Scott Hamilton:
" . . . a ban on firearms gives a monopoly to the
state. It hurts groups of people who may need to
organising to protect themselves against abuses by the
state, or rather by the class that controls the state.
The Black Panthers, who patrolled ghetto
neighbourhoods with legal firearms in an effort to
stamp out police brutality, would never have been able
to achieve what they achieved under Australia's gun
laws."
I wonder how much you know about the Black Panther
Party and "what they achieved" in American
neighborhoods. In this passage you speak with
authority, but on what evidence to you base your
valorization of the Black Panthers.
Scott Hamilton:
"History shows that when the state comes under strain
and/ or under the control of extreme political
elements it often becomes necessary for groups
oppressed by it to organise themselves into militias
to defend themselves."
There is of course a perverse logic to this argument,
though it must be said that the militias that have
developed along these lines in the last few years have
all been right-wing & fundamentalist in nature,
whether you look at North America or the Balkans.
And I wonder if you would also approve of Panthers
founder Eldridge Cleaver's advocacy of rape as a
political tool? That's another one that's been popular
lately among ". . . oppressed [groups]" for whom it
has "become necessary [. . .] to organize themselves
into militias to defend themselves." For instance, in
Croatia & Rwanda. As they say in American football,
the best defense is a good offense. That's what
"history shows," eh?
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get Yahoo! Mail – Free email you can access from anywhere!
http://mail.yahoo.com/
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|