The following paragraph had been removed from the longer version of this article when I reduced its length. However, on second thought I decided to restore it. This paragraph is in relation to the Ukraine Solidarity Network:
The compromising approach of USN was further revealed in several forums in which leading members participated and in one case actually helped organize. The first was on January 29, 2023 in which Bill Fletcher jr. debated Medea Benjamin <https://oaklandsocialist.com/2023/01/24/which-side-are-you-on-bill-fletcher-medea-benjamin-debate/> about Ukraine. Fletcher opposed Benjamin’s pro-Putin views, but at the same time he emphasized how much he respects this supporter of Putin and the Iranian theocracy. More recently, a “Marxist” group held a forum on the “New” labor movement <https://youtu.be/ftTYGqBRBpw?si=WaYeYw3P2MQCLMG6>. All three the speakers – two of whom are leading members of USN – were supporters of the “progressive” union bureaucrats. However, these are the same union leaders who help make sure that there is no socialist or working class alternative to the corporate-controlled, pro-Israel Democratic Party, which supports Israel. These union leaders are in the pockets of the Democratic Party, and are therefore an obstacle to principled socialist and leftist political organizing within the unions. These leaders should not be celebrated. Nor did any of the panelists at this forum mention the issue of U.S. labor and Ukraine. The third was a panel/forum: * Axis of reaction: Putin and the Global Far Right* <https://www.youtube.com/live/BzI9GRTr6oQ?si=V6jA2tPRxa9ZxWlM>. One of the panelists, John Feffer, played down Putin’s connections to the global far right, and none of the other panelists contradicted him. Blanca Missé, another leading member of USN, was another one of the speakers. She and the entire panel completely failed to address the Putinization of the left, which supposedly was the central topic of the forum. By so doing, Missé ensured that she would not antagonize that exact Putinized “left”. -- *“Science and socialism go hand-in-hand.” *Felicity Dowling Check out:https:http://oaklandsocialist.com also on Facebook -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#29696): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/29696 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/105174082/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
