Date: Tue, 3 Feb 1998 09:59:40 -0500 (EST)
From: Louis N Proyect <lnp3-AT-columbia.edu>
Subject: Re: M-TH: New Zealand


On Tue, 3 Feb 1998, James Heartfield wrote:

> Living Marxism (LM) has always defended the rights of oppressed nations
> to self-determination:
> 

Heartfield, why are you so evasive? I wasn't challenging your position on
Ireland or Iraq. I was challenging your position on indigenous, land-based
peoples like the Yanomami, the Ogoni, and the Australian aborigine--the
kinds of groups defended by Survival International. We both know that your
position is that there is no particular reason to oppose capitalist
expansion into their ancestral lands. You remind me of Bill Clinton. Both
of you can not answer a direct question. In his case, it is whether a
blowjob is sex; in your case, it is whether hunting and gatherering
societies are worth defending.

> 
> LM doesn't have its own Television Show, unfortunately. The programme
> that you refer to is one that my wife helped make, which did feature
> opponents of Malthusianism frmall points of the political spectrum. 
> 

Not its own television show? Just one that his wife helped to make? Why do
I feel like I am dealing with somebody who needs to get Mike Wallace or
Ted Koppel to nail his ass to the floor. "Now, Mr. Heartfield, our viewers
must be asking themselves at this point why you are taking such pains to
differentiate yourself from this show when your political associates were
promoting it on the Internet before it aired." "Mr. Koppel, it is just a
coincidence. My wife works for channel four and they asked her if she was
available to work on an expose on the neo-Heideggerian, Malthusian threat
to economic progress. After checking her calendar, she said that would
work for her. That's the whole story."

> LM does interview people of all political persuasions, because it is not
> dogmatic or sectarian in its views. In particular LM has prided itself
> in talking to those who are barred from the British media, such as:
> Gerry Adams, President of Sinn Fein, in 1989 during the broadcasting
> ban; Republican activist Bernadette McAliskey; Tommy McKearney, former
> IRA hunger striker; Radovan Karadzic, leader of the Bosnian Serbs.

Right. The people from the Hudson and Cato Institutes have trouble getting
their views out over here as well. On Sunday "Friends of the Earth" had an
16 page advertising supplement in the NY Times and the next day Julian
Simon was seen picketing the newspaper all on his lonesome. On his sign
were the words, "Stop censoring the pro-corporation viewpoint!!!"

> 
> The editor of LM is Mick Hume, who, though he did not make the comments
> you attribute to him, would doubtless be proud to call himself a
> libertarian, as would I. It astounds me that anyone should think that

No, I was referring to your cult boss, Frank Furedi. This is what he told
the Guardian. And this is what LM defends: libertarianism. Not Marxism.

Louis Proyect



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