From: "Russell Pearson" <r.pearson-AT-clara.net>
Subject: Re: M-TH: Little red flags
Date: Wed, 1 Apr 1998 22:42:49 +0100


> 
> It's one thing to talk about sex or drugs in this way and about
automobiles
> is another. 

And it's one thing to talk about politics and it's another to talk
birdshite, sorry guano, but then you're an expert on the latter.

The problem with automobiles is that in the given context of
> class relations in the 20th century, the only way that such a life-style
> can be maintained is through the subjugation of oil-producing nations.
> Cheap gasoline makes recreational driving possible, and what makes cheap
> gasoline possible is imperialism. The reason that the LM gang can go on
at
> length in this way is that they are a bunch of privileged white boys in
> England with a lot of disposable income. Dale, Pearson, and the latest
> idiot to show up with his chatter about his beloved Saab 9000 are all
upper
> middle class university or technical employees.

Mose Allison sang it better Lou: "I'm just another middle class white boy
trying to have some fun..."
The only reason you can prattle on like you do is because you're an just
such an Armani suit wearing, database crunchin technical employee of a
university, are you not? 
Now I've read me Lenin, I know the score, and therefore I do not pretend to
be a weekend peasant with a credit card hidden under my rice bowl. The
computer you are using at this very moment, the chair you are sitting on,
even you're goddamn knickers are the result of the most ruthless
super-exploitation. So what's new? 
And as for cheap gas- the only source of this comes from yourself ( and BTW
in Blair's Britain we have the world's most expensive petroleum).

> 
> There was an article from the NY Times about a month ago that I
> unfortunately neglected to clip, but it was about what has happened to
> Ecuador. Basically, the nation has been sucked dry of all its petroleum.
> What the multinationals have left behind is polluted water and soil. The
> people who make Ecuador their permanent home and who fish or farm have
> diminished economic prospects. They are now suing these oil companies for
> ecological despoliation. It is only through the rape of Ecuador and
Nigeria
> that British middle-class schmucks like Dale, Pearson and Wight can enjoy
> their privilege. That they can put a Marxist spin on this only shows how
> deep imperialist ideology penetrates the radical movement in the oldest
of
> imperialist nations.

Your arguments are the last refuge of the bourgeoisie. By pointing to the
degradation of the super-exploited you argue for the general impoverishment
of us all. Rather than fighting imperialism you point to its effects and
cry shame. Your arguments present no opposition to imperialism- they are
simple appeasement. They remind me of the tales I was told as a kid- 'eat
up your dinner, remember the starving children in Africa etc'. When I grew
up I learnt the truth about imperialism, it's about time you did the same. 


Your concern for the people of Ecuador is pure cant- an armchair politics
of storing up clippings for later use:
 "Look I care about the poor... I've got a newspaper clipping somewhere to
prove it! It's underneath my jar of non-exploitative coffee. Oh dear, I've
mislaid it, but look at those horrid working class people in their awful
cars. If only they knew what damage they cause...blah, blah, blah, blah..."

This is what's known here as the Guardian Reader's Reaction, where the only
solution to imperialism is pure humbug: reactionary authoritarian politics
dressed up as care, coupled with a vain attempt to turn back the clock to a
simpler, pastoral age (without all those noisy motor cars). This is the
middle class life style that you really celebrate- one which maintains your
own prissy priveleges. 

Pah Louis, you not even able to put a Marxist spin on your hurdy-gurdy
romanticism. Leave us your recreational politics please and go and
re-format that deranged database you call your mind.

Russ.


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