I agree pretty much with Jim's response to my post; the post itself is a first and bumbling attempt to formulate what I think is a crucial matter for u.s. leftists to try to think through. The ineffectiveness of left activity over past decades has generated a widespread urges to find short cuts. Various conspiracist theories are the most dramatic (and irritating) form of this urge. Catastrophe mongering is even more wide spread -- Peak Oil being one major example. As with 9/11 conspiracism, the main point about Peak Oil claims is not that they are false (which they are) but that _even_ if true nothing interesting follows. Peak Oil (assuming for a moment its correctness) cannot lead to any useful political action. For one thing, one cannot formulate on its basis the type of focused demand that powers any mass movement; those preaching the Peak-Oil Theology dimly recognize this; when challenged on its political usefulness, its advocates fall back on simply repeating their arguments over how terrible it will be when peak oil arrives.
Global warming and other ecological issues seem to present the same difficulty. Consider the number of concerned writers on the topic who, when push comes to shove, can only resort to proclaiming that people must give up their bad habits of consumption! In other words, so far no one has come up with practical theories on the _concrete_ demands _on the state_, around which truly significant mass movements can be organized. Incidentally, the way such theories would have to be expressed first would be by their proponents actually _doing_ the organizing on their basis. Some theories simply can't exist verbally until _after_ they have already been at least tentatively embodied in practice. Just one sticking point: China simply cannot afford to cut down its industrial production unless the U.S. and Europe cut down first. I am sure one can multiply this kind of sticky point endlessly. That's what capitalism is all about -- creating contexts in which someone must first commit suicide before one can seriously organize collective action. Carrol
