I think that, unfortunately, some people become so committed to a particular
philosophy or religion or political theory, that they really do lose their
independence of thought. Whether it's Communism or Catholicism, psychoanalytic
theory or Islam, if it fills emotional needs and gives people a sense of
security and purpose, it becomes their identity. It's the way human nature
works. NFB has done that for a lot of people too.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Wednesday, July 8, 2020 9:30 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Destruction of statues seeks to erase history we
need to know
I've joined many Parties...or at least sat in for a while. But I guess I'm
just not a Party Animal. Seems like after a bit someone comes along and begins
telling me how to behave or what to think. And so I thank them, and move on.
But I always leave with more than I came. And maybe I leave a little
something, too. Clyde Jarvis was much more than my dad. He was also my
mentor. Dad grew up during the teens and twenties, organizing unions and
preaching the Gospel according to the American Communist Party. But I never
joined the Party. Not after sitting through long meetings as a small boy.
While the Party Line did not rub off on me, I did notice that there were just
as many self serving Communists as there were self serving Christians. I think
that the greatest gift my dad gave to me was the ability to think for myself,
and to make my own mind up, and to expect to be responsible for my decisions
whether they turned out to be right or wrong. And if there is a Judgement Day,
which I do not believe there will be, but if there were, I would be able to
stand in front of that Golden Throne and say, "I've done some good things, and
I've done some bad things. But I am responsible for them all."
In the long run I am just a Wayfarer wandering through Life, believing that if
I seek, I will find, and if I knock, the door will open.
Carl Jarvis
On 7/8/20, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Every time I read a Militant article, I am reminded of why I can't
identify with the kind of Socialism that it represents. Its inflexible
and rigid views are applied to every situation, distorting each one to
fit into its view. In this case, where is the proof of the allegation
that tearing down the statues is a result of the plan of a few people
whose class interests are different from those of the people in the
streets? I remember this publication supporting Clyde Bundy and his
crowd who are right wing Libertarians who want to use public lands for
their own private profit. God knows what rationalization the Militant had for
that position!
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Roger Loran Bailey
(Redacted sender "rogerbailey81" for DMARC)
Sent: Wednesday, July 8, 2020 3:17 PM
To: blind-democracy <blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [blind-democracy] Destruction of statues seeks to erase
history we need to know
I was hesitant about posting this article, but let me repeat my
disclaimer that just because I post an article that does not mean that I
agree with it.
This one does contain some parts I agree with and the discussion of
stages of human history is relevant to some recent discussion on this list.
However, I also think that the article completely and totally misses
the whole point of removing these statues.
Okay, maybe small self-appointed groups should not be the ones who
make the decision of removing or vandalizing them, but that does not
address why they should be removed nor does it address the reason a
statue is erected in the first place. No history is being removed.
https://themilitant.com/2020/07/04/destruction-of-statues-seeks-to-era
se-history-we-need-to-know/ Destruction of statues seeks to erase
history we need to know BY TERRY EVANS Vol. 84/No. 27 July 13, 2020
Worldwide protests against police killings in recent weeks reflect the
depth of opposition to cop brutality and racist discrimination among
working people today. The protests have made some gains, leading to
charges against cops and racist vigilantes and strengthening the unity
of the working class. But some middle-class radicals and antifa groups
have tried to divert these fights into destroying statues and other
symbols of figures from past history they call “oppressive.”
In fact, these forces try to use the cover of large protests elsewhere
to organize small bands to try and tear down the statues, with backing
from the liberal “woke” press, like the New York Times. They threaten
to silence anyone who disagrees, and aim to rewrite history and
obscure the development of the class struggle that has marked social
evolution.
Without this working people can’t understand the class roots of
historical development and find a road forward to overthrow class
exploitation and oppression once and for all.
The editors of the Washington Post pontificate that those who object
to destroying monuments “we don’t like” in effect endorse the “atrocities”
carried out by the figures depicted in the statues — a form of race-baiting.
If the statues have to remain, the Post editors say, working people
can’t be trusted to know anything about them, and the statues should
be covered with warnings and tracts to enlighten people about the evil they
depict.
Statue of Ulysses S. Grant before its destruction last month in Golden
Gate Park in San Francisco. Grant was commander of Union Army that
defeated slavocracy in U.S. Civil War.
Statue of Ulysses S. Grant before its destruction last month in Golden
Gate Park in San Francisco. Grant was commander of Union Army that
defeated slavocracy in U.S. Civil War.
Some arguments go far beyond objections to statues of historical
figures whose families owned slaves or held other views now
discredited. Laura Brodie writes in the New York Times that all
statues of historical figures on horseback portray “toxic masculinity”
and are candidates for destruction.
These calls follow the destruction of statues in San Francisco’s
Golden Gate Park June 19 of former President Ulysses S. Grant — the
commanding general of the Union army that defeated the slavocracy in
the Civil War and was elected president to enforce postwar Radical
Reconstruction — and other figures in U.S. history. Even a statue of
Miguel Cervantes, who had been held as a slave and was author of Don
Quixote, was vandalized. A number of nearby structures were marked with the
symbol of area antifa groups.
The American Museum of Natural History, backed by New York City
authorities, decided to remove the statue of former President Theodore
Roosevelt.
You can’t ‘cancel’ history, we need it Behind the destruction and
removal of monuments lies the notion that by erasing symbols from the
past, reflecting different stages of class development, you can
“cancel” them and pretend they didn’t happen.
Eradicating the record of slavery, a historical epoch that was key to
the development of capitalism, and with it the development of the
modern working class, in order to avoid something that is “hurtful,”
does nothing to help working people learn how historical changes are
made nor from seeing ourselves as the makers of history.
Frederick Engels, a founder of the modern working-class movement, took
these questions up in his criticism Anti-Duhring, published in 1878,
after the U.S. Civil War that overthrew the slavocracy. “It is very
easy to inveigh against slavery and similar things in general terms,
and to give vent to high moral indignation at such infamies,” he wrote.
“Unfortunately all that this conveys is only what everyone knows,
namely, that these institutions of antiquity are no longer in accord
with our present conditions and our sentiments.”
“Without slavery, no Greek state, no Greek art and science, without
slavery, no Roman Empire. But without the basis laid by Hellenism and
the Roman Empire, also no modern Europe. We should never forget that
our whole economic, political and intellectual development presupposes
a state of things in which slavery was as necessary as it was universally
recognized,”
he said. “In this sense we are entitled to say: Without the slavery of
antiquity no modern socialism.”
The working class has an interest in developing a long view of history
— understanding how civilization emerged from the earliest toolmakers;
how exploitative social systems developed as ruling classes subjugated
the toiling majority; and especially how human progress is driven by
inevitable rebellions of slaves, serfs, laborers and other oppressed
classes throughout history. Through revolutionary struggles more
advanced social systems replace outmoded ones.
The bosses and their government want us to believe that people are
inherently greedy and capitalism will last forever. But history
teaches that the working class and its exploited and oppressed allies
are capable of uniting to overthrow dog-eat-dog capitalism,
transforming ourselves in the process, and taking political power into our
own hands.
This will be the mightiest weapon possible for working people to carry
forward the battle to end Black oppression and every form of human
degradation inherited from millennia of class-divided society.
The Confederate battle flag came down
There is no broad working-class movement today demanding Confederate
symbols be taken down as part of advancing the working-class struggle
against racist violence. But there have been times when this has been
important. In 2000 some 50,000 people marched in Columbia, South
Carolina, demanding that the Confederate battle flag be taken down
from the state Capitol Building. They urged that the flag, a symbol
not of past slavery but a banner for racist Klan violence, be removed from
the Capitol grounds.
At the end of June this year the government in Mississippi voted to
take down its flag — the last state symbol flying in the country
containing the Confederate battle flag.
This is a blow to any who would seek to organize racist violence today.
Knowing the real history of past class struggles is key to charting a
road forward. Along that road working people will decide what statues
and other historical monuments we want to keep and where, and what new ones
to erect.
We don’t need small self-appointed groups imposing their own will on
others tearing down statues, putting barriers in front of working
people learning from our history, and gaining confidence in what we can
become.
Protests demand: ‘Charge cops who killed Breonna Taylor, and others!’
Protests against cop brutality and police killings are continuing in
cities and small towns across the country, as well as worldwide.
They’ve remained strongest and most determined where new cases of
police violence have been forced into public view, or… Malcolm X:
You’re in revolutionary times, there has to be change
Malcolm X Talks to Young People is one of Pathfinder’s Books of the
Month for July. In the last year of his life, Malcolm became the
authentic voice of the forces of the coming American revolution. The
main excerpt is… Front Page Articles Shipyard strike is a fight for all
working people!
Demand jobs program to put millions back to work!
Amid layoffs, workers resist attacks from bosses, gov’t Hong Kong
protests defy Beijing’s drive to tighten grip Protests demand: ‘Charge
cops who killed Breonna Taylor, and others!’
SWP 2020 campaign presents fighting working-class program Feature
Articles A working-class road to expand rights for all the oppressed
Also In This Issue Cuban medical missions face US gov’t slander and
threats Destruction of statues seeks to erase history we need to know
SWP ‘stimulus’ appeal now stands at $132,300 Weekly audio version of
‘Militant’ available online Books of the Month Malcolm X: You’re in
revolutionary times, there has to be change 25, 50 and 75 years ago
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Okay, thanks
--
___
Richard Dawkins
“The total amount of suffering per year in the natural world is beyond
all decent contemplation. During the minute that it takes me to
compose this sentence, thousands of animals are being eaten alive,
many others are running for their lives, whimpering with fear, others
are slowly being devoured from within by rasping parasites, thousands
of all kinds are dying of starvation, thirst, and disease. It must be
so. If there ever is a time of plenty, this very fact will
automatically lead to an increase in the population until the natural
state of starvation and misery is restored. In a universe of electrons
and selfish genes, blind physical forces and genetic replication, some
people are going to get hurt, other people are going to get lucky, and you
won't find any rhyme or reason in it, nor any justice.
The universe that we observe has precisely the properties we should
expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no
good, nothing but pitiless indifference.”
― Richard Dawkins, River Out of Eden: A Darwinian View of Life
