This is a really good critique, comrade. We need to be thinking about goals and outcomes. Retribution and justice may be good motivators for people to rally around, but they're immaterial concepts in and of themselves.
At least my overall point is that these soldiers seem to primarily care about their personal outcomes, and the outcomes for people in America.
While largely ignoring the outcomes of countries victimised by Americas military beyond the idea that if there's revolution or reform in the US that will also make the US stop victimising these countries.
It's not fuck you got mine but more like "sorry for you, at least I got mine." The analysis of goals and outcomes can't end at the border of the states.
People like to bring up veterans in thr Black Panthers, but they certainly expressed international solidarity with the victims of US imperialism and supported their struggle.
While my personal experience with veterans of the Middle East is that in most cases their activism is focuses on just getting the US out of interventions, without really focusing on the primary victims.
I agree with you in general, my problem is with the moralistic framing. But largely I think the conclusion is the same. It's an important distinction, though, for acute or other circumstances where a moralistic framing and a materialist framing have different conclusions.
Moralistic framing of this is saying veterans are a lost cause because of past action / sin. Materialist framing would say veterans might be a lost cause because they don't have much revolutionary potential as a demographic, in my opinion, due to a variety of material and cultural influences.
But if somehow veterans as a demographic did have revolutionary potential, it would be important to recognize this and capitalize on it, rather than letting moralism cloud our judgement. Before the draft was abolished, for example, there was less selection for ideological purity, meaning a larger subsection of the demographic might be receptive to anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist sentiment. But I'm skeptical that the "poverty draft" has enough of a similar effect, even among veteran minorities. It may still be a useful long-term goal to see if we can come up with effective strategies to radicalize soldiers/veterans.
This is a really good critique, comrade. We need to be thinking about goals and outcomes. Retribution and justice may be good motivators for people to rally around, but they're immaterial concepts in and of themselves.
At least my overall point is that these soldiers seem to primarily care about their personal outcomes, and the outcomes for people in America.
While largely ignoring the outcomes of countries victimised by Americas military beyond the idea that if there's revolution or reform in the US that will also make the US stop victimising these countries.
It's not fuck you got mine but more like "sorry for you, at least I got mine." The analysis of goals and outcomes can't end at the border of the states.
People like to bring up veterans in thr Black Panthers, but they certainly expressed international solidarity with the victims of US imperialism and supported their struggle.
While my personal experience with veterans of the Middle East is that in most cases their activism is focuses on just getting the US out of interventions, without really focusing on the primary victims.
I agree with you in general, my problem is with the moralistic framing. But largely I think the conclusion is the same. It's an important distinction, though, for acute or other circumstances where a moralistic framing and a materialist framing have different conclusions.
Moralistic framing of this is saying veterans are a lost cause because of past action / sin. Materialist framing would say veterans might be a lost cause because they don't have much revolutionary potential as a demographic, in my opinion, due to a variety of material and cultural influences.
But if somehow veterans as a demographic did have revolutionary potential, it would be important to recognize this and capitalize on it, rather than letting moralism cloud our judgement. Before the draft was abolished, for example, there was less selection for ideological purity, meaning a larger subsection of the demographic might be receptive to anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist sentiment. But I'm skeptical that the "poverty draft" has enough of a similar effect, even among veteran minorities. It may still be a useful long-term goal to see if we can come up with effective strategies to radicalize soldiers/veterans.