'universalism' (was Re: Asia and hormones)

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

Mat Forstater writes:
>There was a lot of talk on the list with regard to the BRC
>employing the term "universalist." (By the way, the Albert or Hahnel piece
>that said first there was class and then Black liberation came along in
>the mid-sixties obliterates 500+ years of African liberation struggles.

I very much agree with Mat Forstater, both on the misleading use of the
term 'universalism' and historical amnesia that allows many to say, 'Once
was class unity, and then blacks, women, sexual dissidents, etc. came to
fragment it.'

Universality that may be one day achieved, after the disappearance of
capitalism, sexism, racism, etc. and struggles to achieve universality are
the _opposite_ of the rhetoric of 'universalism' that falsely passes the
narrow, short-term, and sectarian interests (and sometimes even mere
prejudices) of white males at the imperial center as 'universal.' And the
former cannot be achieved as long as the latter prevails.

The equation of what white guys think and do with 'universalism' is
currently prevalent--regrettably even on the Left (such as it is)--because
many still believe that white guys ought to be at the center of the
Universe.

When left cons say 'universal,' we ought to read 'particular.'

Yoshie