gyrofry
gyrofry
Kurdt
Post rating:
~
http://www.leninology.com/2013/06/open-letter-about-platypus-affiliated.html
Open letter about the Platypus Affiliated Society
May 29, 2013
Dear friends and comrades,
We are writing to you about the Platypus Affiliated Society, in the hope you will be dissuaded from future participation in this organization's activities. Platypus presents itself as a student group organizing public fora (including its publication, the Platypus Review) for the purpose of "interrogating and clarifying positions" on the Left towards the "practical reconstitution of a Marxian Left." However, in reality the group is defined not by its identification or solidarity with the Left, but by its strategy of, in the words of founder and president Chris Cutrone, “making war on the existing 'Left'.” Thus, Platypus public fora are not intended for productive dialogue, but rather serve as opportunities for Platypus to discredit the scholars and activists on the Left whom they have, in bad faith, invited to participate.
The strategy underlying Platypus' activities is detailed in the attached statements by Cutrone. Here, Cutrone outlines Platypus' identity as a “combat organization” fighting to “hasten the disintegration and dissolution of the ‘Left’." Platypus, Cutrone writes, seeks to “degrade our interlocutors into ever more untenable positions, until, finally, we hope, they abandon any self-conscious commitment to the Left....This will leave the field to us alone.”
Thus, Platypus conceives of itself as in direct antagonism with the Left they hope to demoralize and disorient, and the activist movements they hope to erode. Importantly, however, this is not on the basis of any explicit positions, which Platypus, disingenuously, claims not to take. Rather, the organization's opposition to the Left is a foundational antagonism, in which Platypus posits the Left as the fundamental obstacle to a renewed Marxist politics and defines itself against that Left in its entirety — regardless of what leftists say or do.
Cutrone's introduction to the Left came as a member of the Spartacist League, and his project inherits the Spartacist tactic of undermining and caricaturing other leftists. Crucially, though, Platypus' unique brand of anti-leftism is distinguished from even the most sectarian tendencies on the Left by its unprincipled character, making it categorically different from the ultra-leftism of tendencies that criticize the Left on the basis of program, positions, or concrete analysis.
This unprincipled character of Platypus' anti-leftism in turn leads it to import reactionary ideologies into its “hosted conversation” to use in attacking the Left.
For instance, in combating left anti-imperialism Platypus highlights the arguments of right-wing pro-imperial tendencies that claim to be on the Left (e.g. the anti-Germans). In this sense, Platypus sees nothing problematic about incorporating liberalism and imperialism into its political project in order to attack the Left — from the right.
As one important example, Platypus' opposition to left solidarity with Palestine leads Cutrone to the following, decidedly non-leftist, conclusions:
Now I am going to say something for internal consumption only (this is perhaps a "closeted" position): At this point, the only hope that the Palestinians have is in and through Israel, precisely as a "settler colonial state," not independent of, let alone opposed to it. Just as the only hope for Native Americans has been through integration into the U.S.
Of course the degree to which the U.S. was racist it failed as bourgeois society -- as is true of Israel today. Now, precisely the problem is that Israel doesn't "want" the Palestinians. So the Palestinians are indeed quite vulnerable. But the rational kernel of such racism is that "they are not like us," i.e., the recognition and rejection of non-bourgeois forms of life. We must defend this rational kernel of bourgeois subjectivity obscure to itself, rather than the Ben Lewis et al.'s perspective of assuming everyone is always already bourgeois, anthropologically. They're not.
Bourgeois society is a fragile achievement, not natural. It is a society, not an individual matter.
And it is the only possible basis for progress in freedom.
As an organization Platypus conceives of itself as possessing an understanding of history that positions it — and it alone — at the center of a world-historic revival of the Left. This historical consciousness resides above all in Cutrone, who serves as a guru figure for Platypus as the organization's “chief pedagogue.” Platypus seeks to capitalize on widespread dissatisfaction with the Left to direct recently politicized young people, especially undergraduates, away from the Left, and to progressively instill in them an extreme hostility towards it, based on loyalty to Cutrone's historical narrative alone.
Since Platypus defines itself in opposition to the Left, it cannot be considered a part of the Left. While at present the organization’s size and influence are relatively unsubstantial, the group is likely to continue to grow and engage in increasingly destructive behavior — so long as leftists continue to participate in its “conversation.” As the project depends on the good faith of the very same Left that they "make war" upon, we encourage you to consider a policy of disengagement, by declining to participate in their public fora, including the Platypus Review. We invite those who agree with this sentiment to contact us to have their name added to this letter.
Sincerely,
Ben Campbell, editor of The North Star; former member of the Platypus Affiliated Society (*)
In solidarity,
Bruno Bosteels, Professor of Romance Studies, Cornell University; author of The Actuality of Communism, and Marx and Freud in Latin America
Sebastian Budgen, editor, Historical Materialism (*)
George Ciccariello-Maher, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Drexel University; author of We Created Chávez: A People's History of the Venezuelan Revolution; former member of Bring the Ruckus
Jodi Dean, Professor of Political Science, Hobert and William Smith Colleges; author of The Communist Horizon and Democracy and Other Neoliberal Fantasies
Andrej Grubacic, Associate Professor of Anthropology, California Institute of Integral studies; author of Don't Mourn, Balkanize: Essays After Yugoslavia (PM Press)
Doug Henwood, editor, Left Business Observer; author of Wall Street and After the New Economy
Deepa Kumar, Associate Professor of Media Studies and Middle Eastern Studies, Rutgers University; author of Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire and Outside the Box
Alexander Locascio, DIE LINKE Berlin (*)
Andrew Loewen, editor/publisher, Briarpatch Magazine (*)
Scott McLemee, New Politics editorial board (*)
Charlie Post, Professor of Sociology, Borough of Manhattan Community College; author of The American Road to Capitalism; member of Solidarity (*)
Nina Power, senior lecturer in philosophy, Roehampton University; author of One-Dimensional Woman
Louis Proyect, The Unrepentant Marxist
Jason Read, Professor of Philosophy, University of Southern Maine; author of The Micro-Politics of Capital: Marx and the Prehistory of the Present
Richard Seymour, author of American Insurgents, The Liberal Defence of Murder, and Unhitched
Sherry Wolf, author of Sexuality and Socialism; member of the International Socialist Organization (*)
Carlos Rivera, Maosoleum
* organizational affiliations are intended for identification purposes, and do not imply organizational endorsements
Open letter about the Platypus Affiliated Society
May 29, 2013
Dear friends and comrades,
We are writing to you about the Platypus Affiliated Society, in the hope you will be dissuaded from future participation in this organization's activities. Platypus presents itself as a student group organizing public fora (including its publication, the Platypus Review) for the purpose of "interrogating and clarifying positions" on the Left towards the "practical reconstitution of a Marxian Left." However, in reality the group is defined not by its identification or solidarity with the Left, but by its strategy of, in the words of founder and president Chris Cutrone, “making war on the existing 'Left'.” Thus, Platypus public fora are not intended for productive dialogue, but rather serve as opportunities for Platypus to discredit the scholars and activists on the Left whom they have, in bad faith, invited to participate.
The strategy underlying Platypus' activities is detailed in the attached statements by Cutrone. Here, Cutrone outlines Platypus' identity as a “combat organization” fighting to “hasten the disintegration and dissolution of the ‘Left’." Platypus, Cutrone writes, seeks to “degrade our interlocutors into ever more untenable positions, until, finally, we hope, they abandon any self-conscious commitment to the Left....This will leave the field to us alone.”
Thus, Platypus conceives of itself as in direct antagonism with the Left they hope to demoralize and disorient, and the activist movements they hope to erode. Importantly, however, this is not on the basis of any explicit positions, which Platypus, disingenuously, claims not to take. Rather, the organization's opposition to the Left is a foundational antagonism, in which Platypus posits the Left as the fundamental obstacle to a renewed Marxist politics and defines itself against that Left in its entirety — regardless of what leftists say or do.
Cutrone's introduction to the Left came as a member of the Spartacist League, and his project inherits the Spartacist tactic of undermining and caricaturing other leftists. Crucially, though, Platypus' unique brand of anti-leftism is distinguished from even the most sectarian tendencies on the Left by its unprincipled character, making it categorically different from the ultra-leftism of tendencies that criticize the Left on the basis of program, positions, or concrete analysis.
This unprincipled character of Platypus' anti-leftism in turn leads it to import reactionary ideologies into its “hosted conversation” to use in attacking the Left.
For instance, in combating left anti-imperialism Platypus highlights the arguments of right-wing pro-imperial tendencies that claim to be on the Left (e.g. the anti-Germans). In this sense, Platypus sees nothing problematic about incorporating liberalism and imperialism into its political project in order to attack the Left — from the right.
As one important example, Platypus' opposition to left solidarity with Palestine leads Cutrone to the following, decidedly non-leftist, conclusions:
Now I am going to say something for internal consumption only (this is perhaps a "closeted" position): At this point, the only hope that the Palestinians have is in and through Israel, precisely as a "settler colonial state," not independent of, let alone opposed to it. Just as the only hope for Native Americans has been through integration into the U.S.
Of course the degree to which the U.S. was racist it failed as bourgeois society -- as is true of Israel today. Now, precisely the problem is that Israel doesn't "want" the Palestinians. So the Palestinians are indeed quite vulnerable. But the rational kernel of such racism is that "they are not like us," i.e., the recognition and rejection of non-bourgeois forms of life. We must defend this rational kernel of bourgeois subjectivity obscure to itself, rather than the Ben Lewis et al.'s perspective of assuming everyone is always already bourgeois, anthropologically. They're not.
Bourgeois society is a fragile achievement, not natural. It is a society, not an individual matter.
And it is the only possible basis for progress in freedom.
As an organization Platypus conceives of itself as possessing an understanding of history that positions it — and it alone — at the center of a world-historic revival of the Left. This historical consciousness resides above all in Cutrone, who serves as a guru figure for Platypus as the organization's “chief pedagogue.” Platypus seeks to capitalize on widespread dissatisfaction with the Left to direct recently politicized young people, especially undergraduates, away from the Left, and to progressively instill in them an extreme hostility towards it, based on loyalty to Cutrone's historical narrative alone.
Since Platypus defines itself in opposition to the Left, it cannot be considered a part of the Left. While at present the organization’s size and influence are relatively unsubstantial, the group is likely to continue to grow and engage in increasingly destructive behavior — so long as leftists continue to participate in its “conversation.” As the project depends on the good faith of the very same Left that they "make war" upon, we encourage you to consider a policy of disengagement, by declining to participate in their public fora, including the Platypus Review. We invite those who agree with this sentiment to contact us to have their name added to this letter.
Sincerely,
Ben Campbell, editor of The North Star; former member of the Platypus Affiliated Society (*)
In solidarity,
Bruno Bosteels, Professor of Romance Studies, Cornell University; author of The Actuality of Communism, and Marx and Freud in Latin America
Sebastian Budgen, editor, Historical Materialism (*)
George Ciccariello-Maher, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Drexel University; author of We Created Chávez: A People's History of the Venezuelan Revolution; former member of Bring the Ruckus
Jodi Dean, Professor of Political Science, Hobert and William Smith Colleges; author of The Communist Horizon and Democracy and Other Neoliberal Fantasies
Andrej Grubacic, Associate Professor of Anthropology, California Institute of Integral studies; author of Don't Mourn, Balkanize: Essays After Yugoslavia (PM Press)
Doug Henwood, editor, Left Business Observer; author of Wall Street and After the New Economy
Deepa Kumar, Associate Professor of Media Studies and Middle Eastern Studies, Rutgers University; author of Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire and Outside the Box
Alexander Locascio, DIE LINKE Berlin (*)
Andrew Loewen, editor/publisher, Briarpatch Magazine (*)
Scott McLemee, New Politics editorial board (*)
Charlie Post, Professor of Sociology, Borough of Manhattan Community College; author of The American Road to Capitalism; member of Solidarity (*)
Nina Power, senior lecturer in philosophy, Roehampton University; author of One-Dimensional Woman
Louis Proyect, The Unrepentant Marxist
Jason Read, Professor of Philosophy, University of Southern Maine; author of The Micro-Politics of Capital: Marx and the Prehistory of the Present
Richard Seymour, author of American Insurgents, The Liberal Defence of Murder, and Unhitched
Sherry Wolf, author of Sexuality and Socialism; member of the International Socialist Organization (*)
Carlos Rivera, Maosoleum
* organizational affiliations are intended for identification purposes, and do not imply organizational endorsements
HenryKrinkle
HenryKrinkle
hi
Post rating:
+
Goethestein
Goethestein
Nippon
Post rating:
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i hadnt even considered the possibility that it was possible to overthrow the leadership of the existing Left. they shouldn't worry with the record of success they have though
HenryKrinkle
HenryKrinkle
hi
Post rating:
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Almost no one seems to understand the Marxist-Leninist foundations of Hugo Chavez’s political thought. It becomes evident, however, in the general vision of his “Bolivarian Revolution.” The abbreviated concept is to destroy the old foreign-dominated (U.S. dominated) political and economic systems in the Americas, to take power, and to create a socialist, nationalistic, and “popular” (direct) democracy in Venezuela that would sooner or later extend throughout the Western Hemisphere. Despite the fact that the notion of the use of force (compulsion) is never completely separated from the Leninist concept of destroying any bourgeois opposition, Chavez’s revolutionary vision will not be achieved through a conventional military war of maneuver and attrition, or a traditional insurgency. According to Lenin and Chavez, a “new society” will only be created by a gradual, systematic, compulsory application of agitation and propaganda (i.e., agit-prop). That long-term effort is aimed at exporting instability and generating public opinion in favor of a “revolution” and against the bourgeois system. Thus, the contemporary asymmetric revolutionary warfare challenge is rooted in the concept that the North American (U.S.) “Empire” and its bourgeois political friends in Latin America are not doing what is right for the people, and that the socialist Bolivarian philosophy and leadership will. This may not be a traditional national security problem for the United States and other targeted countries, and it may not be perceived to be as lethal as conventional conflict, but that does not diminish the cruel reality of compulsion.
[account deactivated]
HenryKrinkle
HenryKrinkle
hi
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codywilson
codywilson
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i'd like you to add my name to the list please: c. wilson.
slumlord
slumlord
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+
i went to a panel organized by platypus featuring bhaskar sunkara and some rcp idiot. the highlight was the platypus moderator berating sunkara in the hallway immediately after the panel in front of everyone for surreptitiously playing with his phone while the rcp idiot was frothing about bob avakian
stegosaurus
stegosaurus
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Someone post that British dudes summary of the entire English left during the 70s or w/e. And also get me another beer thanks
stegosaurus
stegosaurus
Post rating:
+
JODI DEAN COMPLAINT CALL HOW U GONNA FEED A FAMBLY ON 4 LBS A SAUSAGE. HOW U GONNA DO THAT. HOW.
wasted
wasted
Post rating:
+
here's the video you requested. Not so read up on Jodi dean:
NoFreeWill
NoFreeWill
Post rating:
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british leftism is this cute little sphere where politics is actually taken seriously. it's hilarious!
Superabound
Superabound
Not Your S.H.I.E.L.D.
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is this the "Right-Wing Marxism" ive been hearing so much about?
cars
cars
UNUSUALY COOL
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cars
cars
UNUSUALY COOL
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the RCP's current campaign invites people to "get into" Bob
cars
cars
UNUSUALY COOL
Post rating:
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His lips moving, his voice draining away, his lowered
himself onto me as I pushed harder to get into him. I
was moving past his ring of muscle now, about to glide
into him, slick with wetness, until I was buried deep
inside.
Surrounded by hot boy flesh, my hands pushing
and pulling his hips in that age old dance, mind
dimming as the pressure on my cock increased taking
control of the thinking part of me, animal sounds
coming from my mouth, I released my guilt and drove
into his boy cunt.
"Bobbie, I need to be in you, so sweet, your boy pussy
is so sweet. Let me in," I whispered to him as he
rocked with me. "Open up Bobbie, give it to me. It
wants me, do you feel it reaching out to me, urging me
to go deep inside of you?"
I pulled his head to mine. "Kiss me Bobbie. Kiss me with
your bubble gum lips. Kiss me and I will..."
himself onto me as I pushed harder to get into him. I
was moving past his ring of muscle now, about to glide
into him, slick with wetness, until I was buried deep
inside.
Surrounded by hot boy flesh, my hands pushing
and pulling his hips in that age old dance, mind
dimming as the pressure on my cock increased taking
control of the thinking part of me, animal sounds
coming from my mouth, I released my guilt and drove
into his boy cunt.
"Bobbie, I need to be in you, so sweet, your boy pussy
is so sweet. Let me in," I whispered to him as he
rocked with me. "Open up Bobbie, give it to me. It
wants me, do you feel it reaching out to me, urging me
to go deep inside of you?"
I pulled his head to mine. "Kiss me Bobbie. Kiss me with
your bubble gum lips. Kiss me and I will..."
Dusz
Dusz
Post rating:
+
haha leftists in the west have no leadership, and almost no "conscious followers" who arent also useless liberals. what are they trying to destroy? only people who still identify as left do so ironically, as a transitional stage for them to cope with their future as cogs of the establishment or social outcasts
jools
jools
Post rating:
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lol i love that list of irrelevances that follows this.... all academic men
ilmdge
ilmdge
Online
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did someone say trains???
Ironicwarcriminal
Ironicwarcriminal
Post rating:
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my god this shit is so boring, it's like Mean Girls but with less consequences
drwhat
drwhat
mt.real
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is this the thread where we do a lot of heroin
wasted
wasted
Post rating:
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lol if you start doing heroin
drwhat
drwhat
mt.real
Post rating:
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lol if you stop
drwhat
drwhat
mt.real
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tbh if you have to inject something i am fuckin Out. but besides that i'd give it a ..
shot
shot
gyrofry
gyrofry
Kurdt
Post rating:
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put it in your butt
gyrofry
gyrofry
Kurdt
Post rating:
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of course I am referring to your posting hand
TG
TG
Post rating:
+
im the baby crawling on the ceiling
clanzy
clanzy
jiggago
Post rating:
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i might literally do The Heroin Drug this summer. it's the exciting time in my the life
clanzy
clanzy
jiggago
Post rating:
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also re: platypus from what i can tell of their little outcropping they have at my university yeah they have some dumb ideas at an organizational level but it's also the only real """"marxist"""" organization on campus and from what i hear they're one of very few reasons leftism is a significant organized force here, i.e. a lot of other chapters of organizations like sjp or whatever the hell were started by platypus members
slumlord
slumlord
Post rating:
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clanzy posted:also re: platypus from what i can tell of their little outcropping they have at my university yeah they have some dumb ideas at an organizational level but it's also the only real """"marxist"""" organization on campus and from what i hear they're one of very few reasons leftism is a significant organized force here, i.e. a lot of other chapters of organizations like sjp or whatever the hell were started by platypus members
seize control via entryism 
clanzy
clanzy
jiggago
Post rating:
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slumlord posted:clanzy posted:
also re: platypus from what i can tell of their little outcropping they have at my university yeah they have some dumb ideas at an organizational level but it's also the only real """"marxist"""" organization on campus and from what i hear they're one of very few reasons leftism is a significant organized force here, i.e. a lot of other chapters of organizations like sjp or whatever the hell were started by platypus members
seize control via entryism
the people involved with it seem fairly decent, i think they would be amenable to Red Terror Forever. also one of them gave me a bunch of molly yesterday. Good Folk
Ironicwarcriminal
Ironicwarcriminal
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the way this cutone guy writes is like a proto-hitchens
wasted
wasted
Post rating:
+
you write like a proto-bitch, m8
cars
cars
UNUSUALY COOL
Post rating:
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Ironicwarcriminal posted:the way this cutone guy writes is like a proto-hitchens
guess what, platypus fucking loves chris hitchens
mustang
mustang
Post rating:
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Hitchens used to be pretty cool. Unfortunately he eventually became a trot cultural-imperialist. I fear that happens to all communists, in fact it's already happened to this board after liberal thought became permitted.
Here's an interview I thought was interesting, of course you will not.
Here's an interview I thought was interesting, of course you will not.
cars
cars
UNUSUALY COOL
Post rating:
+
mustang no one is ever going to forget that you admitted that you haven't read marx and don't have the brains to understand it
[account deactivated]
cars
cars
UNUSUALY COOL
Post rating:
+
cars
cars
UNUSUALY COOL
Post rating:
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mustang don't downvote my posts just because you have chosen to be ignorant; math is not really that hard and you need to not be scared of it
mustang
mustang
Post rating:
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mustang don't downvote my posts just because you have chosen to be ignorant; math is not really that hard and you need to not be scared of it
I didn't not read Marx because the concepts were to complicated, on the contrary they're extremely simple. I never read Das Kapital because it rambles on and on about obvious irrelevant crap, like my posts. I'm not even trying to be insulting. Just stating facts.
Our disagreement was over whether it was possible to calculate surplus value in a feudal economy. You actually agreed with me, just called the debate "stupid", which is a value judgement. Even if I agree with you that the debate was stupid, value judgements are unscientific.