RE: FW: a violent revolution? (fwd)

>are there any people from former communist states here? where
>are the intellectuals, workers, students of those countries?
>  
>
>Mine



There are some (at least one). Although I haven't been following the
discussion on the WP for a long time and thus am aware of the risk of being
somewhat superficial, let me share a few impressions with you.

(1) It is understandable that many people in the West with a certain degree
of self-consciousness feel frustrated and uncomfortable with the "facts"
they conceive about the state of the world - especially the rest of it.
They are even deprived of the solace that they can, altough with minimal
hope for any success, "fight" with it. Under the socialist era, similar
people in the East at least could - and, sometimes, had to - fight with
what they thought the "system" was.

(2) After realizing what has happened in the past decade (and before),
thinking people had to swiftly accommodate themselves with a situation more
or less similar to the one described in the previous paragraph. Instead of
the possibility - and sometimes necessity - of confronting open violence
and oppression on the part of the state, which in the previous decades
offered them the chance of investing them into the character of a heroic
defier, they face the much more materialized and prosaic constraints of the
"new society". Usually being deprived even from the modest level of
autonomy that the formerly existed institutional structure allowed them to
enjoy, and, at the same time, contemplating quite closely the various nasty
faces of the "democratic market economy" that was promised to come, most of
them inevitably became cynical and disillusioned.

(3) When thinking about what and how to do to defy the increasingly
overwhelming reality surrounding us, of course, it is necessary to consider
every imaginable option, including "violence". It is quite unclear for me,
however, what this would mean (think of the fate of Yugoslavia!), and where
it would lead in the case of a loose network of academics and intellectuals
(answer: most probably, nowhere). But, as another posting has pointed out,
pure benevolence and spirituality is also quite unlikely to exert any
effect (with the possible and important exception of the piece of mind of
those who are involved).


To sum up:
- At the moment for me it seems impossible to imagine any kind of a "WP
strategy" that both has a greater-than-zero chance of feasibility and could
have any casual relationship with any scenario that could bring at least
some change to the system in the foreseeable future.
- Nevertheless, I admit both the subjective and the objective necessity of
attempting the (currently) impossible. From the point of view of the
individual, it is possible to fight for the impossible - history shows us
several examples for that -, but it requires a special kind of personality
and sense of moral and duty. 
- For me it seems relatively irrelevant to decide, in its actual stage of
development, whether or not to include violence in the future repertoire of
the WP. It doesn't count too much in either case. What is more important is
the development of a scenario (if you like, a theory / an ideology) - which
is, to my best information, missing today - that could underlie any effort
aimed at improving the quality of the world. Developing a "theory" -
whatever this means - that could lessen the general disorentation among
people who still try to think and haven't sold their souls is not less
heroic task than attacking the White House with a Kalashnikoff in your hand.




______________________________________________________
György Hajnal, researcher

Hungarian Institute of Public Administration
Ménesi út 5. H-1118 Budapest