File spoon-archives/marxism-international.archive/marxism-international_1997/97-04-03.022, message 34


Date: Tue, 1 Apr 1997 17:29:45 -0500 (EST)
From: Siddharth Chatterjee <siddhart-AT-mailbox.syr.edu>
Subject: M-I: Utica Rose 




On Wed, 2 Apr 1997, Zeynep Tufekcioglu wrote:

> The board of moderators do not pass judgement on who's "progressive" and who
> is not, unless there is a serious violation of list rules. 

The tragedy of liberalism is echoed in the above. Yet you yourself said
" .......this is an open list and all revolutionary and progressive
people are welcome".  Does not your use of the word "progressive"
in this sentence signify that you already have made a judgement
in your mind about what the word "progressive" means, otherwise you
would and should not have used it. Yet you throw up your hands and now
declare that "the board of moderators do not pass judgement on who's
'progressive' and who is not..." in complete contradiction to what you
(and the other moderators) implied when you wrote the list rules.

What if there are right-wing reactionaries masquerading as "progressive"
on this list? No clever person in this category is going to declare
that s/he is such and such. Also, it is virtually impossible to provide
proof of such on a mailing list. Since these two avenues are closed,
what other path is open other than judgement based on observations over
a period of time?

To this you will probably reply that you do not believe in censorship
which in itself is a noble sentiment. But remember one thing: there is
defacto censorship in the major mass media of our time. There will also
be total censorship if the fascists seize control and wipe all of us out.
As you know, I recently received a public warning from Louis G for
forwarding *one* post which contained a reply from a person you had
criticized in your previous mail. Yet, Utica Rose has been continuously
posting his/her reactionary remarks for weeks, and when two people
(Doug Henwood and Louis Proyect) criticized this and asked her/him to
go away, you immediately rush to Utica's defense. What is this if not
an inability to distinguish enemies from friends. Lenin's words come
to mind (paraphrase): "Only he is a marxist who not only recognizes the
class struggle but also the necessity of the dictatorship of the
proletariat". To which you will probably say, "this list is not a politcal
party, it is not a government,  it is only a mailing list, use the
delete key, etc."

In the end, the question is: does anything matter, is anything of importance?
Anything goes?

Sid    

  




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