Date: Fri, 13 Feb 1998 17:05:35 -0500
From: Louis Proyect <lnp3-AT-columbia.edu>
Subject: Re: M-I: indigenism


Louis Godena:
>James' original point
>concerning the vagaries of indigenism has merit or it does not.  This is the
>point that should be addressed, not whether similar views prevail on the
>Right.  Even fascist dogs like Krauthammer and Pipes may occasionally get it
>right, even if for the wrong reasons.

Louis, I am terribly sorry that my post offends you. Since you have no
power to discipline me for these kind of hard-hitting polemics, you should
just forget about it and get used to it. There is nothing more stressful
than to work yourself up over matters you have no control over. I get
pissed off when I have to wait 15 minutes for the bus in the morning. In
the same way, you will have to get used to my charge that LM is an ally of
right-wing think-tanks. It is a political charge based on a thorough
analysis of Heartfield's contributions here and my study of their archives
for the six past months. That's that. Why don't you go ahead and propose a
new rule that m-i subscribers be banned from charging their political
opponents from supporting the class enemy? If the rule is made retroactive,
you would be the first to go.

Furthermore, I have written oceans of cyber-ink detailing my objections to
LM's particular position on land-based peoples. Where have you been? Their
favorable citation of Krauthammer is consistent with their overall
hostility to land claims of indigenous peoples. The reason they are hostile
to such claims is that it stands in the way of what they call "economic
progress." I don't know what "economic progress" means under capitalism,
except capitalist investment in the Amazon, in Ogoniland, in British
Columbia, etc. Good for profits, bad for people and wildlife.

The indigenous peoples are an inconvenience that multinationals face. Just
as the Times article on British Columbia pointed out, the East Asian
economic crisis makes it very urgent that drilling and mining concerns not
face roadblocks in such places. What burns the capitalists up is when
pro-indigenist people like Vandana Shiva and Jerry Mander go around taking
up their cause. When someone like myself attempts to synthesize indigenism
with Marxism, it that much more of an inconvenience since I am opposed to
the capitalist system as such, not just some amorphous "globalization."

At any rate, I will post a long piece tomorrow on Sandinistas and Miskitus
that will clarify a lot of this. Try to keep your hands off that
"suspension" button, since it won't do any good, old thing.

Louis Proyect



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