[lit-ideas] Re: Five Years Ago
- From: "Judith Evans" <judithevans1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 12 Sep 2006 21:39:36 +0100
LH>No, I haven't changed my mind in regard to what I originally
LH>said. I used the term "root cause" in the sense that I assumed
LH>Mike Geary to be using it.
Mike's use of "root causes" was clear to me. Your misunderstanding
of him relates not to the meaning of "root causes" but to what
he considers the root causes to be. He didn't say, of course; you assumed
that by "causes" he meant "cause" and that he thought the cause
-- well actually, it's a bit difficult to work out what you thought he
thought the cause was, so I'll quote you
LH>let's look at how Mike intended the term "root cause."
LH> He didn't specify, but I took him to be using the old
LH>Leftist idea that Capitalism causes proletarian revolutions,
LH> and the "so-called" Islamist unrest is at root just such an one.
LH>The U.S. was out in the world plying its greedy Capitalistic
LH>trade and on 9/11, the chickens came home to roost.
and you assumed this because Mike is on the left and people
you'd call Leftists have -- you think -- said something like this.
Let me, as someone who once called herself a Marxist and
who studied Marxism at university and followed (that is,
observed) trends on the Left pretty closely, object on behalf
of the Left to your cartoon-like comments
1. It is not and never was as simple as "Capitalism causes
proletarian revolutions"
2. Marxists had analysed nationalist and other non-
proletarian movements for some decades by the time of
the rise of Islamic fundamentalism
3. Yes there are some Marxist-Leninists who want to see
class as the main motive force
4. And yes there remain some Marxists who see the economy as
determinant "in the last instance" (note: I've checked Barnett
out; he does seem to be rather like them in that).
5. But not all of these, by any means, said of 9/11 anything
like "the chickens have come home to roost".
LH> Although you can see from the MG note I just
LH>responded to that he denies that I correctly understood
LH> his vague term -- sort of.
No, I don't
Judy
----- Original Message -----
From: Lawrence Helm
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Tuesday, September 12, 2006 9:21 PM
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Five Years Ago
No, I haven't changed my mind in regard to what I originally said. I used
the term "root cause" in the sense that I assumed Mike Geary to be using it.
Although you can see from the MG note I just responded to that he denies that I
correctly understood his vague term -- sort of.
Lawrence
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