Chomsky and Co clarify
I received this from the Initative India google group, to which I subscribe.
We are taken aback by a widespread reaction to a statement we made with the best of intentions, imploring a restoration of unity among the left forces in India –a reaction that seems to assume that such an appeal to overcome divisions among the left could only amount to supporting a very specific section of the CPM in West Bengal. Our statement did not lend support to the CPM's actions in Nandigram or its recent economic policies in West Bengal, nor was that our intention. On the contrary, we asserted, in solidarity with its Left critics both inside and outside the party, that we found them tragically wrong. Our hope was that Left critics would view their task as one of putting pressure on the CPM in West Bengal to correct and improve its policies and its habits of governance, rather than dismiss it wholesale as an unredeemable party. We felt that we could hope for such a thing, of such a return to the laudable traditions of a party that once brought extensive land reforms to the state of West Bengal and that had kept communal tensions in abeyance for decades in that state. This, rather than any exculpation of its various recent policies and actions, is what we intended by our hopes for 'unity' among the left forces.
We realize now that it is perhaps not possible to expect the Left critics of the CPM to overcome the deep disappointment, indeed hostility, they have come to feel towards it, unless the CPM itself takes some initiative against that sense of disappointment. We hope that the CPM in West Bengal will show the largeness of mind to take such an initiative by restoring the morale as well as the welfare of the dispossessed people of Nandigram through the humane governance of their region, so that the left forces can then unite and focus on the more fundamental issues that confront the Left as a whole, in particular focus on the task of providing with just and imaginative measures an alternative to neo-liberal capitalism that has caused so much suffering to the poor and working people in India.
Signed
Michael Albert, Tariq Ali, Akeel Bilgrami, Victoria Brittain, Noam Chomsky, Charles Derber, Stephen Shalom
posted by mutRupuLLi @ Thursday, December 13, 2007
4 Comments:
One of the links that I posted previously mentioned this. I would say it smacks of tremendous arrogance and double standards. Is this country a laboratory for these intellectuals, while they live in western countries ?. Some NRIs like that US prof. Prasad are misleading these folks and what's more they are taking the intellectually lazy way out of the mess they find themselves in. Boy, you can even get politicians to say "Sorry, I made a mistake", but not these intellectual types. I am deeply disappointed, not with Tariq Ali and the rest, but with Mr.Chomsky. What has communist rule got to do with keeping the communal situation under control ? TN has one of the best records in terms of relationships between communities - but it has never been ruled by communists. There are other sound-byte points like this - very disappointing to say the least.
BNB,
I am disappointed myself...but I would say there has been a hard core influence of the LEFT thought on the Tamil's life, atleast on the social front. Socially LEFT leaders like Periyar and the whole of Dravida movement has had a big influence in things being as they are. Upto 70's even Commies like Jeeva and Balathandayutham had a role in making us a more egalitarian and less fundamentalist society. There are of course exceptions too. So in some sense it has been left thought that has helped in ruling out communal violence. One ofcourse can't rule out simple geographical facts that always meant that the Tamils haven't had entrenched hatred like many from the North.
Having said that, I would only accuse Chomsky and co of ignorance and surprisingly slack work. Arrogance..I am not sure. Chomsky can't be accussed of being a Commie..(unless one is a right wing nut case). I would just call him Left winger anarchist. I would say the ignorance of these folks comes out of the fact that Dravidian movement has never been given the respect and acknowledgement by both the right wingers and left wingers inside and outside the country. While the right wingers call it Communism, the left wingers call it Fascism. It never seems to be acknowledged as what it is, a sort of mixture of two tendencies....th tendency to strive for social equality and the fight to preserve one's uniqueness and identity.
I think it is disingenuous to include all kinds of movements under the 'left' banner. I think a left that's running out of steam is finding it easier to co-opt all movements that have had an impact. At least the right does not make this mistake. For instance monogamy or limiting the number of wives is almost surely the work of religions and has benefitted women - but they will not get credit for that, since religion is not kosher with the left. Periyar post-facto might have made some leftist sounding statements. The anti-capitalist sentiment of the left does not find a very strong echo in these natively rooted movements. If you need any proof, take a look at one TN's leading business groups - the DMK :-).
This whole business of looking at everything through an exclusive left/right colored lens is highly distorting. But the really amusing part is the way lot of lefties pretend to be "native" - they manage to be "native" in each country with very little modification of their core tenets, most of which is absolutely western in its origin.
oops, by "disingenuous", I meant the general left tendency, not you.
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