I’m not gonna lie, with all respect, statements like this about “the Western libs and left” by grouping the left with the libs make me cringe every single time. The actual Western left, those that didn’t sell their soul to attract libs, all are anti-war, anti-NATO and don’t fall into this idiotic and xenophobic conspiracy theories. Just say libs, the description fits them all.
I understand the dislike against some of this so called “leftists” from the West, but let’s please not fall into the mistake of feeding this narrative that only helps the right wing opportunists and their rhetorics that the left is not a solution in the Western world.
Ngl, after KKE declaring Russia is imperialist and China too I have little hope for EU left. Yes, Die linke is somewhat good but they didn’t go to Donbass and met the Russians there…also there is a great division regarding Russia. Even Clare daly and Mike didn’t speak about the Ukrainian atrocities. What did Jeremy Corbyn do? Has justified the sanctions against Putin and Russia previously because of Navalny.
I agree with you about a lot of those cases, I might be biased because I’m a Portuguese communist. The PCP has been done all those things (defend China, North Korea, go hard against the war, sending more military armament and sanctions) and got absolutely rammed by the media for being vocal about the conflict. There was literally a PCP delegate in the Donetsk election. The party was labeled as pro-Putin (which we’re not and will never be), party buildings got vandalized and militants got death threats and aggression. Hell, now that people forgot that war and we’re regaining strength, the media is still trying to make defamatory bullshit in an attempt to hurt the party.
The KKE is not an example for any decent communist party with their brand of eurocommunism that spread into a lot of major left parties in Europe. Should they define what is the Western left? Fuck no. Do they invalidate the existing Western parties and comrades that are fighting for the right cause? Fuck no!
About Clare Daly, google “Clare Daly Ukraine” see what shows up. Could they go further? Definitely, but I definitely understand why they don’t in a continent where going further than that will get you labeled as a putinist, in favor of an alleged “genocide” and even get you in legal trouble in some places. The propaganda is extremely strong and, in my opinion, the best way we can recruit is to present it all in an agreeable digestible manner and give the people the tools to understand it all.
Now about Corbyn, why should we care what he says or not? He’s a so called social democrat, I don’t expect anything else from him.
I completely agree with you there’s a lot of bad apples in the mainstream Western left, I absolutely hate them as much as you do. That should not invalidate or discourage others that are trying to make a difference. And it definitely feels unjust to be lumped in the same bag as eurocommunism and leftlibs as the definition of the “Western left”. We’re as much the definition of “Western left” as any of those Corbyns and Melenchons of Europe.
