Re: <nettime> The Left Needs a New Strategy

[Dmytri Kleiner <dk@telekommunisten.net>]

On 2021-01-11 19:02, Ryan Griffis wrote:

> Can you help explain how we should be understanding the MST alongside
> the CCP, as related strategies of a global left?
Both the CCP and the MST are direct movements of the oppressed, and 
fight to improve their material conditions.

> I guess the CCPs role
> in the decimation of the lives of both peasants and indigenous peoples
> in the Brazilian interior for the sake of cheap soybeans is forgivable
> since the CCP is technically a Communist Party?
Why do you think anyone should care about our opinion about agricultural 
policies of the chinese interior? Do you not think that maybe the 
Chinese know a little more about the circumstances they face that we 
might? What entitles us to an opinion? I'm not a chinese worker, nor an 
agricultural expert.
The CCP has many millions of members, why should I take our opinons and 
not theirs about the ideological nature of their party?

> Maybe that’s the cost
> of “winning” in your analysis?
What does my analysis have to do with anything? Since I have no insight 
and no stake, I defer to their leadership, as should you.

> Of course, I’m being rhetorical… the MST has commented on this already.
> "When they got rid of the European empires, their oil still went to
> them and to the Americans. But a new empire is arriving to exploit
> their natural resources: China. China is taking everything: coal,
> trees, mineral resources of all sorts, foodstuff, to sustain its
> economic growth. Maybe the next anti-imperialist revolt is going to be
> against China.” (MST leader João Pedro Stédile way back in 2008)
If you had personal contact with MST you wouldn't need to depend on 
quotes from 2008, nor would you mistake the (former) opinion of a leader 
as representing the movement, or it's current position.
And what is your stake in this? Are you with the MST? With China? Or 
just an entitled third party passing judgements?

> Is that just the MST playing “both sidesism”?
MST is certainly not, MST is a direct movement of the oppressed, and 
firmly rooted in improving their material conditions. It is you that 
seeks to instrumentalize them as a third party to "prove" that your 
judgments of China are somehow interesting.

> the CCP and the Chinese state do not necessarily (or generally) 
> represent Chinese
> workers or peasants
Of course the CCP and the Chinese state represents the workers and 
peasants. This is just a racist trope that the chinese masses are 
victims of their own revolution and the only support for it is yellow 
scare propaganda and western chauvenism
This is, as always, evident by the outcomes, the people are getting what 
they demand and broadly support their government's policies. This is not 
the case in either liberal western states or repressive governments like 
in Brazil, where neither human development outcomes nor approvals 
indicate democratic outcomes.
Of course, western chauvinist prefer to evaluate other countries 
according to doctrinaire idealism, not democratic outcomes, and are 
happy having their views shaped by imperialist media and intelligence.

> Does your leftist imagination not include the world in which you, 
> yourself, live?
From what you write, I think we largely agree on what groups and 
coalitions are doing good work here, and deserve praise and support, 
including the black liberation movement, of course.
And, yes, we must operate where we live and in the communities in which 
we are resident.
My comments come from the point of view of strategy. Despite my support 
for, dedication to, and praise of, local movements such as you mention, 
if it is these groups that are are our horizon, then my point is we have 
lost, and we will keep losing, these groups are heroically doing their 
best to slow the worsening conditions, they are not making forward 
progress.
After 30 years of activism everything is worse by every material measure 
and every measure of democratic outcomes.
However, if we extend our horizon to embrace the global left, including 
the CCP and the others I mentioned, and the militant movements like the 
MST, then the bottom line changes substantially. Then we are on the 
winning team.
Sadly, few will extend their horizons in this way, and this makes it 
easier for the same governments that endlessly attack our groups and 
coalitions here, to also attack socialist countries and movements 
abroad, with our tacit support.
If we want a new strategy for the left, we should embrace the global 
left, be on the winning team and embrace as a core idea that only the 
oppressed can liberate themselves, so trust them to overcome their 
contradictions there, while we focus on the ones here, and that we do 
not judge them, but defer their affairs to their leadership with respect 
and solidarity.

> I’m really not interested in some snarky back-and-forth, but your
> assumption that many here don't know what strategies exist on the left
> because they “are not involved" is just patronizing and unproductive.
What it should be is a wake up call, because it's true. Your repeating 
the chauvinistic claim that the Chinese state does not represent the 
Chinese people illustrates this. You ignore the democratic outcomes that 
prove this is not so, and instead offer doctrinaire idealism and 
judgements derived from no insight and no stake.
I don't mean this as insult, or to single you out. I suggest that this 
is the key strategic mistake. If we reject the largest and most 
successful groups in the global left and instead take as our model the 
brave but struggling ones around us, we are making a grave strategic 
mistake.

> What’s a more privileged position than leveling criticisms about
> global ideological alignments while basically letting yourself off the
> hook by claiming that "none of us in the imperial core will actually
> join the global left, even when we would want to, we are resident here
> and this limits our ability to be involved”?
I'm not letting myself off any hooks, but it is peak-liberalism to make 
this question of my personal merit. I'm not campaigning for anything.

> Come on, take a walk with Freire and McAlevey and actually grapple
> with your relationship to the oppressions around you. I promise you,
> like them, you won’t find a way out in the embrace of a state.
I take both very seriously, especially Freire. If you study his work, 
you would know he is a student of Che, Lenin, Fanon and Mao, among many 
others. He has plenty of critical views, including of socialist 
countries, but he doesn't get lost in chauvinsim nor doctrinaire 
idealism, the state is just people and develops dialectically, and the 
people who make it up must be engaged with dialogically.
Best,


--
Dmytri Kleiner
@dmytri
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