Re: <nettime> Make Everything New - A Project on Communism

[J Rabie <joe@overmydeadbody.org>]

The French Socialist politician, prime minister under Mitterand, and
self-proclaimed elder statesman, Michel Rocard, has stated (with self
aclaimed mournful realism) : "Capitalism has won". To which one must
reply, "yes - it has won the battle, but not the war".

Rocard was one of the people, last year, who accused all those in
France campagning against the "yes" vote in the referendum for
the European constitution, of all imaginable ills: stupidity,
retrogression, etc. The position of the proponents for the "no" (on
the left) was that this constitution enshrines the most predatorial,
neoliberal, market based economical practices into all levels of
society. The left united in a large coalition that stretched from
the Ligue Communist Révolutionaire (Trotskyiste), through the
Communist Party, to the left of the Socialists - those opposing the
social-liberalism of the party mainstream. It united many unaffiliated
people, notably in the alter-globalisation movement.

Next year, France is having presidential elections. This is in the
shadow of 2002, when atomisation on the left resulted in a second
round with no left wing candidate at all, but instead Le Pen, from the
extreme right, facing Chirac.

Today, the majority of movements on the left have come together to
choose a unitary, single candidate on the left of the left. The
Communist Party is very active in this, and (though no final decision
has been taken) is prepared to renounce on having its own candidate,
in favour of a unitary candidate capable of representing a wider range
of sensibilities.

A national Collective and a multitude of local ones (more than 500
throughout the country) are working on this project. The enormous
hope is that it will succeed in setting up a unique candidate for the
presidential elections, and candidates for the following legislative
elections. As a project it opposes "social-liberalism", but it is in
fact clearly anti-capitalist.

Joseph Rabie.



Le 26 sept. 06, à 22:16, Patrice Riemens a écrit :

>> From yr trusted fwding department... ;-)
> bwo the Multitudes-info list.
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 
> ---
>
> Make Everything New?A Project On Communism
> Edited by Grant Watson, Gerrie van Noord & Gavin Everall (2006)




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