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A bird's eye view of the vineyard
Alternative Copy of thesaker.is site is available Thu May 25, 2023 14:38 | Ice-Saker-V6bKu3nz
Alternative site: https://thesaker.si/saker-a... Site was created using the downloads provided Regards Herb
The Saker blog is now frozen Tue Feb 28, 2023 23:55 | The Saker
Dear friends As I have previously announced, we are now “freezing” the blog. We are also making archives of the blog available for free download in various formats (see below).
What do you make of the Russia and China Partnership? Tue Feb 28, 2023 16:26 | The Saker
by Mr. Allen for the Saker blog Over the last few years, we hear leaders from both Russia and China pronouncing that they have formed a relationship where there are
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The stage is set for Hybrid World War III Mon Feb 27, 2023 15:50 | The Saker
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Joe Biden Out in Apparent Palace Coup Mon Jul 22, 2024 17:30 | Eugyppius
Biden's team was still obliviously tweeting his resolve to fight on hours after he had decided to step down. So was the matter taken out of his hands? It has all the signs of an opportunistic palace coup, says Eugyppius.
The post Joe Biden Out in Apparent Palace Coup appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Who Will Guard Us Against the Guardian?s ?Fact Checks?? Mon Jul 22, 2024 15:34 | David Craig
The Guardian has published a 'fact check' of Donald Trump's claims about inflation and immigration. Just one problem, says David Craig: the 'fact check' gets its facts wrong. Who will guard us against the Guardian?
The post Who Will Guard Us Against the Guardian’s ‘Fact Checks’? appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Biden Delayed Stepping Down as He ?Doubts Kamala? as Senior Democrats Fail to Back Her Mon Jul 22, 2024 13:19 | Will Jones
President Biden delayed stepping down in part because he doubted Kamala Harris was up to the challenge of an election battle with Donald Trump, sources have said.
The post Biden Delayed Stepping Down as He “Doubts Kamala” as Senior Democrats Fail to Back Her appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
The Office of Budget Intractability Mon Jul 22, 2024 11:00 | Andrew Colllingwood
Labour has brought forward a Bill giving the Office of Budget Responsibility a "fiscal lock" over future economic policy. This is one more step in the erosion of parliamentary democracy, says Andrew Collingwood.
The post The Office of Budget Intractability appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
No, the CrowdStrike Debacle is Not a Warning of What Could Happen if we Introduce CBDCs Mon Jul 22, 2024 09:00 | Anonymous IT Reporter
The CrowdStrike debacle was not a harbinger of things to come if we introduce CBDCs, argues the Daily Sceptic's IT expert. A U.K. CBDC would be designated as Critical National Infrastructure and hence not be vulnerable.
The post No, the CrowdStrike Debacle is Not a Warning of What Could Happen if we Introduce CBDCs appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Lockdown Skeptics >>
Voltaire, international edition
Netanyahu soon to appear before the US Congress? It will be decisive for the suc... Thu Jul 04, 2024 04:44 | en
Voltaire, International Newsletter N°93 Fri Jun 28, 2024 14:49 | en
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Will Israel provoke a cataclysm?, by Thierry Meyssan Tue Jun 25, 2024 06:59 | en
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Comments (7 of 7)
Jump To Comment: 7 6 5 4 3 2 1We are not amused.I would like to be touch with you directly. You recognized the essence of what I was saying and also did it with humor. Thank you . Could we be in contact. My email is loughfinn@aol.com
Thank you for your comments Joe. But i am not sure what you are proposing. Are you proposing that two left candidates run for the seat in the constituency where Joan Collins now is a TD. If so have you tried to get a meeting between the different forces involved. Particularly the SWP which is as far as I know is proposing to run a candidate there. If not I would suggest you do so. Such a meeting could look at the resources involved and see if there was a chance of winning two sets and if so run for two seats. If not look at the left candidate with the best chance of being elected and all other left forces withdraw their candidate and put their resources behind the candidate with the best chance of winning. i recognize i am not on the ground but i would find it hard to think that the sitting TD especially with such a good record as Joan would not have the best chance of being elected. I have to disagree with you when you say that you do not see the actions of the SWP in this constituency as left sectarian. They pick out a constituency with a real fighting left candidate and decide to run against her. I have to speak strongly I think it is an utter scandal. Now i could be wrong. Maybe there is a very good chance of getting two left TD's elected. But if there is not, in fact if this is not just about a certainty then no chances should be taken. i have to stand by my position. i find the decision of the SWP sectarian, something which it shares of course with the SP which in any similar situation would put its own interests above that of the movement. I am not against the SWP or the SP. i am against sectarianism. I am not for the SWP or the SP. i am for a revolutionary left with a non sectarian approach and a different democratic collectivist internal culture. And by the way i do not believe that capitalism will be ended by bourgeois democratic methods. But using elections to conduct a struggle for the consciousness of the working class is a correct tactic until the revolutionary forces are in a position to carry through the revolution. And another detail as this is usually always thrown at me as a barb. that is that i am no longer living in Ireland and so out of touch. But I am not living an any other country in the world except the US. Does this mean that i should keep my moth shut about all these countries also. I would not agree. Sean Throne.
What's most striking is the utter lack of ambition for the left. Take the very interesting example of Joan Collins TD. There are currently 5 seats in that constituency. Labour have two. They won't hold onto both. The question is where will it go? There's a real opportunity for the left to win more seats. But this article posits this as Joans 'seat'. This is bourgeois democracy. No one owns the seat! It's a democracy. Why can't there be two female socialist TDs out of this? Why is there such a lack of ambition? I'm not in the SWP but can see how Joan won that seat not just because of a political swing to the left and being an excellent candidate but also because the SWP got behind her and campaigned for her. I can't see the sectarianism there, in all fairness.
There's a lack of ambition for the left in Ireland. It's called not seeing the wood for the trees. John, Ireland has changed since you left. It's a shame you can't see it. A greater shame that you still using old memories to attempt to intervene on things you don't have a handle on.
Priceless, John, but so true.
Thanks to the two folks who made comments. We in Project for a Working Peoples World believe that for there to be a real chance to end sectarianism the big battalions of the working class have to move into action. But even then this movement will have to experience some nasty experiences as it learns the sectarian ways of the sectarian groups. i see SF is very strongly damaging the anti water charge movement at the moment with its sectarianism. It could hardly be called left sectarianism. Maybe ourselves alone get into bed with the openly capitalist parties sectarianism. Maybe become the main capitalist party sectarianism.
But back to the points raised. We in the project for a Working peoples World ( see Blog weknowwhatsup.blogspot.com) have the following two criteria we operate on. Unless people from a left background openly and publicly admit that they have made major mistakes, that they have failed utterly to put down roots in the working class then there is no point in discussing. It is only a waste of our time. We all made sectarian, ultra left, opportunist mistakes, these have to be openly discussed and lessons learnt. The self styled revolutionary left have utterly failed to put down mass roots in the working class this has to be recognized and the lessons drawn.
The other criteria for involvement with PWPW is that while we are building a socialist current in the mass movement we are doing so in a non sectarian manner. But also in a way that prevents it from itself becoming sectarian. We do this in two ways. On. Members of PWPW can also belong to other groups as long as these other groups principles do not in general contradict the general principles of PWPW. but also and crucially that if members of PWPW are members of other groups they can only be so if they share with PWPW the internal life, discussions, differences etc of the other group. No more secretive sectarian BS. We have had enough of that.
Lenin is so misused by the left sectarians. He insisted that the ideas of the Bolsheviks be shared with, made known to the as he put it " the people." Not even the working class but the "people." He said that all discussions debates etc of the Bolsheviks conferences and gatherings should be made known to the "people." How far is this from the secretive world of the left sectarians. These groups are insane. The bourgeois can listen in to just about anybody these days yet the left groups want to keep their inner world secret. As if they could. The reality is that these groups want to keep their internal life secret so they can hopefully get one over on some other minuscule left sectarian group with whom they are competing and the existing clique in leadership are not threatened. Think of another example from lenin. When he came back to Russia in 1917 he was a minority in the Bolsheviks. He got off the train and stood up on a tank and without as much as a bye your leave launched into the majority of the Bolsheviks, this in public. He never even thought of such a thing as the so called democratic centralism which the self styled revolutionary left groups are so bg on today. The Blosheviks papers published all sorts of different views. The truth is the left sectarian groups of today base themselves on the life of the Bolsheviks when that organization was already well on the way to being destroyed by the civil war, mass starvation and the related rise of stalinism.
There are more people who consider themselves revolutionary socialists outside the self styled revolutionary socialist groups than are inside them. This means there is something wrong with the internal and external lives of these groups. It is an open and shut case. These groups cannot be reformed. A new formation with a new and different internal culture has to be built. In my struggle to do this i have totally rejected what is know as democratic centralism. i am much more inclined to use the term democratic collectivism. i am not too happy with this term but it is the best i can come up with at the moment. Help to develop a better formulation would be welcome. And help to try and build a non sectarian revolutionary left movement would also be appreciated. By the way it is not only those who are still in the self styled revolutionary left sectarian groups that are doing damage. All those former members who were sickened by the internal lives of these groups and dropped out also have to shoulder their share of blame. Complaining about the left sectarian groups and doing nothing yourself is not a way forward. Contact me. Help us in PWPW. Sean Throne.
John throne.
Unfortunately many individuals and some groups adopt and intellectualise marxism as an all-encompassing belief system - and they develop few hobbies and cultural interests outside their system. Like adherents of a millenarian cult, they allow themselves to be gobbled up by their belief tenets, and don't mix socially with non-believers. So they regard themselves as the elect and they become in their own eyes the custodians of irrefutable orthodoxy. They often end up fighting heresy instead of trying to convert the undecided. 17th century Malvolio Puritans and 14th-century Inquisitors were the religious advanced mirror images of 20th century secret police interrogators and show trial judges and prosecutors.
Is it any wonder that so many 'ordinary working people' carry on living and partly living and decline to have anything to do with strident political campaigners?
Interesting article but it is not unique to Ireland. I'd say this is a common problem in other countries which suggests a more general problem but you are right, it is all highly damaging.
And on the idea of asking people to come together and to reject sectarianism, surely it would just arise again from the dynamics and interactions with other groups? Seems to me we need a greater understanding of sectarianism. Maybe it is now part of the left culture and is difficult to change.