Date: Mon, 05 Jan 1998 23:20:43 +0000 From: Mark Jones <Jones_M-AT-netcomuk.co.uk> Subject: Re: M-I: Mythologising native Americans Heartfield wrote: > I was guided ... by Jairus > Banaji (Capital and Class #3, James, I was an editor of Capital and Class and I recommended the Banaji piece. It is excellent. If I could download it I would. The rest of your post is a paean of praise to the American Dream. > the 100 000 Pennsylvania Dutch who squatted land .. could not be > described as capitalists or landlords Yes, those Dutch squatters, they were part of the dream. > Many of these were fleeing the defeat of the German revolution ... took > with them a love of liberty and a fierce spirit of independence Those Krauts, they lisped but they knew Marx personally. > Yes they were persecuted, but they were not simply 'driven'. That is to > deny the positive spirit of the settler movement and to reduce these > real historical actors to hopeless patsies, which they were not. Jeez, I need a drink. Is that the star spangled banner, is that John Wayne I see pointing at me? >you turn opponents of the East Coast establishment into mindless automatons of capitalism. No, I see German and Dutch bonneted lovelies on wagons, I see Clint forging the trackless waste, killing them thar injuns. > What do I think of the > genocide of native Americans? I think it was a grotesque evil. That's man talk, James. > the East coast ruling classes used native Americans as a border police Of course! It's so obvious, really. > If you want to talk > about lost opportunities, there is a story to be written about the > initial attitude of settlers, such as the quakers, towards cooperation > with native Americans. James, I thought Richard Nixon was a Quaker, but you've opened my eyes. > what are we to make of the United States today? > [snip] the 200 million or so north > Americans are amongst the most creative part of humanity, whose > contribution to human civilisation is second to none. Of course! I see it now! I guess you have your Carnegie application in, James. Well done, sport. Please do not forget us, up that greasy pole. Mark --- from list marxism-international-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
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