redasheville

Well I apologise if I give a certain measure of trust to comrades that got me involved in activism since I was fourteen and have known ever since.

You don't know me nor have you ever really engaged with me, so don't jump to assumptions and generalisations. You have given nothing in way to a measured response - i'm sure you probably thought Callinicos' document was 'heresay' as well. A working relationship does not mean that criticisms are suddenly admonished. If you knew me or anything I was talking about you'd realise I actually support the ISO, but this is not on everything. The same goes to my criticism towards the SWP.

The fact that ex-ISO members, now SWP organising members in Glasgow, can attain to an uneven development of theory alongside organisation, I believe to be paramount here. I don't generally see that the ISO is that active in occupations or mass mobilisations compared with its theory, which on the whole is very good and with a good bookshop.

Just because you say it isn't true doesn't particularly make it so though. But what is an 'alliance' anyway? Some sort of united front? Without going into too much detail at this time (i'm writing), I think a lot of the IST-ISO-SWP documents have left many things unanswered, perhaps on both sides. I'm not particularly sympathetic to the defence of the ISO's tactics at the time that the anti-globalisation movement rose to a head, nor do I hold much sympathy for a degree of electoral entryism with the Green Party.

Does an alliance mean we don't have strategic/political tactical differences? I don't think so. We were allied with the LCR in France. We we had far more differences with them than with the SWP. What strategic problems do we have? I remember when you said that we were not a "praxis organization" (not true).

Normalisation is not alliance. I mean, what does the word 'allies' mean anyway? We are allies with the PSL for example considering they are fundamentally on our side of the barricades. That does not mean, however, that there are not significant strategic, political and tactical differences here. This is how I view the ISO- with notable strategic problems.

Thanx for the SW piece. I was a teacher in a high school in the ghetto in Brooklyn for years until a vicious principle targeted me (I was a UFT delegate) and the union did not give me an adequate defense (I was one of the leaders of the opposition in the UFT).

I still miss it.

Thanx for thinking of me. Yes, I'm a teacher (in a private school). I knew nothing about the movie beyond its existence until your message. I thought it was science fiction. Here's the wikipedia link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waiting_for_%22Superman%22

Apparently, some teachers in NYC have protested it.

Ha! Trust me, if we could afford to move a couple of comrades to New York or San Francisco we would - but that just isn't feasible right now.

hahahahahahahahahahah.