[kj] politics

[Alexander Smith]

"Bin Laden WAS  on a Jihad(HolyWar ):

Still is, isn't he?

Alex in NYC




On Monday, September 6, 2004, at 06:33 PM, peter.west410 wrote:

> Communism and Nazism belong in the past and should stay there.They both
> failed because the people never wanted them.They (along with extreme
> religion) are Extremism.And that is not the way to go forward.
>   They are all backward thinking.
>
> Bin Laden WAS  on a Jihad(HolyWar )
> Hitler         WAS a nazi
> Pol pot       WAS a Communist.(Full-stop)
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <Jpwhkj at aol.com>
> To: <gathering at misera.net>
> Sent: Monday, September 06, 2004 11:19 PM
> Subject: Re: [kj] politics
>
>
>> <xps1 at quick.cz> writes:
>>
>>> I think those differences in "isms" are certainly quite important - I
> agree that not that important for those killed - but still there are 
> major
> differences. As regards "a small number of people at the top, and a 
> large
> number of people at the bottom, and a certain amount of ruthlessness 
> to keep
> it that way" is what Communism fights against while it the case of 
> Nazism it
> is a corner stone of its very ideology - that there is an elite in the
> nation destined to rule while the role of masses is to keep quite and 
> do
> what fuhrer (chosen by some metaphysical unhuman force) says.
>>
>> Firstly, I guess we mean different things by "communism". I'm talking
> about the form of government practised in the eastern block for the 
> bulk of
> the 20th century. You're right that this wasn't communism as conceived 
> by
> Marx, nor probably by the revolutionaries in Tsarist Russia - however, 
> it's
> what was understood by most of the world to be communism, including 
> many
> "communist" parties in the rest of the world. I agree that the 
> similarity
> between this and "true" communism is about the same as the similarity
> between the Spanish Inquisition and the teachings of Jesus.
>>
>> Yes, you're right that the differences are very important. (As indeed 
>> I
> said.) However, my point was that all forms of government so far have
> resulted in quite a lot of misery (not just poverty). Isn't that true?
>>
>> And, leading on from that, if we're going to avoid repeating the 
>> mistakes
> and misery of the past, we need to try something new.
>>
>>> By mere bodycount one would come to a conclusion than US or UK
> "democracies" are the most ruthless regimes that ever existed.
>>
>> I agree that just the bodycount is an insufficient measure of 
>> oppression.
>>
>>> I still believe one shall defend (even capitalist) democracy against
> Nazism even though these democracies may murdered but certainly 
> oppressed
> more people than Nazism.
>>
>> Agreed wholeheartedly. Let's continue this one over a beer the next 
>> time
> you're in London or I'm in Prague...
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> Jamie
>>
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