Word: avakian
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Alexandra Avakian made three trips to Lebanon in 2005, with the daunting ambition of getting closer to Hizballah than any Western photojournalist before her. She expected to be assigned an escort, but none was necessary. "Party discipline is so tight, no one was going to reveal any secrets," says Avakian. "Members have to report on all the contacts they have with outsiders." She was allowed to see each of her subjects only once, and she was stopped a few times. "Out of nowhere a security agent appeared on a motorcycle," she recalls. "One time my digital camera was taken...
...Avakian rejects the idea that meaningful social change can be achieved through peaceful means. He also rejects the kind of liberal reformism that has allowed for real material gains for the poor and downtrodden...
...Avakian joined the Panthers and started carrying a gun. Of course “we didn’t bring them along to shoot anybody,” Avakian writes, “but we did feel like we needed to defend ourselves in case we were attacked.” It seems a bit disingenuous, and a bit like hindsight, for a man who openly espoused violence to renounce violent intent in carrying a loaded weapon...
...this same dogmatism that makes Avakian immune and unresponsive to criticism. Handily, practitioners of Marxism can dismiss critics with the “b word.” Oppositional views certainly cease to matter when they can be cast aside as simply bourgeois or a product of false consciousness...
From Ike to Mao and Beyond By Bob Avakian Insight Press, Inc. In Stores...