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DJP wrote:

We have written whole pamphlets about these issues already:http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/pamphlets/racismhttp://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/pamphlets/women-and-socialism

I'm not suggesting writing a long pamphlet about these issues, but perhaps just a small article on, for example, why it doesn't make sense to see homosexuality as something bad and countering the arguments that homophobes make?I mean, there's nothing really wrong with those pamphlets(from what I have read of them) but I believe that possible SPGB members or sympathizers that are slightly bigoted in some areas are probably not going to actively search for these pamphlets.If there is a text about racism/sexism/homophobia in a new SPGB magazine or on the "Latest news and Comment" on the WSM front page it will perhaps catch their eye and they will go "What's this?" and read it, and possibly get convinced.Googling on it now, I see that the SPGB actually wrote a little bit about homophobia recently, although skimming through the article now(titled "Proper Gander: Prejudice and Pride") it seems to only bring up homophobia motivated by religious beliefs.There are Atheists who are homophobes(although they might not make up a large percentage of the people who are violently homophobic). I think arguing against non-religous homophobia may contribute to convincing a few Socialists that it doesn't make any sense to have a disdain for gays.

[Sympo]

jondwhite wrote:

think this is important. This item was raised at conference 2016 in March 'Is a complacency about actively tackling casual homophobia and related LGBT issues damaging to the party?'

I do not fully understand what you have written(English is not my first language). Can you clarify what you are saying?

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KAZ wrote:

Does that mean that we should tolerate the sort of offhand racist, sexist, homophobic shit that I have heard repeatedly in Party circles? Hell no.

Maybe a member of the SPGB could write an article about it in the party magazine addressing the issue? Perhaps the article can convince members that it's not very good to have racist, sexist or homophobic opinions? Or maybe I'm being too naive to think that people can change their views about these things by reading an article.

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ALB wrote:

No, but Engels never said that or anything like that.

According to the article Engels calls for "the dissappearance of 'entire reactionary peoples'". Isn't this a pretty racist thing to call for?

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I'm not saying that Engels didn't contribute to the cause of Socialism, but I think he was kind of bigoted(as was probably Marx). Does the SPGB for example not care if a possible member is a homophobe or a racist? If I say something like "I wish to establish a classless, stateless society. As long as there aren't any black people there!" am I really a Socialist? But yes I agree nobody is perfect. Engels, a "true Socialist" or not(my argument might suffer from No True Scotsman) still wrote things relevant to the cause of Socialism.

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This may not be of great importance, but can Engels be called a proper Socialist even if he had sexist, racist, and homophobic views(as the review claims)?

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jondwhite wrote:

Haven't the biggest countries with majority Muslim populations had their democracies (Nasser-Egypt, Mossaddegh-Iran, Ataturk-Turkey) undermined by the CIA?

I think Iran was the only one classified as a democracy.I just joined this forum in case anybody is wondering. I'm not a member of your party but I read your articles and stuff

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