Yeah, 7deadlyfetishes, but I’m taking a very different position here. He more or less came at it from a position of tailism, that the left ought to try to appeal to troops to bring them in. I think something very different, the left still ought to be the vanguard in front, I’m just saying that dismissing the utility of the troops that might be politically aligned with our cause is a mistake. We shouldn’t sacrifice even 1 bit of our correctness for the sake of appealing to fascists, troops, cops, etc etc. But you really mean to tell me with a straight face that the correct move, tactically or strategically, is to turn away any would-be collaborators within the institutions we oppose? When they might want to do exactly the same thing we want to do?
I agree with you. Besides, I think disenchantment can be a powerful motivator for somebody to go through a change in values, and start to act in reparation of their victims. It happened in South Africa, it’s happening in Colombia, and it is a very important part of moving past damaging conflict.
Didn’t a big poster start a struggle session and eventually got banned for defending the “troops are workers” position?
Yeah, 7deadlyfetishes, but I’m taking a very different position here. He more or less came at it from a position of tailism, that the left ought to try to appeal to troops to bring them in. I think something very different, the left still ought to be the vanguard in front, I’m just saying that dismissing the utility of the troops that might be politically aligned with our cause is a mistake. We shouldn’t sacrifice even 1 bit of our correctness for the sake of appealing to fascists, troops, cops, etc etc. But you really mean to tell me with a straight face that the correct move, tactically or strategically, is to turn away any would-be collaborators within the institutions we oppose? When they might want to do exactly the same thing we want to do?
I agree with you. Besides, I think disenchantment can be a powerful motivator for somebody to go through a change in values, and start to act in reparation of their victims. It happened in South Africa, it’s happening in Colombia, and it is a very important part of moving past damaging conflict.