> >No, Lou, as I stated, it tells us the opposite. There are many cases of
>>worker self-organization and workers' leaders who have been arrested that
>>are worthy of leftist's support in China. The assumption that they are
>>neo-liberals or dupes of neo-liberals is a simplistic way of approaching a
>>rather complex issue. We can doubt the motivation of the source of this
>>report, surely, as do the workers in this case.
>>
>>Steve
>
>You have me totally confused. You posted a report from HRW that I
>questioned because of the source. Then, today, you post something from the
>workers on the spot who disavow the HRW report. I am not questioning
>whether leftists should support workers struggle in China or elsewhere,
>just urging caution about sources. Human Rights was the outfit that said
>that the Iraqis were detaching babies from Kuwait life-support systems. If
>you had provided something direct from the horse's mouth to begin with,
>this exchange never would have taken place. I am also making a point of
>this is that some people hailed the "workers revolt" in the Serb republic
>uncritically several months ago. They relied on dubious sources. The left
>has to develop its own information sources and stay away from poisoned wells.
>
>Louis Proyect
Caution is necessary, but I believe Steve has been taking just the
sort of caution that you urge above.
One shouldn't dismiss the message just because one doesn't like the
messenger, unless the message is complete fabrication.
While I think it was unwise for Serbian workers to help get rid of
Milosevic & the Socialist Party & the United Left and to install
Kostunica & neoliberal democrats, it is also true that workers who
joined the revolt were expressing their genuine discontent. The
problem is that their discontent got channeled into the direction
that has & will not benefit them at all.
How will labor organizers in China fare? That's an empirical
question, and we can't answer it just by discussing the HRW.
As China continues its "market reforms" & moves toward the complete
if gradual restoration of capitalism, it is no wonder that an
increasing number of workers & peasants have & will organize
themselves to address the problems created by the market, sometimes
also against the Party-State which has steered China's
politico-economic course. Their self-organizations & revolts may,
naturally, be taken advantage of by imperialists. That doesn't mean,
however, that workers in China & other countries in the periphery
should do nothing to improve their lot, just because their attempts
to do so may produce unintended consequences in the future. It's
actually the job of Western leftists -- not Chinese workers &
peasants -- to restrain imperialists.
Yoshie
