"[E]xcept orientated more to the South." That's an important exception, imho. What do you think Chavez is doing by counterposing ALBA to FTAA, taking part in MERCOSUR, running for a seat in the UN SC, etc.? -- Yoshie
Engaging in diplomatic/trade initiatives obviously. That's what the heads of state do. As a revolutionary socialist in the USA, I am under no obligation to softpedal my criticisms of the government of Iran, Brazil or China, however. You would be hard-pressed, for example, to find articles in the Cuban press that expose the brutality that Chinese workers and peasants face on a daily basis. When Castro visited China, he did not utter a single critical word. When Chavez met with Ahmadinejad, he failed to call attention to the absolutely repressive character of the Iranian state which has tortured political prisoners routinely. This is the fate of small, weak nations trying to carve out an alternative economic development path. They have to make compromises. I am under no such obligation. I am not trying to balance a budget or make sure that my country has access to spare parts, as the Sandinistas had to deal with in the late 1980s when I was working with their government. That was about as close as I ever was to such problems. My goal is to help reconstitute the revolutionary socialist movement worldwide. This primarily means creating a pole of attraction for Marxists worldwide on Marxmail, which has 925 subscribers and probably twice that many people reading the archives on a daily basis. My obligation is to tell the truth and draw sharp class distinctions. You, of course, can do whatever you like.
