Re: reformist or pacifist is suicidal

-----Original Message-----
From: Elson E. Boles <facbolese@usao.edu>
To: WORLD SYSTEMS NETWORK <wsn@csf.colorado.edu>
Date: November 13, 1999 2:00 PM
Subject: reformist or pacifist is suicidal


>It seems there are two key items on the table:
>
>1.  minimum core principles of a World Party
>2.  the question of tactics: ....
....> snip

COMMENT
I think we have a problem here, not only because of what is *on* the table,
but also with respect to who is *at* the table, or, more correctly, who is
*not* at the table.  I am looking at this in terms of "global apartheid" (my
way of saying center-periphery hierarchy or imperialism). We are lucky to
have a small number of contributors from Latin America, the rest are
speakers from core countries. An importing subject like designing a leftist
world party (or network, or umbrella organization) cannot be left to
Euro-Yankee speakers, no matter whether they (we) are Marxist, social
democratic, or liberal. What is missing is more input from the majority part
of the world. This is like a group of men trying to design a strategy of
women's liberation or like a group of leftist white South Africans (let's
say, 40 years ago) trying to design a party for the Black majority of the
country.

I propose that, after this round of exchanges is wound up, wsn would
organize a second round of internet exchanges in a different format, namely,
by having a joint debate with various Second and Third World networks, so
that the average number of participants from the First World would be a
minority. The people who should also be heard in such an exercise, in
addition to the wsn crowd,  would roughly be those identified in the
left-hand column in Patrick Bonds typology. (See, my post of yesterday,
entitled "implications of Bond's typology").

Respectfully,
Gert Kohler
Oakville, Canada