> At 01:50 AM 10/7/98 -0400, Rakesh wrote:
>
> ...<SNIP>...
>
> >This so called communitarian philosophy espoused by the
> >Michael Lerner's and Michael Sandel's seems to be infested
> >with this creepy crawly stuff. You hear it from all political
> >sides nowadays, and I don't have to like it.
>
> It must be noted that these folks explicitly disavow the
> authoritarianism that is at the heart of all of the
> definitions of fascism I know of. (Lerner, for one, used
> to count himself as a leftist. Does he still do so?)
> But because they don't deal with that authoritarianism
> very well, communitarianism sure does lean in the direction
> of fascism.
In a *A Place for Us: How to Make Society Civil and Democracy Strong*, decidedly muddled book just published, Benjamin Barber does make a stab at differentiating 3 versions of civil society--libertarian, communitiarian, and strong democratic (which Barber, in a breathtaking hallucinatory fit manages to associate with Bill Clinton as opposed to Ralph Nader!).
It's possible that the problems with communitarianism can best be illuminated through such a perspective--though certainly not the way Barber develops it. Frankly, I don't see why we have to worry about communitarianism sliding over into fascism. We should be able to whack it pretty good for what it is its own self.
As for Lerner, I attended a conference put on by Tikkun Magazine back in 1989 it must have been. Let's just say that all the real leftists were carrying on heated discussions in the hallways swapping appalling tidbits about the conduct of various sessions.
One of Lerner's themes was that the 60s had been all about equality and assimilation, and that the Left had failed to recognize the importance of community and identity. Malcolm X, the Black Panthers, the UFW, Teatro Campesino, The Chicano Moratorium, Stonewall, feminist consciousness-raising, The Redstockings... it all NEVER HAPPENED!
I mean, this line might fly with the mainstream press, but we was there, Charlie!
My guess is that religion rotted his mind.
-- Paul Rosenberg Reason and Democracy rad at gte.net
"Let's put the information BACK into the information age!"