4 June 2002
Grenoble, France
 

Recent mail from research associates at CIESIMSA:
Dear Francis,

I am as shocked as you are by Ariel Sharon's behaviour. As you say, he is
unquestionably a war criminal and should be classified as such. To condemn
the Palestinians to a permanent diaspora is obviously unacceptable. A
Palestinian state is a requisite and any sensible person must realise that.
I personally think that Sharon has done immeasurable harm to Israel itself.
Until recently  most people in the world sympathized with Israel. Today
Israel is the most hated country in the world, though America is not far
behind. As a Jew (or part Jew) I am particularly horrified.

By the way, I enjoyed your meeting in Grenoble. Congratulations for
organizing it. However, I must tell you that I am not sure that I see
Marxism as part of the answer. Marx still believed in the industrial
system, but the industrial system is the problem. The day we learnt how to
mobilize the energy contained in fossil fuels we were condemned to climate
change - and climate change is going to make this planet uninhabitable very
quickly unless something very dramatic is done. What has to be done is
nothing to do with Marxism, it is a recreation of a highly localised
low-tech economy, which has much in common with traditional society.

With best regards,
Edward Goldsmith
 

The Ecologist
46 The Vineyard
Richmond
Surrey TW10 6AZ
U.K.
Tel: 00 44 208 332 6963
Fax: 00 44 208 948 6787
E-mail: egoldsmith@ecologist.fsnet.co.uk
____________________

Dear Francis,
My website is <www.michaelparenti.org> . the new book is THE TERRORISM
TRAP: SEPTEMBER 11 AND BEYOND (San Francisco: City Lights, 2002) 110 pp.
$8.98, paperback.

Michael