No retreat in Doha

[Sabri Oncu <soncu@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

This is the title of the below article from The Guardian:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,587663,00.html


I will just quote the below paragraph from it:


"September 11 and its aftermath have starkly exposed what was the glaring
weakness of the movement all along. Its analysis focussed on the dwindling
power of the state and overweening corporate power. Its disregard for the
state was such that it had no strategy for achieving the political power
necessary to deliver its aims, and fell back on subverting the state by
declaring it impotent. All that looks a bit threadbare now in the midst of
war, as the state re-emerges as hugely important in delivering that most
basic of its functions - security. Patriotism has re-appeared as a powerful
force, clawing in unprecedented poll ratings for Bush and Blair. Nearly
every day, we hear of the state granting itself more power - trampling on
civil liberties and over financial privacy, and even broaching the question
of higher taxation. The anti-corporate movement can no longer convincingly
bemoan that the governments of western democracies are simply puppets of
corporate interests. It has to revise its analysis of political power and
develop its own understanding of how to achieve it."

I am not sure if PEN-L is the right platform for this but would the list
members be interested in a discussion of the above? It would be nice, at
least for me, to hear voices from a broad spectrum of the left, ranging from
social democrats to anarchists to socialists to what have you so that there
are as many colors as possible in the discussion. I would also like to hear
from our friends from the UK and Australia their views on the Socialist
Alliances in their respective countries. Again, I am not sure if PEN-L is
the best platform for bringing this topic up but I don't know where else is
more suitable.

Best,

or as we used to say back in the good old days of J18,

In solidarity,

Sabri Oncu
soncu@xxxxxxxxxxx