A New Kasama Site Coming Soon: Funds and Volunteers Needed

[Kassad]

A New Kasama Site Coming Soon: Funds and Volunteers Needed


by Eric Ribellarsi


The world is changing with new openings and a new radicalizing generation. And with that, our own tasks and presentation are changing too.

Kasama is moving to transform itself, including the development of a new website.

Many of you read this site regularly. Many appreciate our work so far. Help us take a major leap together.

Funds are needed — immediately 2,000 to 3,000 dollars, and more (in the tens of thousands) will be needed soon for a major restructuring of our project. Please consider contributing generously.

Kasama began as a relatively simple blog during a period of relative lull. It worked in a beginning way. It has created one space to regroup revolutionaries and start to re-conceive communist theory.

Read more here: http://kasamaproject.org/2011/12/04/a-new-kasama-site-coming-soon-funds-and-volunteers-needed/

We're making some radical new changes at Kasama and we need your help. Contribute if you can. Volunteer. Help us get the revolutionary message out broadly.

[red1936]

Ugh, do we really need more Kasama? American Maoism is just pathetic. We have the RCP who are just well... Bob Avakians little red cult. LLCO, which are just a bunch of yuppy agnsty Denver teens born of the labor aristocracy and petty-Bourgeoisie and whos unwavering attempts to be "undogmatic" have made them literally unidentifiable with any form of actual Marxism. Last but not least the Kasamaites, who ive never seen anything good from. The rest of American Maoism is basically just youtube Communists and what not.

[TheGodlessUtopian]

I will do my part by posting something on facebook :)

[Kassad]

Ugh, do we really need more Kasama? American Maoism is just pathetic. We have the RCP who are just well... Bob Avakians little red cult. LLCO, which are just a bunch of yuppy agnsty Denver teens born of the labor aristocracy and petty-Bourgeoisie and whos unwavering attempts to be "undogmatic" have made them literally unidentifiable with any form of actual Marxism. Last but not least the Kasamaites, who ive never seen anything good from. The rest of American Maoism is basically just youtube Communists and what not.

And then we've got the Hoxhaists in the United States that... don't exist at all.

Sorry, couldn't help myself, but your point doesn't contribute anything. "Maoism" in the US isn't pathetic. The left in a lot of regards has failed to build a truly revolutionary movement. That's why those of us at Kasama believe it's necessary to wrangle and debate revolutionary politics while we regroup as revolutionaries.

Kasama has brought about some incredible debates and we're working hard to move our project forward. If you've got qualms, get on there and talk about it.

[Susurrus]

TBH, it does seems like a rather good site from what I've seen, even by a non-maoist standard. Then again, I may be wrong, haven't delved deeply in.

[black magick hustla]

maoists trying to inject some legitimacy by recuperating french "ultraleft" maoism like gauche proletarienne and shitty flowery new left rhetoric nice try tho

[Lenina Rosenweg]

Ugh, do we really need more Kasama? American Maoism is just pathetic. We have the RCP who are just well... Bob Avakians little red cult. LLCO, which are just a bunch of yuppy agnsty Denver teens born of the labor aristocracy and petty-Bourgeoisie and whos unwavering attempts to be "undogmatic" have made them literally unidentifiable with any form of actual Marxism. Last but not least the Kasamaites, who ive never seen anything good from. The rest of American Maoism is basically just youtube Communists and what not.

I'm not a fan of Maoism and normally I'd largely agree. Kasama though seems like a vastly better organization than the others. As I understand their core are people who left or were forced out of the RCP as it became an Avakianite cult. Mike Ely has recognized and dealt with the crimes of Stalinism. Kasama seems to be a post-Maoist "regroupment" project.I might uestion wether we need something like this, we already have Solidarity and the need now is for a working class rooted organization capable of providing direction to the struggle.

Having said this Mike Ely seems pretty cool. I wish his project well.

A question. What do they need thousands or 10s of thousands of dollars for? Server space and web development doesn't cost that much.The plea for funds (very necessary in a revolutionary project) would be more effective if what its needed for could be delineated.

[Susurrus]

I Kasama seems to be a post-Maoist "regroupment" project.

Indeed. Some of their articles on anarchists and whatnot are quite interesting.

[TheGodlessUtopian]

Indeed. Some of their articles on anarchists and whatnot are quite interesting.

How does their opinion differ when it comes to "traditional" Maoism?

[Susurrus]

How does their opinion differ when it comes to "traditional" Maoism?

Well, for instance, one of their critiques of the Spanish Revolution was that they didn't take sufficient steps to defend their revolution, rather than the classic "anarcho-fascist" line.

[Susurrus]

Here's their biggest text dealing with it: http://kasamaproject.org/2008/09/25/the-historical-failure-of-anarchism/

[Panda Tse Tung]

Well this is what the site says its needed for:


Everything about Kasama must change, and so too must Kasama’s web presence. I have sketched out a general outline of what is being envisioned.


We need to expand the team behind the site itself. We need more designers, developers, moderators, and regular writers. We have to move beyond ad-hoc.
The entire look and feel of the site is going to receive a complete overhaul.
The site needs to grow beyond the blog format to a center of communist publication that expands its columns, bloggers, media, and horizontal discussion.
Facebook and Twitter need to be integrated into every aspect of our site. Conversation streams on those networks need to be integrated into this site.
We need our own social networking capacity. We need individuals to be able to create their own profiles, make their own posts and share them on each other’s walls, as part creating of a broader center of radical discussion.
The various blogs and their posts that have been initiated by the Kasama project can be integrated into a unified site.
And these are only the first immediate steps…

Again, to accomplish these things we will have bills to pay and it will take new volunteers stepping forward. Contribute with the Make a Donation line, send an email to kasamasite (at) yahoo (dot) com to volunteer, and let’s do this together.

[chegitz guevara]

Solidarity is a great idea, and a terrible reality. It has lurched so far to the right that one can scarcely call it socialist anymore. It's just a satellite of the Green Party, something which the SPUSA appears headed towards being. :crying:

I am, of course, a member of Kasama. One of the most important things about Kasama, in the beginning, is that it was (and is) a place where we can have deep, high level discussions, without the usual snarkiness and vitriol. There is a real culture of comradeliness that is missing almost everywhere else on the left. Had that been the only thing it did, it would have been a positive development.

In retrospect, Kasama has really prepared those of us in and around it for the Occupy movement, to be able to realize what it was early on, and to be able to engage with and in it from a no-sectarian position, while still being boldly revolutionary. This engagement requires that Kasama change the way it organizes itself.

A lot of people, for years, have demanded that we organize ourselves into a party or sectlet. But why? How would something official, with a line, and giving orders be something radically different, shockingly new from all the BS we've come to expect from our current organizations? We have to change, now, because the tasks before us now are different. Form follows function. Material reality determines organization. Rather than coming up with a perfect plan, we are responding to reality.

Hopefully we get it right. There are no guarantees. We could fuck this all up.

[Susurrus]

@Chegitz(or, for that matter, any kasama members) what's the make up of kasama like, in terms of tendencies?

[Kassad]

@Chegitz(or, for that matter, any kasama members) what's the make up of kasama like, in terms of tendencies?

People who post on there come from all different tendencies. A lot of the people who initially got involved consider themselves Maoists. The difference is that Kasama doesn't manufacture consent like so many organizations on the left.

[Q]

I haven't really looked into Kasama ever. There is only so much you can delve yourself in. Judging from the posts here, Kasama does indeed sound interesting and worth delving into. I'll give it a further look and add the site to my rss feed reader.

[kurr]

Kasama has brought about some incredible debates and we're working hard to move our project forward.

Like Q, I never really looked into Kasama Project too much. What important debates have gone down over there?

[Lenina Rosenweg]

One thing I would disagree with Kasama is their uncritical support of Prachanda and (it seems like) the Shining Path.I still say this out of respect. They do seem to be open ended and healthier than others which is good.

[chegitz guevara]

The support for Prachanda has never been uncritical, as far as I know. There was a lot of benefit of the doubt, as they were trying something new and different, and we wanted to see how it came out before we made a judgement.

One thing to keep in mind is that Kasama does not have a line, except that we are a communist organization dedicated to the forceful overthrow of all existing social conditions. The opinions of specific comrades within Kasama may be uncritical, or not.

As for tendencies within Kasama, most of the comrades are Maoist or post-Maoist. There's some from the anarchist tradition, some from the Trotskyist tradition. We learn from each other, but the point isn't to adhere to pre-exiting lines of thought, but to discover how to make communist revolution in our own period.

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

There is a lot of talk about how open they are or whatever, but that's not really the case. People who try to interject any kind of class politics into the discussion are pushed to the side, marked as trolls, banned, etc.

There is no real break with Stalin / Mao / Avakian-style socialism in content... only in form (and even that is a bit superficial, as seen above).

What is Kasama really? A sort of post-Maoist hodgepodge. They're trying to repackage their product to make it more appealing today.

In other words: same shit, different smell.

[RedTrackWorker]

I went to the NYC Kasama-Brecht forum on Occupy and before the panel even began they pushed for donations and sustainers and then proceeded to give presentations that didn't really say anything (other than platitudes like "we need something new," "we need something undogmatic and revolutinoary" or whatever) and nothing about how to get to an actual, you know, movement--a mass movement of the working class.

And I keep hearing this stuff about "deep, high level discussions" (chegitz) on Kasama--where? What contributions have come from that site to the pressing theoretical and political tasks of our time? What have they had to say concretely about Egypt? About the economic crisis? About how to work in unions? I haven't seen it, please link it.

[Qayin]

Another "project"..great that's just what we needed here in the US.

[Robespierre Richard]

http://web.me.com/comandantechavez/Popular_Liberation/Kasama_Project/Entries/2009/11/15_Mike_Ely_on_Mao,_Badiou_and_the_Communist_Proje ct_files/droppedImage.jpgPlease read: A special appeal from Kasama Project founder Mike Ely.

The world is changing with new openings and a new radicalizing generation. And with that, our own tasks and presentation are changing too.

Kasama is moving to transform itself, including the development of a new website.

Many of you read this site regularly. Many appreciate our work so far. Help us take a major leap together.

Funds are needed — immediately 2,000 to 3,000 dollars, and more (in the tens of thousands) will be needed soon for a major restructuring of our project. Please consider contributing generously.

Kasama began as a relatively simple blog during a period of relative lull. It worked in a beginning way. It has created one space to regroup revolutionaries and start to re-conceive communist theory.

Holy shit, he's so greedy, how much more does he need?

[Ismail]

I've not seen one shred of evidence that Kasama has borne any sort of fruit. It's treating OWS as if it's a prelude to revolution, it has backed dead-end "revolutions" like those in Nepal (which was, at best, bourgeois-democratic) and Venezuela (where Chávez is just a left-wing populist), it has attacked the legacy of Stalin to gain brownie points with anarchists, Trots and left-coms, and of course it's Maoist, so that's a big strike against it right there.

There's really no need to spend years "discussing" so-called "theoretical" issues which are, in fact, an excuse to say that X, Y and Z are all "dogmatic." Hoxha noted that every Communist knows what socialism is and how it comes about. Obviously questions of organization are important, but Kasama bills itself as a theoretical circle, not an organization of the working-class. And it's a theoretical circle of the most lame type.

[svenne]

$2000-3000? We can run a federation with 500 members in Sweden with that kind of cash. For several years. Tens of thousands of dollar? Doing the good ol' "paying people for full time work in an organization with a tad to small amount of members"?

[Q]

$2000-3000? We can run a federation with 500 members in Sweden with that kind of cash. For several years.
Don't talk bs.


Tens of thousands of dollar? Doing the good ol' "paying people for full time work in an organization with a tad to small amount of members"?

You barely pay a fulltimer on the breadline with $15k a year.

This is not really a serious amount of money and all that can be blamed is that Kasama is not clear enough in their intentions.

[svenne]

Don't talk bs.

You barely pay a fulltimer on the breadline with $15k a year.


It's not bs, it's the truth. I'm pretty sure i have a better idea about the economy of that federation.