Our readers speak out
1991 1991-07Read it in the scan (PDF at ETOL), page 15 →
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A "find"
Dear editors, I have been reading Socialist Action now for several years. It has turned out to be a "find." The quality of the writing is uniformly excellent, and it was quite a relief for me to discover Marxist-Leninist views compatible with my own.
My one criticism of Socialist Action is that it has no section dealing with books and the arts. I became conscious of this lack when I read with great interest Cliff Conner's splendid three-part series on the French Revolution.
Nothing quite on a par with this has since appeared in socialist Action-and nothing on the arts.
Baltimore, Ma.
A "voice"
Dear editors, I was so pleased to discover Socialist Action, after being devastated by the off-hand way that the Socialist Workers Party rejected Trotsky's Permanent Revolution and proceeded to expel thoughtful, hard-working revolutionaries to enforce their reversal.
And so, thank you for being a voice against the legions that protect "U.S. business interests" and point to the roots of war on the Third World and working people in this country.
Albuquerque, N.M.
Bangladesh Dear editors, It looks to me like Malik Miah (Socialist Action, June 1991) dug into his theoretical toolbox looking for some proposals in the wake of the catastrophic cycle in Bangladesh and only found the equivalent of a small tack hammer, screwdriver, and pliers. It's sad that the best he could propose was debt relief, aid donations, and the construction of some raised concrete shelters.
If Malik took his blanket and pillow out on the freeway to sleep, chances are he'd wake up dead, right? The same danger exists for people who live on flood plains, and building Holland-style dikes is not a feasible or environmentally sound solution.
The disaster in Bangladesh is a symptom of environmental stress, as well as a product of the world capitalist/imperialist system of human social organization.
There are four important observations to make with respect to human habitants: 1) They cannot displace existing ecosystems indefinitely without, at some point, triggering a qualitative change 2) Forests provide natural flood control and play a fundamental role in the carbon cycle. They must be recultivated and maintained on a sufficient scale to achieve climate stability once more. 3) Wetlands are the base for most of the earth's complex food chain and must be preerved at all costs. 4) If there are no places left to settle outside of a flood plain, the population of that area is too large.
How can we as socialists have any credibility among environmentally informed readers when Malik's article appears to be oblivious to these facts? To them, it must appear as ill-informed and intellectually Baltimore P.O. Box 16005 Baltimore, MD 21218 Boston P.O. Box 1046 GMF Boston, MA 02205 (617) 497-0230 Chicago P.O. Box 578428 Chicago, IL 60657 (312) 327-5752 Cincinnati P.O. Box 27111 Cincinnati, OH 45227 (513) 272-2596 Cleveland P.O. Box 6151 Cleveland, OH 44101 (216) 429-2167 Detroit P.O. Box 1613 Detroit, MI 48231 branch in your area! Kansas City P.O. Box 32543 Westport Station, Kansas City, MO 64111 Forinformation about other areas, contact the national office of Socialist Action at (415) 821-0458. impotent as the born-againer who blames all evil on the Devil.
Peter Clark, Cincinnati, Ohio Dear editors, Your readers in the United States should know that there are also campaigns in in the French state in defense of soldiers who refused orders to participate in the war against Iraq.
One such soldier is François Wargnies, who failed to abide by a call-up notice just before the launching of the war. The Conscientious Objecters Network (Réseau des objecteurs de conscienec) issued a petition for him, which is being supported by the French section of the Fourth International.
Arzhur ar Roue, Guingamp, France Los Angeles P.O. Box 862014 Los Angeles, CA 90086 (213) 660-2891 Minneapolis P.O. Box 14087 Dinkeytown Station Minneapolis, MN 55414 (612) 430-1476 New York P.O. Box 20209 Ca. Fin. 693 Columbus Ave.
New York, N.Y. 10025 San Francisco 3435 Army St., Suite 308 San Francisco, CA 94110 (415) 821-0458
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French resisters