Well I can say a bit more.
Joel begins by reducing populism to an emotion, from which standpoint it can lead to bad thoughts, policies, etc. But it is more than an emotion. It's also more than an "it." There are populisms. The Greens are one.
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By Joel Kovel
BEYOND POPULISM
. . .
That is why, along with the
many virtuous people who have marched under the populist banner, have
come more than a fair share of dubious characters . . .
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Thank god we've none of these in the socialist movement!
. . .
politics. Today, the most successful populists in America are Jesse
Ventura and Pat Buchanan: . . .
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I'd disagree totally on Ventura. He's not a populist, not of any type. He's an old-fashioned goo-goo reformer. His economics are totally middle-class. He looks different cause he wore a feather boa is all.
. . . Many will now say, well, those are the bad populists; we, the greens,
can get behind a good populism based upon firm democratic values. Now
there are plenty of good populists, as I have said. However, so long as
they remain populist, they cannot rise above the implications of its
basic method, which is to personalize politics. . . .
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Ca-ca. What is the basis for this alleged 'personalization'? That's a totally new one on me.
" . . . The racism and
scapegoating can be restrained, but the need to focus upon some
personnification of evil remains. . . . "
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This came up in my tussles with the Chipmeister. This is just basic street-level political technique. Every radical invokes demons of one sort or another unless they are determined to bore their audience to death.
" . . . Clearly, corporations are there to be fought, in all the above roles, and more. But they are to be combatted as the currently constituted armies of the system, and not the system itself. . . .
This is saying populism is not revolutionary, therefore wrong. Running for office on the Green Ticket is not Revolution either. Is Joel going to campaign for dismantling the Green Party(s)?
" . . . 3. The notions of populists necessarily remain nationalist. They are extensions of a bourgeois Anglo-American vision to the whole world. . . . "
Bourgeois is another form of 'this is not marxism, therefore wrong.' I don't get the Anglo thing. If the pops are nationalist, then they wouldn't have much use for Brits.
Joel is a good guy but he needs a better rap.
mbs