> In other words, they're not AGAINST the existing sanctions, nor are
> you in favor of the ones which haven't as yet been imposed, right?
>   
Right, as far as I can tell, the position of the main progressive 
movements is favourable to smart sanctions against elites but not yet in 
favour of the sort of comprehensive sanctions that the South African 
liberation forces called for during apartheid. The debate continues, 
though. It's not clear, as I said, because there's not too much 
information about what kinds of sanctions - e.g. on arms sales (by the 
main SA firm Armscor), electricity imports (again mainly from SA but 
also Mozambique), bank relationships (SA's largest bank is crucial but 
so are Barclays and Standard Chartered), etc - would work best.
FULL:
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/marxism/2007-April/010854.html



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