Date: Tue, 7 Dec 2004 22:58:02 -0500
From: Doug Henwood <dhenwood-AT-panix.com>
Subject: AUT: Tariq Ali: change the world by taking power


[a poke in the eye of autonomists - 
<http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/articles.php?artno=1223>]

[...]

Do you see the US Empire absorbing this energy by trying to propose a 
softer version of neoliberalism?

I don't think they are, at the moment, prepared to do that. They will 
only do that if they feel threatened. And they don't feel threatened 
at the moment. And one reason-I have to be very blunt here-they don't 
feel threatened is because there is an idealistic slogan within the 
social movements, which goes like this: 'We can change the world 
without taking power.' This slogan doesn't threaten anyone; it's a 
moral slogan. The Zapatistas-who I admire-you know, when they marched 
from Chiapas to Mexico City, what did they think was going to happen? 
Nothing happened. It was a moral symbol, it was not even a moral 
victory because nothing happened. So I think that phase was 
understandable in Latin American politics, people were very burnt by 
recent experiences: the defeat of the Sandinistas, the defeat of the 
armed struggle movements, the victory of the military, etc., so 
people where nervous. But I think, from that point of view, the 
Venezuelan example is the most interesting one. It says: 'in order to 
change the world you have to take power, and you have to begin to 
implement change-in small doses if necessary-but you have to do it. 
Without it nothing will change.' So, it's an interesting situation 
and I think at Porto Alegre next year all these things will be 
debated and discussed-I hope.

Without adequately addressing state power, what alternative to 
neoliberalism is the Global Social Justice movement offering?

No, they have no alternative! They think that it is an advantage not 
to have an alternative. But, in my view that's a sign of political 
bankruptcy. If you have no alternative, what do you say to the people 
you mobilize? The MST[1] in Brazil has an alternative, they say 'take 
the land and give it to the poor peasants, let them work it.' But the 
Holloway[2] thesis of the Zapatistas, it's-if you like-a virtual 
thesis, it's a thesis for cyber space: let's imagine. But we live in 
the real world, and in the real world this thesis isn't going to 
work. Therefore, the model for me of the MST in Brazil is much much 
more interesting than the model of the Zapatistas in Chiapas. Much 
more interesting.

[...]


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