7/26/2019 As for the Point on Ideology

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As for the point on ideology. Of course ideology is no alien thing, in fact, I did not

suggest that. On the contrary, one is never without any ideology. My point was that

there must have been many ideological standpoints within those protests. Isn't

it possible that many of those who protested (including workers were actually

ideologically in favor of capitalism! As I said in the last post, there are sources

which suggest people under the erstwhile "communist regimes" often looked to thewest as ideal and may have considered a transition from communist#party led

dictatorship to what they perceived (or were made to believe as liberal bourgeois

democracy favorable. $hat do e%periences with movements of the present history

suggest! &ake okkolorob for instance. As we know the "victors" get to write their

version of history. everal years down the line, if the people at )*+ in have their

way, okkolorob will become the symbol of "anarchy, indiscipline, thuggishness"

and all that. If the leftist vanguards spearheading the movement have their way,

the same will become the symbol of progressiveness, gender -ustice, democratic

participation and all nice things one can imagine. Of course any sensible and honest

observer of the movement will agree both are inappropriate generaliations. &he

reality was much more comple%. /ots of gender regressiveness was there in the

movement that was supposedly about gender -ustice, but there were gender

progressive dimensions and tendencies. 0esides, it is not always possible to pin

certain tendencies to certain individuals or even groups or orgs.

And okkolorob was "tiny" in comparison to the scale of protests in 1232 4hina ...

imagine the comple%ities then....

so many divergent interests must have e%isted , contrary to the homogeneous

"working class interest" because this class is anything but homogeneous... I may

want "communism" (my ideology but I may bene5t from some neoliberal measures

(my immediate interest and hence may stand in momentary support of some

market reform measure that I may stand to bene5t from , also knowing fully well itmay cause distress to others (my pragmatic stand

0esides, shall we call the worker wanting private investment so that they can get a

-ob or increase their salary from 16k to 1+k (let us assume, for instance, that some

market reform allows for this to happen in that particular sector and reduces

salaries in some others "reactionary"! Or "pro#market reforms" for that matter! 7ot

necessarily so. Interestingly, elites who en-oy the bene5ts of top layer govt or

private sector -obs who dominate the vanguardist communist leadership will call

themselves "revolutionary" and the former "reactionary". &hese are 8uestions that

bother me, and ones i wished to raise. I hope it makes more sense now.