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LIGHTMINDED LEFT ENJOINED
Norm Geras on the Euston Manifesto, in the London Times:
Well-known writers — mature people, veterans of the Left — see their way to endorsing the Iraqi so-called resistance despite its murderous methods, or give out lightminded comparisons between the US under George Bush’s leadership and Nazi Germany. That there are such themes being aired by people on the broad liberal Left is a matter of record. It has been documented and criticised repeatedly. Presumably the newspapers carrying comment of this kind wouldn’t be doing so if such comment weren’t finding comfortable accommodation with their readers.
The Euston Manifesto is a response to these political tendencies, and as such is very much on target. That is why it has aroused the interest it has, hostile interest included. We are happy to be restating some important if indeed obvious truths, in not giving up on the future of the Left.
By the way, Jim Nolan tells me Norm will be in Australia later this year to see England lose the Ashes. I’ve prepared a lectern (seriously; it’s from a demolished church) for his first Geras Ashes Lecture at Bondi Junction. Mark Steyn might be in the country around the same time. Expensive ticket details to follow.
Norm is a dyed-in-the-wool Marxist, and I have some problems with that, to say the least.
But if all Marxists were like him, I’d be raising the Red Flag myself. He has no problems excoriating Stalin, Mao etc not because they were Marxist, but because they were tyrants.
He’s against those : whether they call themselves of the Left or the Right.
By his existence, he proves that you can be not just Left, but far-Left, and still have a Clue.
...even for someone who doesn’t regard the Left as the best place to be politically, a more rather than a less healthy Left is surely to be desired.
Mentally healthy. Sane. Not Moonbatty.
Exactly. He’s working on it, and suffering a whole arsenal of slings and arrows from outraged Moonbats as the result.
I’ll be O/S for much of his visit here, but I do hope I get a chance to see him in person, after corresponding with him for all these years.
A genuinely decent guy.
JerryS _ I really appreciated the Eusteon manifesto. Its high cotton cotton and generally soft absorbent texture make it very useful when caught short on a counterdemonstration march…
Posted by richard mcenroe on 2006 05 18 at 08:52 PM • permalinkOf course, they leave out any mention of the fact that their ideas of egalitarianism and humanism have led them to a complete inability to judge what their own best interests consist of, or of how to act constructively to further them.
If your premises are wrong and do not reflect reality, they are wrong to every degree, not just the “extreme”. The fact that they have led to disaster no matter where you look seems not to have caused any kind of examiniation of their premises. Rather, it seems that the bigger the disaster, the harder they push the same bromides, jingos and platitudes that pass for ideas in their big giant collective brain.
You hit the target saltydog. Lefties who denounce terrorists are a lot better than ones who support the murderous swine. Still, they remain committed to solving the problems of the 21st Century with the latest new ideas of the 19th Century, and some are ones they got from Bismarck at that. When the time comes for hard decisions and hard choices between bad, worse and excruciatingly horrible, these guys will prove to be summer soldiers. They will be absent or criticizing the people defending Western Civ because they thought that all the choices were, you know, icky.
Posted by Michael Lonie on 2006 05 18 at 11:39 PM • permalink6 Sal
If your premises are wrong and do not reflect reality, they are wrong to every degree, not just the “extreme”.
I’ll note that as “undecided.”
This Euston thing, I’m liking it. It’s aimed directly at fixing the most obnoxious traits OF the lefties. If they fix those traits, and still are lefties afterward, it’s still a big improvement. I think the applicable cliche here is “making the Perfect the enemy of the Good.”
Posted by Stoop Davy Dave on 2006 05 19 at 02:15 PM • permalinkIt’s just another attempt to find buzzwords people will fall for. The left is no longer entitled to consideration in terms of honest debate.
Posted by richard mcenroe on 2006 05 19 at 08:19 PM • permalink
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OK. Stasiun Euston Jakata will be there.