[Reader-list] Farewell to our Humid Weimar

[Shuddhabrata Sengupta]

Dear Prakash,

Thank you for your mail.

I fail to realize how an argument against the myopia of the CPI(M)  
and the CPI  have to be automatically read as 'anti-left' arguments.  
The only reason why anyone gives credence to the idea that the CPI or  
the CPI(M) represent in any way, the 'Left',  is because, well, they  
say so themselves. It is not unlike the BJP declaring that it's  
ideology is 'Gandhian Socialism' (which it says it is). I have no  
quarrel with these acts of self naming (however delusionary they may  
be, provided that those who name themselves thus do not arrogate to  
themselves the right to control the naming of all others). If the CPI 
(M) thinks that it is the Left, it is welcome to that assumption, but  
I cannot understand how this gives CPI(M) activists and sympathizers  
the right to decide that any criticism of the CPI(M) and/or its  
allies automatically amounts to a criticism of the Left. Actually, it  
amounts to nothing other than a criticism of the CPI(M) and/or its  
allies. The Left is not a term that can either be invoked or and  
exhausted by the CPI(M)'s episodic lapses.

I have said this before. I consider myself to be on the left, and I  
have never for a moment doubted that whenever, either the kind of  
thinking that I represent, or the kind of thinking that anyone else  
on the left represents is in error, it should be criticised. That act  
of criticism is not, and should not be vulgarized as 'anti-left'  
thinking merely because it happens to be directed at organizations,  
individuals or entities that describe themselves as being on the  
'left'. If you criticise me, I can fault you on many grounds that  
have to do with either the intent or manner of your criticism, but to  
criticise your criticism of my thoughts on the grounds of 'Anti- 
Leftism' would be just as absurd as your attempt to debunk my  
criticism of the CPI(M) on the grounds of 'Anti-Leftism'. I hope I  
have made myself clear. Please be sharper and more coherent when you  
are being critical. It will improve the grounds of our debate.

I do not recognize or understand who is being pointed towards in the  
description "some of us who consider ourselves 'liberated', since we  
write, read or lecture, and we only do that'. Who is this 'us'. I  
have to do many things other than write, read and lecture, and I do  
wish I had a handsome salary. Can you (Prakash) arrange one for me.  
Even if that were to be the case, the criticism of an argument on the  
basis of the salary of the bearer, or professional pre-occupations of  
the protagonist of an argument is actually not an argument. I could  
criticise several well known activists of the CPI(M) on the basis of  
their salaries, or of the fact that they are part of the academic  
establishment, or on the choice of their after dinner pre- 
occupations,  or their good or bad taste in Whisky, but I abstain  
from doing so, because I think that bringing such things into an  
argument about political choices is not only in bad taste (which it  
is) but is also totally irrelevant.

I do not see a rigorous position against a nuclear military policy on  
the part of the Government of India as the mouthing of a "anti-  
everything nuclear sacredness". it is not anti-everything, it is  
simply, anti-nuclear weapons. Since when are nuclear weapons -  
"everything"? Or, are they "everything" these days in the CPI(M)? And  
what is "sacred" in questioning a nuclear weapons policy?It seems, on  
the contrary, to me, that a deliberate reticence about the  
desirability of a nuclear weapons programme that the CPI(M) and  
several others so called 'Left' such as the CPI are currently  
exhibiting, (while blustering about 'strategic autonomy' ) is more  
symptomatic of their anxiety that the sacredness of a nuclear weapons  
policy remain pristine and untouched, than it is of anything else. I  
really wonder who can be correctly described as being 'holier than  
thou' here. Or am I really missing something? is it just that the  
that the nuclear policy automatically becomes sacrosant, the very  
moment when the gentlemen and ladies on the so called 'Left' rush to  
protect our nuclear assets and associated sacred secrets from the  
International Atomic Energy Agency ?

I have never, at any point, said that I support the Indo-US nuclear  
deal. I have infact been writing about the Indo-US nuclear deal for  
the past several months on this list, and there has not been a single  
posting where I have ever said that such a deal should be signed, or  
that I support the signing of such a deal. I have only maintained  
that the grounds on which the CPI(M) and the CPI are attacking the  
deal are hollow, since they are based on the argument of 'strategic  
autonomy' which can only translate as a continuing commitment to a  
pro 'Nuclear Weapons' policy vis a vis India. This means that the  
presence of these very Left leaders in demonstrations against the  
Nuclear Tests that were part of Pokrhan II were exercises in  
hypocrisy and subterfuge. There is no doubt at all in my mind that at  
this moment, there is a perfect synchronicity between the positions  
of the BJP and the CPI(M) on this issue. If the CPI(M) had urged the  
UPA government to sign the NPT and the CTBT and to give up the  
obscenity of the Indian nuclear weapons programme, or even opposed it  
militantly, I would have been able to see the difference between the  
BJP and the CPI(M) positions on this matter. Since this is not the  
case, I fail to see where the difference lies.

I find it pathetic when those who have the audacity to call  
themselves Communist should support a nation-state's right to posess  
and deploy nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction. It  
is in fact a measure of the idiocy and sad state of political  
bankruptcy of these so called Communist parties. They, and their  
cadres, and their time serving sympathizers have forgotten, or they  
have chosen to ignore that the difference between Communists and  
Social Democracy lay in its origin, precisely on the matter of  
supporting or opposing the belligerence of nation states during and  
in the wake of the first world war. By voting to protect the Indian  
nation state's nuclear arsenal, (even if this is done in the name of  
opposing US Imperialism) the CPI(M) and the CPI and their client  
parties in the Indian parliament have behaved in a manner identical  
to those Social Democrats, who during the first world war, voted in  
favour of 'War Credits' to their respective bourgeouise governments  
(in the name of opposing French, or German, or Czarist Russian, or  
British Imperialism). They have, by placing their nation state over  
and above the class interests of the labouring people of the world,  
crossed over to the camp of the enemy. They have become, in other  
words, parties of reaction. And it should come as no surprise to  
anyone that they will vote in co-ordination with the far right. This  
is only a sign of things to come.

Patriotism, is and remains, the last refuge of scoundrels, everywhere.

regards.

Shuddha









On 12-Jul-08, at 8:52 PM, prakash ray wrote:

> Dear all,
>
> It is not surprising to hear some of the 'liberated' ones (read  
> Shuddha,
> Shivam and Salim) mouthing anti-Left arguments over the current  
> debate over
> the nuclear deal. People like them, as far as I remember, have  
> 'always'
> attacked the Left without any gap or break. I do not want to blame  
> them for
> their political positions, but I would accuse them for their
> shortsightedness for not seeing or observing any positive  
> contribution or
> position of the Left. Some of us consider ourselves 'liberated'  
> since we
> write, read and lecture, and we only do that. We forget that our  
> 'false
> sense of liberation' is a mere reflection of our handsome salaries and
> convenient middle class location. And I do not consider that a sin.  
> However,
> I request them to reconsider their 'holier than all' approach.
>
> Coming to the issue of the Deal, I am wondering they do not  
> articulate their
> position except mouthing anti- everything nuclear sacredness. Their  
> belief
> of the Left and BJP coming together is speculative and based on a  
> report
> appeared in Times Now website. Let me ask them that they believe  
> what the
> TOI and its associates say on the Deal or the Nano car or economic  
> policies
> etc. Shivam could have researched on the matter since he is a reporter
> himself. I would like to hear from Shuddha on the support extended  
> by the
> Left to the UPA for the last four years. Mr Advani getting  
> interviewed in
> the Hindu must be looked at a mere media exercise. Every
> newspaper/magazine/channel including Tehlka publishes interviews of  
> the
> politicians of all colours including Mr Mahendra Karma of the Salwa  
> Judum
> infamy. The Hindu 'also' publishes Ms Arundhati Roy at regular  
> intervention
> and it was Mr N Ram who interviewed the former President K R  
> Narayanan on
> the eve of the Republic Day which was telecast on DD in place of the
> customary prez speeches. And here on the Sarai reder list, the  
> right-wingers
> get more space. Should one read it as 'something' about the  
> moderator or
> Shuddha himself?
>
> I see the Deal as a profound sign of the Govt's closeness to the US
> administration that is waging war against mankind everywhere and
> continuously demonizing the opposing sections worldwide. I do not  
> find any
> fault if someone sees the Deal as anti-Muslim given the fact that  
> the US and
> Indian Govts are continuously targeting the community. I do not  
> think the
> readers need fact related to this. I do not find any fault if  
> someone sees
> the deal as an attack on the national sovereignty since I consider the
> nation as a weapon against the growing imperialist attack on the  
> poor and
> less-powerful nations. I support the alliance of such nation  
> against the
> policies and politics of the US.
>
> Opposing the Deal is to oppose every evil of the Imperialism.
>
> Let me ask some simple questions:
>
> Was the Left wrong when they supported the UPA led by the Congress?
> Should the Left continue the support so that Dr Singh could go  
> ahead with
> the Deal?
> Should the Deal be supported since the BJP might get benefit in  
> elections if
> the Govt falls?
> Since BJP has members in the Loksabha, should the Left oppose or  
> support
> everything only on the basis of the position taken by the BJP?
> Are the policies of Mr Bush not guided by the ideology of the  
> 'clash of
> civilizations'?
>
> Regards,
> Prakash
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Shuddhabrata Sengupta
The Sarai Programme at CSDS
Raqs Media Collective
shuddha at sarai.net
www.sarai.net
www.raqsmediacollective.net