I finally had some proper time to watch the 2 DVD set on Ernest Mandel, the great Belgian marxist economist and activist. I found it quite inspiring and surprising in moments. The primary film, “Ernest Mandel – A life for the revolution”has tremendous and wonderful footage both of Mandel and his comrades and of many inspiring events in the 60s and 70s. There's some amazing footage of Paris 68, a Japanese student snake march (year???), great stuff from Algeria. There's both eye opening and quite funny stuff about his meetings with Che Guevara in the early 60s. It's pretty neat to see Mandel himself. He is very sure of where he is coming from and how he would like things to go, while admitting the weaknesses of the revolutionary movements on his home turf(s).
There are great excerpts from an interview with Tariq Ali about Mandel's early life -- Mandel is first to admit how crazy it was to be happy about becoming a German POW -- and a general sense of the incredible optimism the man possessed. In one interview he states the absolute uncertainty of science. He is questioned about this. He ends up saying that this is the nature of science, but that the one inflexible categorical imperative is to fight on the side of the oppressed and exploited.
For people not familiar with the 1940- 1970 historical scene on the Left, it could be pretty confusing. The documentary jumps around with amazing interviews with various activists, comrades, and intellectuals like Daniel Bensaid.
For information about the film and how to get a copy please see International Viewpoint's page on the film.
Edited for 2 spelling errors.
[ 08 January 2008: Message edited by: blake 3:17 ]
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posted 08 January 2008 07:03 PM
