GEORGIA ON MY MIND - 3
Paul Anderson writes:
So the war seems to be over. Russia and Georgia have accepted a peace plan largely brokered by France – for which credit seems primarily be due to Bernard Kouchner, the French foreign minister. Good, but what happens next, we'll see. This is a peace, if it holds, that will reward the bully. The Kremlin is crowing over its victory and still issuing threats to Georgia; and any hope Tblisi had of establishing authority over South Ossetia and Abkhazia has now vanished for the foreseeable future.
I'll explain in a future post why I think Abkhaz and South Ossetian claims for national self-determination do not deserve international backing while Georgia's territorial integrity does. For now, I think we need to set up a Georgia Solidarity Campaign. You know: small country in the near-abroad of a superpower under serious threat of annihilation because it dares to adopt policies the superpower dislikes – and, hey!, the small country is not even a one-party dictatorship but a democracy, so it really is a matter of self-determination rather than a sham! Surely a no-brainer for every anti-imperialist in town?
Paul Anderson writes:
So the war seems to be over. Russia and Georgia have accepted a peace plan largely brokered by France – for which credit seems primarily be due to Bernard Kouchner, the French foreign minister. Good, but what happens next, we'll see. This is a peace, if it holds, that will reward the bully. The Kremlin is crowing over its victory and still issuing threats to Georgia; and any hope Tblisi had of establishing authority over South Ossetia and Abkhazia has now vanished for the foreseeable future.
I'll explain in a future post why I think Abkhaz and South Ossetian claims for national self-determination do not deserve international backing while Georgia's territorial integrity does. For now, I think we need to set up a Georgia Solidarity Campaign. You know: small country in the near-abroad of a superpower under serious threat of annihilation because it dares to adopt policies the superpower dislikes – and, hey!, the small country is not even a one-party dictatorship but a democracy, so it really is a matter of self-determination rather than a sham! Surely a no-brainer for every anti-imperialist in town?
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Posted at 00:34
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"Surely a no-brainer for every anti-imperialist in town?" Surely it depends how you define imperialism? Solidarity movements that support and take leadership from the affected peoples are one thing (Anti Apartheid Movement, for example, or women's organisations campaigning against local patriarchies). But I'm wary of the assumption that 'we' should take ownership of everything that happens everywhere else in the world. That looks like another form of imperialism to me. Remember, whoever you vote for/organise solidarity movements with, the government gets in.
"whoever you vote for/organise solidarity movements with, the government gets in."
Whenever I see banal shit like that shit I demand the interwebnets be policed and that free speech be limited.
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Whenever I see banal shit like that shit I demand the interwebnets be policed and that free speech be limited.
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