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The last refuge of a scoundrel is not patriotism, it's pretending to be interested in the "concrete." So when Greg posts the concrete conflicts between CONAIE, the indigenous people, workers and Correa, the esteemed moderator goes, "That's the ticket. That's so much better than lectures." Except nobody was lecturing beforehand except MannyB, and JoaquinB. Others were asking for actual information about the "contradictory role" of the national bourgeoisie, etc. Anyway, having pretended to be interested in the concrete contradictions in Ecuador, now it's perfectly in order to for the moderator to produce that speculative piece of shit article from vheadlines-- where the author "suspects," it "appears," she and he had "contact" and "indigenous organizations" [but not CONAIE as far as the author can determine] received grants from NED. It's nice to see our esteemed moderator channeling Grover-Furr in producing this piece of speculative crap... Such attacks were predicted by the Al Giordano of Narco News as soon as CONAIE didn't jump on the "Correa's Our Guy" bandwagon. Here's what he said before the spirit of Grover-Furr was made the proper mode of investigation and presentation on Marxmail: "The situation thus also shines a light on the growing rift in the hemisphere between the statist left and the indigenous left and related autonomy and labor movements. The CONAIE is basically saying to Correa, "you want our support, then enact the agenda you were elected on." Whether one sees this as a dangerous game of brinkmanship or something that actually strengthens Correa's hand by placing him in the middle zone ideologically, it is worth seeing this at face value and beware of getting led astray by some of the usual suspect conspiracy theorists of the statist left who are predictably out there barking that the CONAIE is somehow an agent of imperialism, dropping rumors of US AID funding but never seeming to exhibit the hard evidence. Sigh. What Johnny-One-Notes! They wouldn't know nuance if it slapped them in the face. For them, you either line up lock-step with THE STATE (if it is "their" state) or you're a running dog of capitalism. That kind of Stalinist purge mentality should have died with the previous century. The CONAIE's grievances happen to be very legitimate. Of course, they do not justify a coup d'etat, but the CONAIE is not participating in or supporting the coup d'etat. It is saying to Correa; we'll have your back, when you have ours. This, like the Armed Forces support for Correa, is also a historical first in the region. And the plot thickens..." http://narcosphere.narconews.com/thefield/4138/coup-attempt-ecuador-result-sec-clintons-cowardice-honduras But if aid from US agencies is the criteria for suspicion, then perhaps we should be a little bit suspicious of Correa whose government received some $3 million in such aid from official US govt sources in 2009 [down significantly from 16 mill in 2005, but still above the 2002 level]. Perhaps we should point out how, concretely, CONAIE is not a Marxist group, and does not pretend to represent or adhere to revolutionary socialism. CONAIE participated in the coup of 2000 against Mahuad and his dollarization of the economy, and entered a coalition junta with the military-- for all of 24 hours. Gutierrez, a "populist" colonel in the military, led the coup, attempting to establish a "government of national salvation" [hey-- does that sound familiar to anyone?] but the OAS and the IMF told him that they had bigger things in mind, so our populist leader for national salvation dissolved the coup. Gutierrez ran from president in 2002 and won with the support of CONAIE. Six months later, CONAIE broke with Gutierrez and indigenous leaders were subjected to assaults and threats of assasination-- so much so that the OAS called on the government of Ecuador to guarantee the safety of the indigenous leaders. A very national, and I'm sure salvationist, official of the government then remarked that "OAS doesn't tell us what to do in Ecuador." All hail national salvation. In 2005, CONAIE participated in demonstrations and protests that led to the ousting of Gutierrez., and in its own popular assemblies, the membership of CONAIE demanded that "all must go" whatever their party affiliations. In August 2005, CONAIE led the struggle against Petrobras-- the national salvationist state-private oil company of Brazil-- and Occidental petroleum and the attempt to expand extraction activities in the traditional areas. The point of all this.... besides the fact that the vheadline article doesn't produce a shred of hard evidence, is that CONAIE is not Marxist, has entered into alliances with "nationalist" "salvationist" pretenders before, and it wouldn't surprise me if it does so again. But in this case.... in this specific case, CONAIE opposes the coup and does not support Correa-- which, of course, to our dialecticians of the conspiracy theory-- must be suspicious, must be connect to receiving money from the US. Funny how this conspiracy theory gets circulated on the list, but others-- like 9/11 are .... well just conspiracy theory mongering and verboten. Oh well, consistency is the virtue of a small mind. I don't know myself if CONAIE has ever accepted US money or not. I know Correa has. I don't have to speculate about CONAIE because I now what CONAIE has done in the past, and I am well aware, and can explain their "limitations," the "contradictions" of a movement confined to issues of race, caste, etc. even to our dialecticians of the "contradictory role" of the national bourgeoisie. Regardless of the 6 degrees of separation imputed in the vheadlines article, the material basis, the actions of Correa against the indigenous people and the workers exists in,of, and by itself. If that's the bandwagon of "national salvation" then clearly the wheel have fallen off, if in fact the bandwagon ever had wheel to begin with-- which it did not. Anyway, I just thought I'd point that out for those looking for something beyond the sectarianism of official Marxism-Leninism, and for those who don't share the agenda of the moderator. ________________________________________________ Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
