I agree with many parts. I feel like this debate always comes up-the pink hat lady march, then seasoned leftists were mad, then told “no we need to embrace them. Get over yourself.” Same with 1 day “boycott.”
I do think that we can have high expectations for some of these relatively educated people, who tend to be white, partaking in thes…
I agree with many parts. I feel like this debate always comes up-the pink hat lady march, then seasoned leftists were mad, then told “no we need to embrace them. Get over yourself.” Same with 1 day “boycott.”
I do think that we can have high expectations for some of these relatively educated people, who tend to be white, partaking in these rallies only because they have had (not all) a life in which they didn’t have to consider capitalism because it has benefited them. So, yes sometimes I get the frustration of “where have you been??” Then, there is some righteous anger too (for example re Palestine. AOC hasn’t followed any of Rashida’s direct actions calls for solidarity, Bernie kind of yelled at someone who asked him about Khalil). I think it’s valid to express anger at Bernie and AOC’s silence on Palestine, particularly last summer during DNC, and then to in turn feel skeptical. I just think it depends on is angry and why. Chris Smalls critiques of these rallies is totally valid to me.
Sure, expecting everyone to be politically educated and a communist as a result is silly. We need more people in our movements.
I do feel that a lot of DSA types see themselves as “the left organization,” and they blatantly ignore or just don’t care to learn about left organizations, particularly Black left organizations who have been pushing and struggling predating Bernie in 2016. By their own admission, they tend to ignore Black communities because of racist assumptions about Dem loyalty and church loyalty. and for me, this is one of the greater failings of the well-known, popular left because they're not theee left. I’d love DSA self reflection because as a former member, it’s not an org I would encourage any Black leftist to join. I’d advise against it, mainly as someone who identifies more with communism than democratic socialism and also because of some serious pitfalls related to race.
Concerns around intent are real I suppose; are people rallying behind Bernie and AOC preemptively to plug into a dem election cycle in 2 and 4 years? Are Bernie and AOC just keeping people content with the Dem party rather than the real work of questioning the existence of America as we know it and this electoral system? Probably. I’m pretty indifferent about it.
I see them as mobilizing people who are rightfully scared and angry right now, but they’re not organizing them. It’s funny too when I read from writers that there isn’t a class consciousness in the US because that just has not been my experience working and organizing in predominantly non-white, black and brown spaces, who if we are being honest, particularly in urban centers, make up the working class. Many of these people are connected to diasporic and pan African solidarity politics too. Freedom politics, which much more complex and anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist than popular narratives around "civil rights."
I do agree though that there is organizing potential, as there usually is. Around electoral politics? I’m not sure, tend to think not, and yet I am volunteering for a mayoral candidate in my city. Feels a bit like showing up for a rally; it’s something but not the thing that will save the world from capitalism and imperialism.
I think it's valid to be angry at Bernie/AOC especially on Palestine, I just argue that they are moving people and that shows a willingness by the people attending these rallies to open themselves to a new kind of politics than that which has dominated our country. It's on us to push these attendees further and organize them. Social Democrats can't conceive of solutions outside the bourgeois party structure but we can and we can use that to open the door to a mass movement.
Agreed. It’s just hard to feel like we’re not constantly going in circles. Bernie in 2019/2020 kind of felt like this too. Just feels like Dejavu. We often have these moments that should lead us to mass movement, and then things like neoliberalism, butchered identity politics that have nothing to do with Combahee River Collective and now “abundance politics” emerge. Revolutionary movements just have not grown even in promising moments (BPP, BLA).
Yeah, I am disillusioned with the DSA due to those same reasons. Looking to join local black and brown groups if they will have me. Working on it. I’ve moved too much and struggled too much to build a community that I feel at home in. Focused on electoral politics too much at the expense of deep organizing, but I’m in the process of correcting course. It’s very challenging in that it demands every bit of me.
I agree with many parts. I feel like this debate always comes up-the pink hat lady march, then seasoned leftists were mad, then told “no we need to embrace them. Get over yourself.” Same with 1 day “boycott.”
I do think that we can have high expectations for some of these relatively educated people, who tend to be white, partaking in these rallies only because they have had (not all) a life in which they didn’t have to consider capitalism because it has benefited them. So, yes sometimes I get the frustration of “where have you been??” Then, there is some righteous anger too (for example re Palestine. AOC hasn’t followed any of Rashida’s direct actions calls for solidarity, Bernie kind of yelled at someone who asked him about Khalil). I think it’s valid to express anger at Bernie and AOC’s silence on Palestine, particularly last summer during DNC, and then to in turn feel skeptical. I just think it depends on is angry and why. Chris Smalls critiques of these rallies is totally valid to me.
Sure, expecting everyone to be politically educated and a communist as a result is silly. We need more people in our movements.
I do feel that a lot of DSA types see themselves as “the left organization,” and they blatantly ignore or just don’t care to learn about left organizations, particularly Black left organizations who have been pushing and struggling predating Bernie in 2016. By their own admission, they tend to ignore Black communities because of racist assumptions about Dem loyalty and church loyalty. and for me, this is one of the greater failings of the well-known, popular left because they're not theee left. I’d love DSA self reflection because as a former member, it’s not an org I would encourage any Black leftist to join. I’d advise against it, mainly as someone who identifies more with communism than democratic socialism and also because of some serious pitfalls related to race.
Concerns around intent are real I suppose; are people rallying behind Bernie and AOC preemptively to plug into a dem election cycle in 2 and 4 years? Are Bernie and AOC just keeping people content with the Dem party rather than the real work of questioning the existence of America as we know it and this electoral system? Probably. I’m pretty indifferent about it.
I see them as mobilizing people who are rightfully scared and angry right now, but they’re not organizing them. It’s funny too when I read from writers that there isn’t a class consciousness in the US because that just has not been my experience working and organizing in predominantly non-white, black and brown spaces, who if we are being honest, particularly in urban centers, make up the working class. Many of these people are connected to diasporic and pan African solidarity politics too. Freedom politics, which much more complex and anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist than popular narratives around "civil rights."
I do agree though that there is organizing potential, as there usually is. Around electoral politics? I’m not sure, tend to think not, and yet I am volunteering for a mayoral candidate in my city. Feels a bit like showing up for a rally; it’s something but not the thing that will save the world from capitalism and imperialism.
I think it's valid to be angry at Bernie/AOC especially on Palestine, I just argue that they are moving people and that shows a willingness by the people attending these rallies to open themselves to a new kind of politics than that which has dominated our country. It's on us to push these attendees further and organize them. Social Democrats can't conceive of solutions outside the bourgeois party structure but we can and we can use that to open the door to a mass movement.
Agreed. It’s just hard to feel like we’re not constantly going in circles. Bernie in 2019/2020 kind of felt like this too. Just feels like Dejavu. We often have these moments that should lead us to mass movement, and then things like neoliberalism, butchered identity politics that have nothing to do with Combahee River Collective and now “abundance politics” emerge. Revolutionary movements just have not grown even in promising moments (BPP, BLA).
Yeah, I am disillusioned with the DSA due to those same reasons. Looking to join local black and brown groups if they will have me. Working on it. I’ve moved too much and struggled too much to build a community that I feel at home in. Focused on electoral politics too much at the expense of deep organizing, but I’m in the process of correcting course. It’s very challenging in that it demands every bit of me.