Posted on 03/25/2010 12:48:50 PM PDT by a fool in paradise
I spent the past weekend filming and tabling at Left Forum in NYC. It was one of the largest Left Forum’s ever with over 700 speakers and a wide range of panels...
The first talk I attended was “Proudhonism and other false alternatives to capitalism,” held by the Marxist-humanist initiative. As an anarchist what could be more interesting than watching a panel of marxists continue the 160 year assault on Joseph Proudhon, the father of anarchism.
...the speakers simply read papers to us. Five speakers each took turns boring the audience with their papers, and because of time considerations large portions of their papers were skipped over leaving their polemics rather incoherent.
The first speaker did a grand job of arranging a litany of ad hominen attacks against Proudhon, quoting him out of context and using every stupid thing Proudhon had ever said or written to conjure up the most negative image of Proudhon possible: Joseph Proudhon was the father of fascism!
...At the Q&A portion of the talk, I said, “I sat here and listened to you butcher and skewer Proudhon, and I can’t help but wonder if you approached any anarchists to maybe balance things out?” “No,” I was told. One member told me how three years ago he had met with a hostile crowd at an anarchist bookfair, which sounded eerily famiar to the arguments you hear from many racists: I had a bad experience with members of group X, so all members of that group are bad. He went on to tell me that he’d debate any anarchist anywhere, anytime. Nice to know, but not exactly what I was looking for...
In light of everything we are up against as people fighting for social justice, it’s absurd to perpetuate these false divisions....
(Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...
Marxists=Far Left Anarchists=Far Right
Most self described Anacharists I know voted Obama.
I don’t get it either...
Interest post. Let them sit and argue with each other over trivial things. That way they will not focus on evil plans to undo capitalism — Obama certainly does not need additional help.
The most ironic thing is that Mao or Lenin would have had all these people killed immediately upon taking power.
...
Seriously? Anarchists are not “far-right”. Need I remind you that Jean-Paul Sartre, an anarchist in name and deed, was far-left? As was Michel Foucault? Or heck, even Noam Chomsky?
Heck, one of the things the Marxists aimed for was a “stateless society”, which means they were themselves anarchists.
I always hate that false description that Marxists and Anarchists are extremes of the left and right, respectively. If anything, both occupy the left.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.