U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton today invited Russia to join the United States in its deployment of a “Missile Defense Shield”, a continuation of the program the Bush Administration started during his terms in office.

The term “missile defense shield” is a deadly misnomer. Missiles are extremely difficult to shoot down. Defending against a missile attack is, likewise, extremely difficult. Some (or many) of your interceptors will miss. Your enemy may deploy an unknown number of decoy missiles. You may not have enough time to launch your interceptors once an attack is launched. For all these reasons and more, “missile defense shields” are hardly useful, and hardly ever really intended for defense.

More often, and quite logically considering who is constructing them, they are a first strike weapon. That is, you build a defense shield to protect yourself from any remaining missiles that are launched after your first strike attack lands upon your target (in the case of nuclear missiles, killing millions or billions).

The United States has also declared who this (first strike) missile system is aimed at: Iran and countries like it (a.k.a. countries that threaten U.S. hegemony in any way, shape, or form). Progressives in the U.S. and elsewhere should defend against the construction of such offensive weapons. During the intertwined crises of recession and climate chaos, what we need is billions of dollars invested in repowering our future and economy with clean renewable energy and millions of good green jobs.

note: also see Matthew Smucker’s “The Story of the Righteous Few“

The purpose of this piece is simple: either your main goal is to be perceived as a righteous individual or you want to help build a righteous movement that will eventually achieve power in society… you can’t have both. I’ve seen countless young revolutionaries (including myself) hold hard line positions, jump down people’s throats who disagree, and defend their positions to the bitter end, as if the loss of  an argument means the invalidation of the revolutionary’s personal identity. It is an instance of politics tied to personal (radical) identity. Arguments lost or people unmoved represent a blow to our identity as a radical.

Successful organizers, on the other hand, understand that people radicalize in a variety of ways. Just when someone seems to be shifting left on a position, they might revert to their previous position (or even a more reactionary one). People shift their positions at different paces too. Some people radicalize quickly, while others radicalize slowly. Some people are “natural radicals” in that they value critical thinking which leads them to progressive answers, while others by virtue of their socialization must be pressed issue-by-issue, until the big picture is clear in their minds and they abandon past views. One thing is certain of all these leftward shifters: getting yelled at, berated, called out, or attacked will not speed their politicalization. In many cases, this halts it (sometimes permanently).

It is logical that revolutionaries, young revolutionaries in particular, feel a deep emotional connection with their analysis of society. We’ve taken the red pill. We’ve seen the bigger picture. We’ve connected all the dots. It is vital, however, that we elevate the need to win over the need to constantly win arguments and be perceived as being “right”. Our very struggle makes us righteous. Our positions make us correct. But righteousness doesn’t necessitate victory in every argument; it necessitates victory over the systems of exploitation and oppression which make us all less than human. The latter is important, the former is essentially a means to an end.

This doesn’t mean that having a correct analysis of a given issue isn’t important or that we should retreat from the centrality of principled politics in order to maintain unity on every issue. One issue that comes to mind is Palestine. I know of some radicals who believe the issue to “too alienating” to organize around. Not only is this the pinnacle of unprincipled politics, but it is also strategically bankrupt. When we retreat from political analysis, we make it harder to make the connections with those we recruit, and, as a result, possibly slow their radicalization. With Palestine in particular, not only is such a retreat unprincipled, it is also strategically idiotic. A victory of the Palestinians against US-Israeli imperialism and genocide will be an enormous victory for humanity, providing inspiration to all those who fight against our rotten system. This is one of the main reasons why the Israeli and US governments refuse to allow the existence of a Palestinian state. Like Vietnam, Palestine represents the “threat of the good example”. If Palestine is able to extract itself from the imperialist system, like Venezuela for example, then other countries will ask “why can’t we?” This domino effect of national liberation and socialist movements, both of which are aimed at weakening US hegemony, is one of the greatest fears of US elites. From their position, better to wipe the Palestinians off the map, than provide the tiniest bit of inspiration to liberation movements.

What I’m arguing isn’t how much we organize or don’t organize around a particular issue - that’s another debate. I’m saying that the more controversial an issue (and as a result, the more we’re likely to look like lunatics if we start screaming), the more calm, cool, and collected we need to appear. We need to present principled arguments in language that people resistant to our arguments can understand and relate to. While some people radicalize quickly, we’re making a long-term investment by keeping our calm around issues they disagree with. In terms of winning power around the world, what matters most is the populations eventual allegiance to the progressive movement, not their immediate attainment of perfect analysis.

So I ask you: do you want to be right? or do you want to win?

I haven’t had the chance to sit down and do some real blogging in so long. So here are some updates…

I wanted to blog about some movies I’ve seen recently, but haven’t yet had the chance. In particular: Valkyrie, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, The Day the Earth Stood Still, and Che (I haven’t gotten a chance to see Milk yet). In case I don’t get around to blogging about them, I’d definitely recommend all of them, Valkyrie and Che in particular.

Che is a 4 hour film (it will be a two-part film when its in theaters again this year), that follows his life, first with the victorious guerilla war in Cuba, and then with the unsuccessful guerilla war in Bolivia. I saw it in a gigantic theater in New York City in December with a few hundred other people. Very powerful film!

And as I’m a sucker for love films, especially ones staring Gaspard Ulliel professing his love for another man, Paris, je t’aime (”Paris, I love you”, 2006) was quite good as well.

I’m currently reading Speaking Treason Fluently: Anti-Racist Reflections from an Angry White Male by Time Wise, and The German Revolution: 1917-1923 by Pierre Broué. I plan on doing a thorough review of the latter, but that will take me a couple of months, as its almost 1,000 pages long, and will take me a fair amount of time to do it justice. So far I’d definitely recommend it to others interested in the fascinating history of the German Revolution, and the failures that laid the groundwork for the Nazi takeover of Germany. I’ll undoubtedly be reading his The Revolution and the Civil War in Spain: 1934-1939 soon after I’m done with this one.

I’ve been reading a bunch by Darwin as well, and tons of stuff on materialism, biology, and complementary holism. I’ve already received several messages from people who can’t seem to find the usefulness of Darwin as he relates to politics. Marketeers quote Darwin to apologize for horrible atrocities and that means he’s off limits? Strange reasoning. Not going to stop me. Perhaps my words aren’t yet precise enough. If that’s the case, hopefully that will improve (evolve?) with practice.

Finally I don’t have the emotional energy to write much about it now, but my heart goes out to the Palestinians, and all those who are struggling with them. The crimes of the US-backed Israeli government must be halted as soon as possible. We much work to bring about peace by forcing our government to divest from the Israeli state and pressure it into a genuine peace process.

Quote for Thought:

“For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food,
For love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Headlines for today:

1. Spain’s Socialists win election - Yep! That’s right. Here’s Al-Jazeera’s article on the subject. You can also check out the article at the Guardian and the article on BBC.

2. President Nicolas Sarkozy’s ruling UMP conservative party is trailing [the socialists] in the first round of French local elections - Damn straight. Sarkozy’s party is getting themselves handed to them. Check it out. Great developments in Western Europe!

3. Colombia: From insults to handshakes - The Real News Network reports: “At Rio Group summit an isolated Colombia backs down and apologizes for military raid into Ecuador.” Country after country in Latin America condemn Colombia’s illegal invasion of Ecuador’s sovereignty. President Uribe stands down and crosses room to shake hands with Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa and Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. War is averted in Latin America.

4. Israel may reoccupy Gaza - The Real News Network reports about Israel’s possibl re-invasion and re-occupation of Gaza, after an escalation of Israeli violence in the region which reportedly killed over 120 people in the Gaza region of Palestine.

5. Climate change may spark conflict with Russia, EU told - Anyone up for yelling and screaming in deluded state-capitalist drum circles as the world burns down around us? I haven’t seen an article this ridiculous in a while. The world is falling apart, and the EU is threatening a conflict over materials in a part of the world that should be FROZEN. How about we talk about how to STOP it from MELTING! The wise Cree proverb is adept to describe this article: “Only when the last tree has died and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught will we realize that we cannot eat money.”

AND

6. What is Revolutionary Democracy? - by X and Keith from New Brunswick. A great article and introduction into building revolutionary dual power and a popular movement for a new society.