nino_savatte
No pasaran!
me? Non-aligned left...fairly far left but somewhat libertarian. What does that make me? Postmodern?
Non-aligned far lefties, align yourselves here
- Thread starter Brainaddict
- Start date
Your questions are rarely straightforward, usually require several paragraphs to answer and are usually designed to trap people into saying something you can throw back in their face later. Straightforward my arseRyazan said:
And as for "ordinary bloke," I fail to see quite how a self-described Marxist-Leninist is anymore ordinary than your average anarchist.
In Bloom said:Your questions are rarely straightforward, usually require several paragraphs to answer and are usually designed to trap people into saying something you can throw back in their face later. Straightforward my arse
And as for "ordinary bloke," I fail to see quite how a self-described Marxist-Leninist is anymore ordinary than your average anarchist.
I am not a Marxist-Leninist. I was taking the piss with the CPGB (M-L). Stalin aint my cup of tea. And as for your paranoia, I am nto trying to trap you, just wondering what your views are on Anarchist-Communists in 1917. And some other stuff.
And besides, I dislike this habit of people who ascribe, or appear to ascribe to a perticular kind of radical politics and then do so for one purpose being to only set yourself apart from others, against being "ordinary". Most people I have met involved in left politics are, well just ordninary. Perhaps you are a dilletante?
belboid
Exasperated, not angry.
the bloody moral forcists never had any bloody gumption or staying power tho. Lovett only became a legend after being locked up because the state claimed he was espousing revolution. Gimme o'Connor & O'Brien any day over those without the staying power, like Lovett and and Attwood. And you may get wound up arguing about trotsky - but that's just another point where tha s going wrong!bolshyvic said:
Peacefully where we may. Forceably where we must.
Brainaddict said:Not sure if I can get a sensible response to a question like this, but who here would describe themselves as far left (ish), but not belonging to (in reality or in spirit) any political group or nameable creed?
I would, hence the question, and I from time to time think there must be quite a few others on here - perhaps those who don't post so much in the politics forums.
I leave the definition of 'far left (ish)' to your own discretion
I'm a non-aligned Marxist now!
Agent Sparrow
the age of slippers and migraines
I also think your choice of campaign is a really good one and that in many ways, smaller specifically pointed campaigns are the way to go - as you say they're much more likely to actually achieve their aims (in our lifetimes or the next) than the overall reorganisation of society and have less risk of factions being split as time goes on because it's about one or only a few issues. Don't these campaigns happen though? Or are the main ones the more wooley liberal ones you mention? For example, I really could have/could get involved with something to do with opposing foundation trusts and the increasing privitisation of the NHS with some bite, but I don't really know where to start (though admittedly I also haven't really looked too hardBrainaddict said:
)I do know that I could do with being far more educated about my beliefs - they're definately left and democratic and many of my views do have good grounding rather than just ideals, but a conversation with a libertarian friend the other day really showed me that perhaps I need a little more. Also I know that in some ways I'm both an idealist and a cynic, and I find it difficult to believe that things can happen to make things change.
On top of that, and perhaps more pertinently, I'm not as confident as I probably sometimes seem, and there's a big part of me which is too shy (for want of a better word) to get more involved in politics. Again it's related to feeling I don't know enough, and that I don't know where the hell the start. Which is why I think my feminism (at present) is more related to ideas that "if I can slightly change one person's views and highlight a bit of inequality which they weren't aware of when talking to them, then talking about it is worth it". Same with the mental health system and opposing the complete adherence to the medical model - I will end up working as part of the established system but I'd want to take anti-psychiatry opinions with me into it to some extent.
By the way, for some reason I feel really stupid for posting all of this, which just shows how non-confident I am in this area.
Streathamite
ideological dogmatist
same here, tho' I'm glad to say my departure from my last political organisation wasn't caused by some wanker grassing me to the hierarchy, so you have my sympathymattkidd12 said:
Well you shouldn't Agent, its great to see more posts that don't sound as if they have the 'truth' that everyone must adhere to, btw, here are some campaigns that are generally independent(though attempts are being made to dominate KONP)
stopping NHS privatisation
Keep our NHS Public
http://www.keepournhspublic.com/index.php
fighting disability benefit cuts
SWAN
http://www.swansheffield.org.uk
challenging council housing priv, etc,
Defend Council Housing
http://www.defendcouncilhousing.org.uk/dch/
Agent Sparrow:By the way, for some reason I feel really stupid for posting all of this, which just shows how non-confident I am in this area.
stopping NHS privatisation
Keep our NHS Public
http://www.keepournhspublic.com/index.php
fighting disability benefit cuts
SWAN
http://www.swansheffield.org.uk
challenging council housing priv, etc,
Defend Council Housing
http://www.defendcouncilhousing.org.uk/dch/
Agent Sparrow:By the way, for some reason I feel really stupid for posting all of this, which just shows how non-confident I am in this area.
Agent Sparrow
the age of slippers and migraines
Thank you treelover - I shall certainly look into those links when I've got a bit more time.treelover said:
I guess part of getting over my lack of confidence is to a) jsut ask if I don't know something, and b) start doing.
this is quite common, an i have to say impo, women express it more than men both here and offline. I'm not sure of the gender issue, but i do think we have had a depoliticised culture for so long that we have to relearn the lexicon and the language of radical or even progressive politics(and of course the history*) all over again. We certainly have to go back to first principles, eg 'love thy neighbour'
though, imo textdwelling on dead russians may not be of too much use....
though, imo textdwelling on dead russians may not be of too much use....
bluestreak
HomosexualityIsStalin’sAtomBombtoDestroyAmerica
In Bloom said:You could always just read a few books and make your bloody mind up instead of this constant vacilitating
Seriously, it really does my head in when people go about saying "I'm non-ideological, me!" As if that means anything whatsoever. Has it ever occurred to the people who say this that maybe concepts like right wing/left wing exist because any coherent analysis involves one idea flowing from another? You can't treat each political idea in isolation.
ETA: Not meant to be directed at bluestreak in particular, mind, just generally rambling around the point
why make up my mind and align myself to something that might not fit? that's the point, innit. i've read a fuck of a lot of books ni my time and still haven't found something i can happily be niched into. and no matter how much i read there's still someone on p+p who will tell me i don't have a right to an opinion because i haven't read something else. so you know what, i'm going to keep my opinions, which are ever evolving and based on all available knowledge at the time, as well as my instincts for what i think is best for people, and what is right. i did half my degree in ethics FFS that's a lot of dan reading, but that isn't enough for some people!
as for ideas in isolation, i see your point as well, but the trouble is that big-picturing is exhausting. trying to bring down the entire edifice of international capitalism is like trying to fuck a porcupine... it's one prick working against millions. but smaller campaigns are more achievable, less exhausting.
Brainaddict
slight system overdrive
Strange post. This thread is, by definition pretty much, for discussing the unorganised left (see title for clues). Your wibbling on about how unorganised the left is on the basis of posts here is therefore somewhat random.tbaldwin said:
bluestreak
HomosexualityIsStalin’sAtomBombtoDestroyAmerica
for real. get off our disorganised thread baldwin.
Brainaddict
slight system overdrive
y'know sometimes I fear it is just laziness. or partly anyway. but then when I think about what I actually want to do I can't find any group going anywhere near the same direction as me.Crispy said:*points* - You're just lazy
But seriously, I sometimes feel the same way. I'd like to join your campaign by the way!
Donna Ferentes
jubliado
However, more likely it's because the sizeable organisations which would have contained a lot of far leftists have all imploded (Communist Party) or become totally uninhabitable (Labour).Crispy said:
bluestreak
HomosexualityIsStalin’sAtomBombtoDestroyAmerica
it's easy. think embittered goth pedant.
why is the left so disorganised? i think it's because we're idealists. we've set ourselves up in opposition to the status quo and inside each of us lurks an ideal world that we're kind of hoping for. trouble is, ideal worlds are as unique as people dreaming of them. so we're fine on general terms: capitalism is bad, destroying the environment is bad etc. but when talk terms to what happens when everythign is fixed suddenly we all want different things. and stick three lefties together and get em to talk politics and eventually talk will turn to after the revolution... then the arguments begin.
why is the left so disorganised? i think it's because we're idealists. we've set ourselves up in opposition to the status quo and inside each of us lurks an ideal world that we're kind of hoping for. trouble is, ideal worlds are as unique as people dreaming of them. so we're fine on general terms: capitalism is bad, destroying the environment is bad etc. but when talk terms to what happens when everythign is fixed suddenly we all want different things. and stick three lefties together and get em to talk politics and eventually talk will turn to after the revolution... then the arguments begin.
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