On Wed, November 12, 1997 at 11:09:58 (-0800) James Devine writes:
>
>I think Moore's critique of the Left is largely friendly: he wants us to be
>more involved with talking to actual working people and less involved with
>obscure debates, etc. (See his article in a recent NATION, which folks on
>the east coast probably received two weeks before I did.)
I agree with this, and Cockburn actually precedes Moore in this by
several years.
>Moore seems to be reacting to the _style_ of the Left more than its
>position. ...
If Moore actually said this:
while GM employees were being laid off by the thousands,
'the left' was in Nicaragua supporting the Sandinistas,
or in Philly protesting the death penalty.
then, I don't blame Cockburn for being upset. This goes far beyond a
critique of style. While workers in Detroit were being downsized,
Nicaraguans were being, quite literally, slaughtered by the
contras.
We should remember images such as the following:
Rosa had her breasts cut off. Then they cut into her chest and
took out her heart. The men had their arms broken, their
testicles cut off, and their eyes poked out. They where killed by
slitting their throats, and pulling the tongue out through the
slit.
---From a survivor's account of a contra attack. Jonathan Steele
and Tony Jenkins, *Manchester Guardian Weekly*, Nov. 25, 1984.
This goes far beyond anything those in Detroit had to endure, was paid
for by U.S. taxpayers, and was commonplace throughout Guatemala, El
Salvador, and Nicaragua, to name three of the more egregious cases.
There is no reason to attack "the left" for opposing this, or even for
putting this as a higher priority than solidarity with downsized
workers, though I don't see this as a zero-sum game, either.
I appreciate much of Moore's sentiments about the left "getting to
know" people, which, as I said, is something Cockburn has been saying,
perhaps in a different way, perhaps with more off-putting sarcasm
surrounding it, for years.
There is, I agree, much shared ground between Cockburn and Moore, but
I think what are apparently Moore's tactless and idiotic noises about
the left's Nicaraguan stance deserve strong rebuke.
Bill
