Louis Proyect has a depth of expertise on divergent strands of Marxism that I can only dream of. When he speaks of "Baathist Socialists" you can bet your bottom dollar he knows what he means, whereas I have no clue what the difference is between a Baathist and non-Baathist socialist.
At least part of the reason for that is the fact that while Louis was spending a career studying the working classes I was a dumbfuck schmuck enjoying the pleasures of the shop floor.
Nevertheless we have each self-identified as "Marxists" of one stripe or another. (and at this juncture I want to tip my hat to the fact that Louis would be able to not only identify each of those stripes, but could provide the complete history of that stripe and how it split from other stripes and which revisionists and revanchists stabbed the other stripes in their running-dog backs etc.)
But Louis constantly reveals himself as a true mensch with his vast knowledge of pop culture. How many Marxists of any stripe are mourning the passing of Devo guitarist Bob Casale?
Louis also manages to throw a new light on certain certitudes about current events. His recent post about Ukraine is a prime example. Who knew that one of the prime backers of supposed right-wing Ukraine President Yanukovich uses the same beltway PR folks as Senator John McCain? That's a story well worth reading.
It's also a story that brings to mind certain certitudes I've harboured for a long time. Should we be surprised that billionaires of any stripe have more in common with other billionaires than they do with non-billionaires who may share some of their other markers? Does a Ukrainian billionaire have more in common with Ukrainian factory hands or with Russian/US/Mexican billionaires?
Does not an unemployed black autoworker have more in common with unemployed white autoworkers than with middle-class black "activists?"
Does not a queer welfare recipient have more in common with straight welfare recipients than with well funded middle-class gay activists?
I recall a winter night many years ago at the end of a second shift when a bunch of us walked out of Frankel Steel with layoff notices in our pockets. Black, white, couple of yellow guys, a few Pakis... at that moment we had way more in common with one another than we had with the black or white or yellow folks for whom life was merrily rolling along in the subdivisions on the other side of the 401.
I don't know what the right read is of the disaster unfolding in Kiev. Is there a Ukrainian national spirit emerging that puts the unemployed Ukrainian and the queer Ukrainian and the billionaire Ukrainian and the left and the right and the politically indifferent Ukrainian all on the same page at this moment in history?
Showing posts with label John McCain in Ukraine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label John McCain in Ukraine. Show all posts
Thursday, February 20, 2014
Saturday, January 25, 2014
Ukraine's Orange Revolution 2.0 hijacked by neo-nazis
The change in the tenor of Ukraine's Orange Revolution 2.0 came suddenly. After more than a month of peaceful street protests, television screens around the world were abruptly filled with scenes of organized and well-armed hooligans attacking police lines.
Clearly this was a beast of a different temperment than what we have witnessed since November. The difference was as stark as night and day, as though someone had flipped a switch. Who are these extremists who have hijacked the hitherto peaceful protests?
These are the Brownshirts of the extreme right Freedom Party. Historically at the fringe of mainstream anti-Yanukovych activism, the extremists were gifted the stamp of approval by US Senator John McCain in December. The super-annuated cold warrior has never met an anti-Russian sentiment that he does not immediately and unreservedly embrace.
Thus emboldened, the storm troopers of Svoboda unleashed their assault on the state a month later. What has been totally remarkable for the fact that it goes totally uncommented on is the utterly ambiguous response of the Yanukovych administration. These protesters were originally motivated by Yanukovych's snub of the EU. There is no country in the EU that would treat armed thugs in the streets with the benign indifference exhibited by the police in Kiev.
And not just in the EU. Indeed, the spectacle of armed gangs tossing volleys of firebombs at police lines would be unheard of in America. The rioters would be ruthlessly swept from the streets after the first bottle was tossed. In Kiev, Yanukovych seems paralyzed.
The original protests may have been naive. After all, what sort of foolishness is it to be clamoring to join that slowly sinking ship that is the EU today? But they were peaceful and well-intentioned. To have their peaceful protests hijacked by the most extreme of greater Europe's neo-nazi partys is a crime against freedom and a crime against democracy.
Responsible members of Ukraine's opposition will disavow the extremist elements, distance themselves from the anti-semitic thugs fomenting the violence, and commit themselves to making peaceful change in their country.
Clearly this was a beast of a different temperment than what we have witnessed since November. The difference was as stark as night and day, as though someone had flipped a switch. Who are these extremists who have hijacked the hitherto peaceful protests?
These are the Brownshirts of the extreme right Freedom Party. Historically at the fringe of mainstream anti-Yanukovych activism, the extremists were gifted the stamp of approval by US Senator John McCain in December. The super-annuated cold warrior has never met an anti-Russian sentiment that he does not immediately and unreservedly embrace.
Thus emboldened, the storm troopers of Svoboda unleashed their assault on the state a month later. What has been totally remarkable for the fact that it goes totally uncommented on is the utterly ambiguous response of the Yanukovych administration. These protesters were originally motivated by Yanukovych's snub of the EU. There is no country in the EU that would treat armed thugs in the streets with the benign indifference exhibited by the police in Kiev.
And not just in the EU. Indeed, the spectacle of armed gangs tossing volleys of firebombs at police lines would be unheard of in America. The rioters would be ruthlessly swept from the streets after the first bottle was tossed. In Kiev, Yanukovych seems paralyzed.
The original protests may have been naive. After all, what sort of foolishness is it to be clamoring to join that slowly sinking ship that is the EU today? But they were peaceful and well-intentioned. To have their peaceful protests hijacked by the most extreme of greater Europe's neo-nazi partys is a crime against freedom and a crime against democracy.
Responsible members of Ukraine's opposition will disavow the extremist elements, distance themselves from the anti-semitic thugs fomenting the violence, and commit themselves to making peaceful change in their country.
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