Comments on: It’s Time for the Left to Get Serious http://theactivist.org/blog/its-time-for-the-left-to-get-serious // Culture. Consciousness. Critical Thought. // Tue, 07 Feb 2012 06:43:24 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Chris Hedges Says Join The Greens « CounterPower http://theactivist.org/blog/its-time-for-the-left-to-get-serious/comment-page-1#comment-74618 Chris Hedges Says Join The Greens « CounterPower Fri, 05 Mar 2010 16:09:04 +0000 http://theactivist.org/blog/?p=2529#comment-74618 [...] I respect Chris Hedges, and his work, immensely. He has sojourned into the heart of some of our era's worst conflicts and brought the stories back to any with the guts to read them. He is an steadfast opponent of American Empire and I do not dismiss his analysis, however dire, and I welcome his call to build an unapologetically oppositional, Left party/movement. [...] [...] I respect Chris Hedges, and his work, immensely. He has sojourned into the heart of some of our era's worst conflicts and brought the stories back to any with the guts to read them. He is an steadfast opponent of American Empire and I do not dismiss his analysis, however dire, and I welcome his call to build an unapologetically oppositional, Left party/movement. [...]

]]> By: Jason Schulman http://theactivist.org/blog/its-time-for-the-left-to-get-serious/comment-page-1#comment-74577 Jason Schulman Sun, 21 Feb 2010 23:24:35 +0000 http://theactivist.org/blog/?p=2529#comment-74577 Is "you" Bill Fletcher? What's wrong with his "approach to the Palestinians"? Is “you” Bill Fletcher? What’s wrong with his “approach to the Palestinians”?

]]> By: Joel Waldman http://theactivist.org/blog/its-time-for-the-left-to-get-serious/comment-page-1#comment-74576 Joel Waldman Sun, 21 Feb 2010 23:11:23 +0000 http://theactivist.org/blog/?p=2529#comment-74576 Your analysis lost me with your approach to the Palestinians. Other than that this socialist blood says yeah, I give you an A-. Your analysis lost me with your approach to the Palestinians. Other than that this socialist blood says yeah,

I give you an A-.

]]> By: Gort http://theactivist.org/blog/its-time-for-the-left-to-get-serious/comment-page-1#comment-74564 Gort Sun, 14 Feb 2010 23:10:02 +0000 http://theactivist.org/blog/?p=2529#comment-74564 That's a thought provoking post, Bhaskar. That’s a thought provoking post, Bhaskar.

]]> By: Bhaskar Sunkara http://theactivist.org/blog/its-time-for-the-left-to-get-serious/comment-page-1#comment-74563 Bhaskar Sunkara Sun, 14 Feb 2010 21:46:26 +0000 http://theactivist.org/blog/?p=2529#comment-74563 The left is interventionist and internationalist. It just doesn't abdicate its mission to the bourgeois state. Look up Ben Linder's life and death and tell me that isn't interventionalism at it's finest. Real left politics *is* based upon divisions, the cleavages of society into classes. The long-term goal is creating organizations that can make people more conscious to these divides in order to overcome them. Don't shun the contradictions, figure out how to resolve them. Either socialists build vehicles of meaningful struggle or their going to manifest themselves in the form of reactionary populism based upon these narratives of race and national identity. The left is interventionist and internationalist. It just doesn’t abdicate its mission to the bourgeois state. Look up Ben Linder’s life and death and tell me that isn’t interventionalism at it’s finest.

Real left politics *is* based upon divisions, the cleavages of society into classes. The long-term goal is creating organizations that can make people more conscious to these divides in order to overcome them. Don’t shun the contradictions, figure out how to resolve them. Either socialists build vehicles of meaningful struggle or their going to manifest themselves in the form of reactionary populism based upon these narratives of race and national identity.

]]> By: Gort http://theactivist.org/blog/its-time-for-the-left-to-get-serious/comment-page-1#comment-74561 Gort Fri, 12 Feb 2010 00:27:40 +0000 http://theactivist.org/blog/?p=2529#comment-74561 "We must be the ones who point out that this administration was absolutely wrong in its approach to the Honduran coup; i.e., that the U.S. should have done everything in its power to force the coup people from power." Does Fletcher mean that the US should do EVERYTHING in it's power? I may have misunderstood here, and if I have I retract my question, but it did trigger my alarm. After all, we have seen interventionism from both the Left and the Right. I like and respect Fletcher but I'm searching for a way that goes out of the mold. So, I agree with Fletcher's basic analysis and illustration of the American Myth being used by the Right as a tactic in their use of "cultural populism". But let's be honest here, these myths can be good myths, they can be ideas that are ideals, things to be achieved. So I would like a distinction to be made. It is the lack of distinction that contributes to furthering divides, divides that are so very useful for the PTB to exploit. “We must be the ones who point out that this administration was absolutely wrong in its approach to the Honduran coup; i.e., that the U.S. should have done everything in its power to force the coup people from power.”

Does Fletcher mean that the US should do EVERYTHING in it’s power? I may have misunderstood here, and if I have I retract my question, but it did trigger my alarm. After all, we have seen interventionism from both the Left and the Right.

I like and respect Fletcher but I’m searching for a way that goes out of the mold.

So, I agree with Fletcher’s basic analysis and illustration of the American Myth being used by the Right as a tactic in their use of “cultural populism”. But let’s be honest here, these myths can be good myths, they can be ideas that are ideals, things to be achieved. So I would like a distinction to be made. It is the lack of distinction that contributes to furthering divides, divides that are so very useful for the PTB to exploit.

]]> By: Jason Schulman http://theactivist.org/blog/its-time-for-the-left-to-get-serious/comment-page-1#comment-74559 Jason Schulman Thu, 11 Feb 2010 19:05:14 +0000 http://theactivist.org/blog/?p=2529#comment-74559 I have no idea where Gort is getting the idea that Fletcher is saying that the U.S. should've invaded Honduras. Fletcher is as staunchly anti-imperialist as anyone alive. I have no idea where Gort is getting the idea that Fletcher is saying that the U.S. should’ve invaded Honduras. Fletcher is as staunchly anti-imperialist as anyone alive.

]]> By: Gort http://theactivist.org/blog/its-time-for-the-left-to-get-serious/comment-page-1#comment-74558 Gort Thu, 11 Feb 2010 19:03:33 +0000 http://theactivist.org/blog/?p=2529#comment-74558 So we should have done everything in our power and invaded Honduras? Yeah, that sounds like a solution from the Left. A pox on both Left and Right ideologies. That's what we need to get beyond the cattle chute of Left and Right, not another Left outfit. So we should have done everything in our power and invaded Honduras? Yeah, that sounds like a solution from the Left.

A pox on both Left and Right ideologies. That’s what we need to get beyond the cattle chute of Left and Right, not another Left outfit.

]]> By: Chris Maisano http://theactivist.org/blog/its-time-for-the-left-to-get-serious/comment-page-1#comment-74508 Chris Maisano Sun, 31 Jan 2010 16:56:28 +0000 http://theactivist.org/blog/?p=2529#comment-74508 I saw Bill give this talk at the convention last November, and I loved it. I really wish Fletcher was a more prominent figure on the left than some other folks. Honestly, jp, what exactly in this talk can really be strenuously objected to? I saw Bill give this talk at the convention last November, and I loved it. I really wish Fletcher was a more prominent figure on the left than some other folks. Honestly, jp, what exactly in this talk can really be strenuously objected to?

]]> By: jp http://theactivist.org/blog/its-time-for-the-left-to-get-serious/comment-page-1#comment-74507 jp Sun, 31 Jan 2010 15:16:10 +0000 http://theactivist.org/blog/?p=2529#comment-74507 how about getting serious by abandoning illusions? prediction: Fletcher/PFO/PDA will support whatever mass murder the D's nominate in 2012. what would those slaughter-loving D's do without 'teabaggers' to scare 'progressives' into supporting them? how about getting serious by abandoning illusions? prediction: Fletcher/PFO/PDA will support whatever mass murder the D’s nominate in 2012. what would those slaughter-loving D’s do without ‘teabaggers’ to scare ‘progressives’ into supporting them?

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