Pham Binh resigns from North Star

[blake 3:17]

Resigning from The North Star
by PHAM BINH on AUGUST 27, 2013
I’m resigning from my position at The North Star and retiring from political writing to take care of long-neglected problems and people in my personal life. This step is overdue, both for me individually and for the site as a thoroughly collective project, which it became in summer/fall of 2012.

Different forces and individuals on the left have used my role here as an excuse to avoid engaging The North Star, its arguments, its activists, its writers, and its readers. That will no longer fly, and so new cop-outs will be necessary.

I am confident the site will continue onwards qualitatively and upwards quantitatively even though progress is never fast enough for the revolutionary-minded.

[blake 3:17]

Notes on Pham Binh’s Resignation
by JOHN HALLE on AUGUST 28, 2013

A week or so ago, I posted to Facebook Chomsky’s admittedly rather incendiary remark that ”Lenin and Trotsky were the worst enemies of socialism in the 20th century” accompanying it with the question of how many of those who cite Chomsky approvingly in other contexts are ready to endorse his views on this matter.


1917 today, 1917 tomorrow, 1917 forever!
The responses probably should have been predictable with the usual battle lines between Chomskyan anarcho/libertarian socialists and Leninite/Trotskyite democratic centralists on the other re-establishing themselves with remarkable speed and vehemence.

This was not a problem. Debate on the underlying questions is more necessary now than it has ever been. Rather what was a problem, for me, was the tone and substance of two of the responses.

The first, from a well known Marxist economist, was to attack me for raising the question in the first place.
The second was from an ISO member who characterized Chomsky’s view of Lenin as “on the right of the international Marxism” as ”embarrassing”, “ridiculous” and “absurd”. When I responded that while Chomsky may be wrong, it is generally a mistake to describe Chomsky’s views in these terms, this was claimed as indicative of “my reasoning skills” having “malfunctioned”.

I bring this up in connection with the Pham Binh’s announcement that he is leaving the North Star to in his words, “take care of long-neglected problems and people in my personal life.”

I have never met Binh in person, our exchanges limited to on-line interactions, my knowledge of his political perspective derived from reading his various postings to North Star and elsewhere. Based on these I can state with some certainty that while he may very well have disagreed with Chomsky he would neither have regarded the question as inappropriate, nor would he have ridiculed those who weighed in on either side.

In fact, what the North Star was set up to do was to allow for frank and serious discussions between sectors of the left which, as the exchange above made clear, remain at odds and unable to work together with the hope that some kind of organized, effective united front could emerge from these efforts.

I should say that as I regard myself on the Anarcho-Libertarian side of most of these questions, I often found myself a bit alienated from some of the discussion at North Star. This was particularly the case when angels-dancing-on-pins matters of Marxian theory such as the Falling Rate of Profit were passionately debated, engagement and interest seeming to be taken as an article of faith by all sides. I’m with Doug Henwood on this. It gives me a headache. Another problem for me was the focus on the minutiae of foreign policy with a view toward determining which side or sect in various conflict zones should be supported and what “support” means. While I recognize the roots of these debates in the long and to a large extent noble tradition of left internationalism, my position, essentially that of Jean Bricmont, is to be more or less unconditionally suspicious of humanitarian intervention, so my general tendency was to pass these over. Ill also mention here my rather intense discomfort with the gender imbalance among contributors and commentators which became increasingly conspicuous and problematic.

All that aside, what I found healthy about NS was the willingness of many of the participants to engage in self-criticism based on an openness to the likelihood that some of the dysfunctionality of the left is self-imposed-a continuing legacy of strategic and tactical mistakes and faulty assumptions rooted in the past.
These still haunt us and prevent us from doing what is necessary to build a movement. And while we don’t know what they are-what should be maintained and what should be jettisoned- we should know by now that averting our eyes to the problem doesn’t do anyone any good.
In particular, what Binh was able to recognize was that the success of OWS was intrinsically linked to its having adopted precisely those aspects of bottom up organizing which adherents of democratic centralism have long repudiated. Binh was one of the few from the neo-Marxist left who was open to discussion along these lines, the normal mode to respond with either incomprehension, or more commonly, greater or lesser hostility.

That said, those of us who, like myself, were from the beginning predisposed to be sympathetic to the prefigurative, anti-authoritarian organizing model of OWS also had to own up to its eventual failure which was itself intrinsically linked to fundamental philosophical assumptions, namely, its failure to devise an infrastructure which would have allowed itself to withstand the massive and eminently predictable assault on it by the state in its traditional role as a militarized servant of capital.
What this means is that it is time for all of us to begin to ask questions and North Star seemed to be emerging as a forum where non-dogmatic and healthy discussion of the sort which is necessary could take place. If this takes off, as it still might, Binh’s role will be seen as having been seminal.
Binh’s valedictory posting included a typically great line: “Different forces and individuals on the left have used my role here as an excuse to avoid engaging The North Star, its arguments, its activists, its writers, and its readers. That will no longer fly, and so new cop-outs will be necessary.”

Let’s hope that whoever is taking over will find themselves as able as Binh (and previously Ben Campbell) in charting the course which they set for the site.

[blake 3:17]

OK- just speculating - but is Binh's resignation related to the proposed attack on Syria?

Binh has been a relentless advocate of imperial intervention in Syria.

[Lenina Rosenweg]

Binh has had some personel issues to deal with.It looks likewith their two editors dropping out the North Star blog will be on hiatus for a while.

[Kassad]

There is a god. I hope the rest of those Kautskyite morons jump ship with him. Rosa Luxemburg called the Second International a stinking corpse for a reason. Those who try to breathe air back into it wind up taking on a similar stench. Good riddance to latter-day Mensheviks.

[khad]

Comments from the second piece:

Jitan August 28, 2013 at 1:30 pm (http://www.thenorthstar.info/?p=9739#comment-72286) You do realize the “left” has nothing against you personally but everything against your imperialist pro-war politics which run contra to everything the “left” stands for? That your arguments have been made over a dozen by far better thinkers than yourself? Stop painting yourself as some martyr to a bloody cause and accept yourself as a pro-liberal who likes to cover everything nasty he believes in with “bourgeois-revolution”.


Aaron Aarons August 28, 2013 at 7:30 pm (http://www.thenorthstar.info/?p=9739#comment-72385) You’ve nailed it, Jitan. I personally have found it a lot more meaningful to debate with others of the North Star cadre than with Binh. If you leave out the Last Superpower crowd, Binh is on the right-wing end of those who post on this site, and he seems to be very fond of repeating himself while not dealing with opposing arguments.
Good-bye for now, Binh! I wish you well in your personal life.


Louis Proyect August 28, 2013 at 7:45 pm (http://www.thenorthstar.info/?p=9739#comment-72391) Aarons, why don’t you go start a blog yourself instead of sucking the blood of the people with the presence of mind to spell out their ideas. When you show up on a blog, it is like a bedbug infestation. I wonder why I tolerated you as long as I did, you fat, ugly, stupid, sterile, loudmouth, ultraleft windbag.

[Lenina Rosenweg]

Always count on Proyect for a cogent argument.

[khad]

Always count on Proyect for a cogent argument.
He ran marxmail into the ground as a personal vanity cult, didn't he?

[Kassad]

Louis Proyect talks really big for a washed out pseudo-leftist. You'd think someone breaking from a hyper-reformist, degenerated sect would take a turn to the left as opposed to trying to reinvent the wheel, trying to get all shades of leftists to hold hands and get together based on a lowest common denominator program. His writings are almost worse than Binh's. Apparently he's run out of his pro-imperialist ammunition and has turned to calling people fat and stupid. It's no wonder the revolutionary left can hardly even be described as an existing force.

[blake 3:17]

A usually very polite and generous friend referred to Proyect as a total asshole recently. The behaviour by Proyect was just this side of abusive.

[The Idler]

Isn't there a new hangout called MarxistCentre (created by the Kautskyists on revleft) for the hipster Leninists anyway?
http://cpgb.org.uk/home/weekly-worker/975/marxism-online-reappropriating-basic-principles

[Crux]

OK- just speculating - but is Binh's resignation related to the proposed attack on Syria?

Binh has been a relentless advocate of imperial intervention in Syria.
Well, Binh is the reason I pretty much stopped reading North Star in any case. Not just because his position on Syria but also because his complete dishonesty in debating the issue. When he was questioned on it, even in a comradely manner, his responses were not just vile and impressionist but it also betrayed something rather disturbing in his political position itself. That is, he said a "bourgeoisie democratic" revolution against Assad should actively seek support from U.S imperialism. Questioning him on this evoked the predictable accusations of unwittingly supporting Assad.

Incidentally the Swedish USFI section very much echo Binh's position, up to in their article on the prospect of U.S military attack they said explicitly they "could not oppose it". Now, there's been some internal dissent including at least one long standing member resigning over the issue.

But with these news maybe I should start reading North Star again. Although that's still a maybe.

[blake 3:17]

Well, Binh is the reason I pretty much stopped reading North Star in any case. Not just because his position on Syria but also because his complete dishonesty in debating the issue.

His lines of logic were just bizarre. That in the past there have been circumstances where an imperial power and a revolutionary movement had something in common, sure. But, that's not proof of anything. That's called an accident.


Incidentally the Swedish USFI section very much echo Binh's position, up to in their article on the prospect of U.S military attack they said explicitly they "could not oppose it". Now, there's been some internal dissent including at least one long standing member resigning over the issue.

But with these news maybe I should start reading North Star again. Although that's still a maybe.

The USFI is a mess. I'm glad to be out of it. I think some old delusions are still in play. Most sections appear to have come out in opposition to imperial intervention, but many are half hearted. I was pretty shocked by a few individuals -- people I've known a long time -- who seemed to be deliberately ignoring reactionary elements in the anti-Assad movement.

[Crux]

His lines of logic were just bizarre. That in the past there have been circumstances where an imperial power and a revolutionary movement had something in common, sure. But, that's not proof of anything. That's called an accident.



The USFI is a mess. I'm glad to be out of it. I think some old delusions are still in play. Most sections appear to have come out in opposition to imperial intervention, but many are half hearted. I was pretty shocked by a few individuals -- people I've known a long time -- who seemed to be deliberately ignoring reactionary elements in the anti-Assad movement.
After Libya sadly I was not surprised. They're alone on the cruise missile left so this might be what breaks them. Haven't been looking that hard. Been some very good internal criticism but...the leadership and supposedly the majority doesn't seem to want hear any of it. Again I haven't been looking that closely so maybe there's already been a larger split or something.

Funnily enough by the way, as far as I recall, Binh actually wrote an alright piece on Libya.

[Red HalfGuard]

He will be missed at the State Department.

[blake 3:17]

The USFI doesn't really exist. There are places where affiliates have a national presence, but there's no centre. Which is kind of OK with me, but then there's a pretence of a center, so it makes little sense.

[redguarddude]

Unlike Chomsky, Lenin and TrotsKY actually led a revolution. If Chomsky considers Lenin and Trotsky enemies of Socialism, who does he consider allies? Bill Clinton and Barack Obama?

The North Star up to now has not been considered a non sectarian site for socialists to come together to organize a united front. On the contrary, The North Star is regarded by many on left, as an advocate for US military intervention in Syria and the liquidation of the organized left. Some of the worst sectarians on the left are some of the so called anti sectarians of The North Star'

[GerrardWinstanley]

Pham Binh probably shouldn't have called his critics' bluff. In the end, the North Star decided to publish, against Louis Proyect's wishes, this excellent post by Red Maistre, (http://www.thenorthstar.info/?p=10229) that should quite frankly be the last word on the Syria matter. (the comments are good fun too... Proyect has a meltdown)

[Red Commissar]

I never really paid much attention to Binh's writings tbh. What did he do before? Where did he come from? I think I remember seeing something of his pop up back when Occupy was active, but that's about it (didn't he have an account here? Or did that user just happen to post a lot of articles by him?)

I think a lot of what Binh did, as well as some other voices trying to sugar-coat the Syrian opposition or at least take a very unrealistic look at it, is a problem in that they basically dug themselves into a very deep hole and started pushing back not so much because they only believe in this position, but that it's become a matter of competition and argument among personalities and they invested too much into it and can't at least admit they may've been wrong, even in part. Like with any other argument the longer it goes on and the more it's obvious their original position was incorrect, they'll either push back with a lot more ad hominem attacks (as another individual named in this thread has done on the internet) or basically disengage from politics because the arguments end up becoming just too much, as Binh did here.

[cliffhanger]

Louis Proyect is cool. He's a character. Who cares if he's got garbage ex-Trot politics, politics isn't real.

[Ethics Gradient, Traitor For All Ages]

wow internet leftist drama sure is gross to look at. I hope the NSA isn't holding this one against me

[Popular Front of Judea]

wow internet leftist drama sure is gross to look at. I hope the NSA isn't holding this one against me

Since assignment to the 'Revleft' desk at the NSA is based on drawing straws, with the loser being assigned to it ... yeah he is. :grin:

[Thug Lessons]

Always count on Proyect for a cogent argument.
http://louisproyect.org/2013/04/19/snail-mail-to-robert-de-niro/

Snail mail to Robert De Niro
Filed under: Film — louisproyect @ 5:45 pm

http://i.imgur.com/iVnxrt4.jpg

Hey Bobby,

This morning I went down to the Clearview Chelsea Theater for a 9:30 press screening for a documentary on herring fishermen. I got up early just to make it there on time. My guess is that I probably would be the only person attending.

Anyhow, I stopped at the table in the lobby to check in but was told that I was not in the database. That didn’t surprise me since I never applied for press credentials. As a blogger (but with 650 film reviews on Rotten Tomatoes), I figured that I would not pass muster.

But I had been invited by the film’s publicist to attend the screening. Even though she vouched for me, I was still not admitted. It was a “security issue” they told me, as if I was concealing a pressure cooker bomb. When I told them “Fuck you and fuck the Tribeca Film Festival”, the off-duty cop serving as a security guard got up from his chair with his hand on his gun to tell me to shut up. I said that since there is no law against telling someone to fuck off, he should sit back down.

If I ever run into you on the street, Bobby, I am going to tell you this to your face. With your fucking connections to Jonathan Tisch and your idiotic red tape and your bourgeois red carpets, you can take your fucking film festival and stick it up your ass.

Yours truly,

Louis Proyect

[Creative Destruction]

Well, Binh is the reason I pretty much stopped reading North Star in any case. Not just because his position on Syria but also because his complete dishonesty in debating the issue. When he was questioned on it, even in a comradely manner, his responses were not just vile and impressionist but it also betrayed something rather disturbing in his political position itself. That is, he said a "bourgeoisie democratic" revolution against Assad should actively seek support from U.S imperialism. Questioning him on this evoked the predictable accusations of unwittingly supporting Assad.

Incidentally the Swedish USFI section very much echo Binh's position, up to in their article on the prospect of U.S military attack they said explicitly they "could not oppose it". Now, there's been some internal dissent including at least one long standing member resigning over the issue.

But with these news maybe I should start reading North Star again. Although that's still a maybe.

Sounds like some opportunist "leftists" when they were supporting the Iraq War.

[redguarddude]

Binh is a former member of the International Socialist Organization. I think he was in for about 6 years, then dropped out for personal reasons. After Occupy his political positions seemed to be limited to supporting US intervention in Syria, and attacking his former group the ISO.

He was virtually unknown until "discovered" by Louis Proyect. Proyect promoted him at his discussion list Grumpyoldmanmail, aka Marxmail, and his website, Unrepentant Marxist.

Groucho Marx said, "I would never join any club that would have me as a member." Pham Binh said, "I will never forgive any group that had me as a member.

[redguarddude]

The picture of DeNiro laughing is appropriate. He's probably laughing at the letter.

[Popular Front of Judea]

The picture of DeNiro laughing is appropriate. He's probably laughing at the letter.

Correction: it's one of his interns that laughed at the letter.

[redguarddude]

No, that picture is DeNiro. He's probably saying, through his laughter, "that Proyect, what a cut up."

[Thug Lessons]

I don't care that much about Pham Binh's and his associates' views on Syria but The North Star publishes a wide range of other writers, many of whom are quite good. I honestly tend to like them better than some of the more "official" outlets doing similar things like MRZine or (*pukes*) Platypus. Like for example, this is one of the best short articles on Marx's materialism I've read:

http://www.thenorthstar.info/?p=8663

Maybe you disagree with what he's saying there but nonetheless this is a really substantive article on an issue that should be important to Marxists, and one that you actually can agree or disagree with rather than being more of the same boilerplate equivocation that passes for analysis on much of the left. They also occasionally publish stuff from Matthijs Krul who's both really good and something of a personal friend of mine, and now he's actually an editor, hopefully he's going to help push it in a good direction.

[blake 3:17]

I'm up on De Niro these days for opposing Israeli apartheid, and not so keen on Proyect for his position on Syria and general bad manners.

Never met the guy, but he's seems to take every disagreement, error, or misunderstanding as somehow being the fault of the other person or people involved. There's a kind of funny thing where he was blasting some group as "Stalinist" because his comments didn't appear immediately on their site, and it was a simple tech issue.

[cliffhanger]

Louis Proyect told me I looked like a pig. What can I say, when he's right, he's right.

[sixdollarchampagne]

I'm up on De Niro these days for opposing Israeli apartheid, and not so keen on Proyect for his position on Syria and general bad manners.

Never met the guy, but he's seems to take every disagreement, error, or misunderstanding as somehow being the fault of the other person or people involved. There's a kind of funny thing where he was blasting some group as "Stalinist" because his comments didn't appear immediately on their site, and it was a simple tech issue.

I followed Proyect's Marxism mailing list for some years, but the guy himself seems thoroughly unpleasant; he washed out of the SWP and is a vigorous enemy of Leninism, so who cares what he thinks?

[Lenina Rosenweg]

The North Star blog seems to have originally been a project of Proyect (no pun intended) or rather a project Proyect started for his protege Pham Binh. It was meant to be a vehicle for LP's and Binh's idea of building a non-Leninist socialist regroupment project at the lowest common denominator.

Proyect was in the then Trotskyist US SWP at a time when this organisation was degenerating. He seems to have been permanently embittered by this experience, sort of like an ex-Catholic who remains obsessed about the church.

It seems TNS was supposed to be Iskra with Proyect or Binh being Martov. When Binh dropped out of politics (thankfully) LP seemed literally enraged that he lost control over the whole thing.

LP himself is a mixed bag. He's very knowledgeble. A few years ago he gave an online class on Marxism, which I participated in as sort of a lurker. Its still on yahoo as a yahoo group and is worth looking at.

Proyect's Marxmail was once interesting. Now LP seems to have bullied or banned anyone who disagrees with him and it's essentially become a cheering section for the Syrian rebels, something Proyect appears obsessed with. Marxmail is now wrecked.

LP is an "anti-sectarian sectarian". He's become increasingly rude and nasty to anyone who disagrees with him.

[redguarddude]

Binh was a disruptive element within the Left. His conduct raised questions of who or what he really was. He was more interested in tearing down than building.

[Jimmie Higgins]

Holy crap that DeNiro letter! It's a little like my drunken enraged thought-process when I was once thrown out of a club unjustly, but then made an embarassing scene... but I was drunk and enraged and DIDN'T WRITE A LETTER TO THE BAND! I just woke up the next morning and thought... yeah, that was unfair, but I was drunk and totally over-reacted.

[redguarddude]

A few days ago, when Proyect was trying to access The North Star site, he got an error message that his ISP, or his computer, had been blocked. While certainly an overreaction on the part of the TNS leadership, there is a certain irony in this. Proyect has no qualms about blocking those he disagrees with from sites he controls. The chickens come home to roost.

When Proyect dropped out of the SWP in 1978 the degeneration wasn't yet apparant. That was the year I joined. I dropped out in 1981, when the degeneration was obvious. Proyect's political legacy is promoting Binh and the excreable Clay Claiborne, an unforgiveable legacy.

[Flying Purple People Eater]

While this is very interesting, I'm sad to say that I don't know any of these websites or people.

Could someone send me a selected history of 'battles between the communist blogospheres' so I can better understand?

[redguarddude]

Star Linn, you haven't missed anything. Consider yourself lucky not to know any of these people or websites.

[bad ideas actualised by alcohol]

Isn't there a new hangout called MarxistCentre (created by the Kautskyists on revleft) for the hipster Leninists anyway?
http://cpgb.org.uk/home/weekly-worker/975/marxism-online-reappropriating-basic-principles

Hipster Leninists, how flattering!

[adipocere]

http://louisproyect.org/2013/04/19/snail-mail-to-robert-de-niro/

Snail mail to Robert De Niro
Filed under: Film — louisproyect @ 5:45 pm

http://i.imgur.com/iVnxrt4.jpg

Hey Bobby,

This morning I went down to the Clearview Chelsea Theater for a 9:30 press screening for a documentary on herring fishermen. I got up early just to make it there on time. My guess is that I probably would be the only person attending.

Anyhow, I stopped at the table in the lobby to check in but was told that I was not in the database. That didn’t surprise me since I never applied for press credentials. As a blogger (but with 650 film reviews on Rotten Tomatoes), I figured that I would not pass muster.

But I had been invited by the film’s publicist to attend the screening. Even though she vouched for me, I was still not admitted. It was a “security issue” they told me, as if I was concealing a pressure cooker bomb. When I told them “Fuck you and fuck the Tribeca Film Festival”, the off-duty cop serving as a security guard got up from his chair with his hand on his gun to tell me to shut up. I said that since there is no law against telling someone to fuck off, he should sit back down.

If I ever run into you on the street, Bobby, I am going to tell you this to your face. With your fucking connections to Jonathan Tisch and your idiotic red tape and your bourgeois red carpets, you can take your fucking film festival and stick it up your ass.

Yours truly,

Louis Proyect

redguarddude: When Proyect dropped out of the SWP in 1978An adult wrote that? wow...