On 3/15/07, ravi <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Yoshie Furuhashi wrote:
>
> Back when I was active in Solidarity, I proposed that, after the 2004
> elections, we work with other socialists and leftists who believe the
> Democratic Party will not help end the war and together organize a
> national conference so we won't be so ill-organized and ill-focused.
> For various reasons, internal and external, that didn't happen.
I think these efforts are commendable and necessary. What is also
missing is for a way to get ordinary people to get involved in some way,
if only to form a community. Not every one has the dedication (and in
some cases, the time, money and/or energy) to participate in meetings
and planning. The "netroots" (etc) provide a means for regular folks to
congregate/communicate and in some cases even plan: MoveOn is a good
example. In contrast, most of are holed up in mailing lists that have
little visibility (no offence!).
To make it possible to reach out to larger circles of people, you have
to begin somewhere, but that beginning somewhere seems to me to be the
most difficult. Socialism essentially remains an idea in the USA.
Perhaps the idea improves some socialists' practice somewhere, at a
church here, at a trade union there, at an NGO elsewhere, and some
people still take a little nourishment from whatever socialist groups
they belong to -- study groups, organizations, etc. -- though in my
view many of them are more hindrances than anything else. Many
national peace organizations are run by socialists and their allies,
too, though I'm not sure in this case if socialism is adding to or
subtracting from practice.
I doubt we will ever have the following that MoveOn has, nor the timing
(their birth and rise coincided with significant among Democrats,
especially over the 2000 POTUS election). But even without such
crippling factors, we seem hobbled by everything from
ideological/theoretical purism to intellectual individualism.
You said it.
--
Yoshie
