[p2p-research] john pilger on the greeks

[Ryan Lanham]

Thanks for your response.  My own view is that violence outside of state
structures or immediate self defense is nearly always wrong.  There are, I
suppose, just revolutions against tyranny of one sort or another.  My own
view is that these should be few if there is an open society, free
elections, an open economy (or relatively so) and the rule of law.  One can
be too quick to see tyranny and abuse in a species that is, after all, only
a few thousand generations removed from living mostly in caves and tree
tops.  32,000 years ago, we were biologically essentially the same as now,
but we had little or no concept of anything we call governance, fairness,
justice or most other fineries of civilization we now rely on.  Or so the
best experts seem to think.

I may be tainted in some minds for adopting the mores of conventional
society, and in finding comfort in stable governments and economies, and you
are right in that I believe that thinking that way is in my own best
interest, the interests of those I care most about, and the interests of
most people I know.

Revolution may sweep me and my type aside.  If it does, so be it.  We are a
vicious species.  I will defend myself as any other sane person or culture
would.  My guess is that the new boss will be the same as the old boss...or
worse.  And we will get fooled again.


On Fri, May 28, 2010 at 7:51 AM, j.martin.pedersen <
m.pedersen at lancaster.ac.uk> wrote:

>
> On 26/05/10 18:12, Ryan Lanham wrote:
> > I agree with the points.  Whether that makes me an "X" is what I dispute.
> > Liberal has many meanings in many contexts.
> >
> > I'm not sure that labels and standards are helpful.  Why can I not take a
> > position issue by issue?  I agree to no group's specific limits.
>
> You don't have to, and I don't think that Michel necessarily assigned
> that label to you, but to those statements, which in turn, as it were,
> reflect also your position on the specific matter in question.
>
> It is a general and typical set of liberal statements, which I (and many
> others, as we have already seen, who have an ounce of historical
> awareness and a gram of solidarity in their bones) find absolutely sad
> and self-serving, and justificatory of half a millennia of concerted
> efforts by a small elite, based on racism and exploitation of black and
> white alike, to make a claim to the world's resources at the cost of
> everyone else. (Try the work of Peter Linebaugh and Marcus Rediker to
> gain a perspective in this respect).
>
> It is entirely untenable to hold this arrogant position, if one
considers the enormous agency that go into maintaining the bloody,
violent structures of inequality that make it possible to "just run
ahead of everyone else".

For what concerns progress of the human kind and technology, and the
statement that less die from war, I suggest taking a look at the coltan
driven crisis in the Great Lakes region in the late 1990s, in which more
than 2.5 million people were killed to mainly fuel Nokia's explosive
growth and Sony's many laptops.

What about one million Iraqi children killed as structural implication
of the technology (or technique if you want) of a trade embargo? The
thousands born with horrific defects already and those to come in the
next 1000 years in the region due to depleted uranium that needs to be
gotten rid of somewhere, somehow?

There are at least 37 armed conflicts in the war, right now:

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/index.html

"Most of these are civil or "intrastate" wars, fueled as much by racial,
ethnic, or religious animosities as by ideological fervor. Most victims
are civilians, a feature that distinguishes modern conflicts. During
World War I, civilians made up fewer than 5 percent of all casualties.
Today, 75 percent or more of those killed or wounded in wars are
non-combatants.

Africa, to a greater extent than any other continent, is afflicted by
war. Africa has been marred by more than 20 major civil wars since 1960.
Rwanda, Somalia, Angola, Sudan, Liberia, and Burundi are among those
countries that have recently suffered serious armed conflict.

War has caused untold economic and social damage to the countries of
Africa. Food production is impossible in conflict areas, and famine
often results. Widespread conflict has condemned many of Africa's
children to lives of misery and, in certain cases, has threatened the
existence of traditional African cultures. "
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Who feeds the arms? People sitting in their armchairs and spouting ideas
of just running ahead...

There are also many more slaves in the world than ever.

Earthquakes resulting from "just running ahead" and depleting water
tables, thus destablising the ground.

Pig flu from Smithfield just running ahead and farming in outrageous
ways all over the world, especially in Mexico.

What about Iraq in general with respect to fat wankers in SUVs? The
theft of the Iraqi oil and repression by mercenaries - all just what the
poor wants the rich, fast and powerful to do? What nonsense! What
disgusting nonsense.

Those statements Michel made to illustrate - and supporting them - are
at once a declaration of war _and_ a justifcation for it as well.

Go and take what you can take and care for no one else, and be faced
with resistance and severe resentment from those who are robbed in the
process. The weapons of the weak might not cut it, but at least, in a
Fanonian sense, there is a psychic degree of liberation in throwing a
molotov cocktail, a suicide bombing, or an assissination.

That is - in very simple terms - the world that is created by the
pretend nonsense of just going ahead and not showing solidarity. It is
pissing on everyone else and hundreds of years of struggle that has made
it possible for non-aristocrats to live a little bit better, as you so
eagerly proclaim. This is not some intellectual matter, but a matter of
life and death.

You would have zer0 seconds in front of your screen if it weren't for
those ideals and ideological struggles that went before you (unless you
are like Ridley, The Man in the High Castle), and to not even recognise
that is sad. If it werent for those struggles you would also be on the
assembly line producing CPUs for the elite. Instead you have
uncritically joined them and turned your back on the past struggles that
have fought and given their blood, sweat and tears for your present.

It is a living contradiction, unless you are old money, to hold this
position - in a sense it is self-denying, for it is also your past.

In any case: it means war, class war. So prepare your fort, for there is
a resistance building.......

-m
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