When I see someone on the left advocating intervention in the
former Yugoslavia, I have to ask: "intervention by whom?"
The intervention that is currently going on is by the US/UN/NATO.
does the Left have any say in how this force is used? do the
people of the US have any say in how this force is used? do the
people of the world or of the former Yugoslavia have any say?
I hope that I am not being presumptuous to answer all these
questions with "no." The decisions are being made by the
US power elite (in alliance with similar power elites) who
are not held responsible in a democratic way. So there is
no assurance at all that the elite's policies will work out
to further leftist aims. or popular aims. As Paul Phillips
notes, these policies helped create the problems. As
Christopher Hitchens (an advocate of intervention) has
noted in the NATION, these policies helped transform the
Bosnian state from an ethnic pluralist one to a Moslem-
nationalist one.
I think the whole issue would be different if we were
talking about the Left intervening. as with the International
Brigades and other Leftist forces that helped the Spancish
Republic during the 1930s Civil War. (the other forces
included such folks as George Orwell, a hero of mine.) But
what we see now is equivalent to the machinations of the
"capitalist democracies" that helped sink the Spanish
Republic (or the machinations of Stalin, for that matter).
in pen-l solidarity,
Jim Devine BITNET: jndf@lmuacad INTERNET: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Econ. Dept., Loyola Marymount Univ., Los Angeles, CA 90045-2699 USA
310/338-2948 (off); 310/202-6546 (hm); FAX: 310/338-1950
if bitnet address fails, try [EMAIL PROTECTED]
