john eden
male pale and stale
I have been asked to post the message below and am doing so on the proviso that it doesn't become a habitual thing. I will make no comments on its contents other than to say that I do not agree with them.
I have removed some people's real names from the post and replaced them with ************.
John Eden
------
Regarding what I'd like to be clarified at Dissensus, just the
following:
-----------------------------
"Contrary to the false and misleading claims being deliberately
disseminated by the usual suspects at Dissensus, I have no connection
whatsoever to the SWP, whether in Ireland or Britain. I am not a member
of any political party, and never have been. (I was criticizing, in the
thread about Britain's BNP, the wider irrational attempt to displace
blame for the rise of fascist political parties onto some imagined
wrong-doings of the left or any of its constituents). This, despite the
reasonable observation that left-wing groups in Britain like the SWP or
SP have views much more honourable than those of the posters and mods
completely dominating discourse at Dissensus.
I WAS a member of the Irish Anti-War Movement, as were many thousands of
others during the early years of the Iraq invasion, a time when the IAWM
was not dominated by any party politics but simply reflected the views
and policies of a diverse range of groups and individuals opposed to the
invasion of Iraq and other acts of war..
I was one of the first to OBJECT to the SWP's attempts to hijack the
IAWM for party political purposes (and openly expressed my opposition to
such attempts, as well as writing about my concerns at the IAWM website
and elsewhere), and when the SWP did actually hijack the IAWM, I left,
as did many others (from Harry B************ and Seamus D************ to countless
others).
I am just as critical of the SWP in Britain as I am of other left
political groupings. Indeed, I have often written in the comments
sections at ************/Lenin's Tomb in a critical light, so much so
that an SWP member like 'Bat' (who, btw, used to post at Dissensus, as
with many other SWP supporters like Owen H************, ************/Infinite
Thought, etc) has something amounting to a fixation in attempting to
refute what I write at that blog.
I am NOT a 'Zizekian' (that's a term reserved for those who appropriate
his writings on cinema in order to elevate reactionary Hollywood dreck)
as some are claiming at Dissensus (including Josef K/************, who
knows perfectly well that this is the case, as our e-mail correspondence
in the past confirms, prior to him deleting his blog "Antigram" in a fit
of rage; perhaps you'd like me to publish such correspondence, ************?
To make a point? ), and, in fact, completely disagree with his supposed
politics. My interest in critically engaging with his writings is no
greater and no less than that in many other theorists, philosophers, or
psychoanalysts, whereas many posters at Dissensus have an unhealthy
libidinal investment in constructing him as an Anti-Christ and as a
failed Subject Supposed To Know, especially those who have never read
him and who give vent to their pre-existing prejudices whenever the
Zizek brand is cited.
Lastly, in the light of the forum's posters, virtually without exception
it should be added, and its delirial mods banning a poster for defending
the left against the unhinged accusation by a poster that the left is
the cause of the rise of such fascist political parties as the BNP in
Britain, I have no wish whatsoever to have any further association with
this unbalanced, aggressive, and socially destructive forum."
--------------------------
Cheers,
Padraig
I have removed some people's real names from the post and replaced them with ************.
John Eden
------
Regarding what I'd like to be clarified at Dissensus, just the
following:
-----------------------------
"Contrary to the false and misleading claims being deliberately
disseminated by the usual suspects at Dissensus, I have no connection
whatsoever to the SWP, whether in Ireland or Britain. I am not a member
of any political party, and never have been. (I was criticizing, in the
thread about Britain's BNP, the wider irrational attempt to displace
blame for the rise of fascist political parties onto some imagined
wrong-doings of the left or any of its constituents). This, despite the
reasonable observation that left-wing groups in Britain like the SWP or
SP have views much more honourable than those of the posters and mods
completely dominating discourse at Dissensus.
I WAS a member of the Irish Anti-War Movement, as were many thousands of
others during the early years of the Iraq invasion, a time when the IAWM
was not dominated by any party politics but simply reflected the views
and policies of a diverse range of groups and individuals opposed to the
invasion of Iraq and other acts of war..
I was one of the first to OBJECT to the SWP's attempts to hijack the
IAWM for party political purposes (and openly expressed my opposition to
such attempts, as well as writing about my concerns at the IAWM website
and elsewhere), and when the SWP did actually hijack the IAWM, I left,
as did many others (from Harry B************ and Seamus D************ to countless
others).
I am just as critical of the SWP in Britain as I am of other left
political groupings. Indeed, I have often written in the comments
sections at ************/Lenin's Tomb in a critical light, so much so
that an SWP member like 'Bat' (who, btw, used to post at Dissensus, as
with many other SWP supporters like Owen H************, ************/Infinite
Thought, etc) has something amounting to a fixation in attempting to
refute what I write at that blog.
I am NOT a 'Zizekian' (that's a term reserved for those who appropriate
his writings on cinema in order to elevate reactionary Hollywood dreck)
as some are claiming at Dissensus (including Josef K/************, who
knows perfectly well that this is the case, as our e-mail correspondence
in the past confirms, prior to him deleting his blog "Antigram" in a fit
of rage; perhaps you'd like me to publish such correspondence, ************?
To make a point? ), and, in fact, completely disagree with his supposed
politics. My interest in critically engaging with his writings is no
greater and no less than that in many other theorists, philosophers, or
psychoanalysts, whereas many posters at Dissensus have an unhealthy
libidinal investment in constructing him as an Anti-Christ and as a
failed Subject Supposed To Know, especially those who have never read
him and who give vent to their pre-existing prejudices whenever the
Zizek brand is cited.
Lastly, in the light of the forum's posters, virtually without exception
it should be added, and its delirial mods banning a poster for defending
the left against the unhinged accusation by a poster that the left is
the cause of the rise of such fascist political parties as the BNP in
Britain, I have no wish whatsoever to have any further association with
this unbalanced, aggressive, and socially destructive forum."
--------------------------
Cheers,
Padraig