Real organization cannot be built
on a foundation of sand
If we can create a mass anti-imperialist organization where decisions and struggle are based on mass democracy -- then we will capture the imagination of serious activists everywhere -- and be in a position to change the dynamics of the entire antiwar movement. • Ben Seattle | |
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what the fuck is going on
Ben's main criticisms of SAIC -- is that it is not sufficently open politically.
Ben would like SAIC to have a page on its website where
activists could go to learn Ben thinks that Indymedia is great. But any organization that is
serious about |
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Ezekiel's rant about SAIC Posted by Ben Seattle • November 9, 2005
Excerpted from: http://seattle.indymedia.org/en/2005/11/249752.shtml I don't have time to clear up all the ways in which you are confused -- including having confused me with the Seattle Anti-Imperialist Committee (SAIC) which put out the leaflet that you criticise. I thought it was a great leaflet but I only wrote about two percent of it: my contribution to the SAIC leaflet amounted to a few sentences. I support the work of SAIC but I am not a member (more on that below). [...] 5. Now -- about SAIC: Your confusion in thinking that I am SAIC -- has made it difficult for readers to follow your rant -- but this is partly the fault of SAIC itself -- which, unfortunately, made a deliberate decision _not_ to place on its website any easy-to-find information about the various political tendencies in or around it -- on the excuse that to do so would be to pander to a supposed "petty bourgeois" sensibility that was more concerned with personalities than politics. I have a different view. Each individual political activist earns his or her reputation on the basis of actions which conform to a set of personal and political principles. For example some activists are responsive to questions while others are evasive. Some activists embody a commitment to calm and serious discussion while others are full of hot air. Some activists are deserving of attention while others are not. In each case the reputation is based on action: by the fruit you shall know the tree. And this same principle, writ large, applies to political trends -- which represent the combined energy of individual activists. Some trends work hard to oppose the influence of the Democratic Party while other trends refuse to do more than write an occasional article on a back page somewhere -- because they don't want to piss off their social-democratic allies. So when a new organization comes on the scene -- one of the first questions I want to know is: "Who are those guys?" The answer to that question will often save a lot of time -- because people, as well as political trends, are remarkably consistent from day to day even as they follow a long-term political trajectory or evolution. The individuals and political trends which come together in an organization carry their principles and politics with them. And so the composition of any organization is a political matter which I believe activists have a right to know. So, to get to the bottom line -- you won't get this info from the SAIC web site -- but you will get it from me: SAIC represents a joint effort by a number of activists including: (a) local supporters of the CVO (ie: the Seattle Communist Study Group) (b) Edward, who like you is a maoist, and (c) to a lesser extent a few others, including myself I have my criticisms of SAIC -- mainly that it is not, in my view, sufficently open politically. I would like the group to have a page on its website where someone like you could go to learn about the various political currents in and around SAIC (ie: so that you can find this out without having to read an Indymedia post). And I would like the group to give readers the ability to post comments on its website about its agitation (ie: so that you could do so there as easily as you can do here on Indymedia). I think that Indymedia is great. But any organization that is serious about mass democracy will send a clear signal to activists everywhere that they do not need to google ancient indymedia archives in order to know what the fuck is going on. Activists have the right to know what the fuck is going on. Activists should not have to rely on Indymedia or rely on google. If and when SAIC gets serious about being accountable to activists and gives activists: (a) a clear window into its internal contradictions and (b) the right to post comments on its website -- then (and only then) will I take it seriously as an organization -- and help distribute its leaflets and ask to become a member. Until that time I will give a lower level of support to SAIC -- and I will criticise SAIC as a non-member. My criticism of SAIC (and its predecessor SAIA: the Seattle Anti-Imperialist Alliance) and my idea of what an organization that is committed to mass democracy would look like is posted at: http://struggle.net/ben/2005/mass-democracy/proposal.htm I would be very interested in your opinion of it. You are welcome to post your views on that page as well as here. The comments you post here will fall off the Indymedia front page in a few hours. Your comments on the mass_democracy page will have a longer shelf-life. Sincerely and revolutionary regards, Ben Seattle Isolated from one another we are easily defeated. Connected to one another no force on earth can stop us MediaWeapon.com |
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