>The idea that "respect" for some more or less self-appointed leadership of
>some consituency-notice, incidentally that not even you say Pat Ireland
>speaks for women below, rather you say she speaks for feminists-
>translates into respect for the constituency is, in fact, precisely the
>issue. I don't believe that it does. I don't, nor do most people, identify
>themselves with the leadership of any number of organizations we belong
>to. Nor do I feel that many women identify themselves with the leadership
>of any feminist organization, regardless of what the organization calls
>itself.
>...And no, I don't believe the
>leadership of many of these organizations is worthy of respect. In any
>case, your "respect" for leadership is naive, in my opinion.
To keep this short, I clipped the core of our disagreement.
Folks never identify more with leadership of an organization they belong to then when other folks are attacking those leaders. And Patricia Ireland is hardly self-appointed; she was elected by the organization that is still the largest feminist organization in the country. (And no organization speaks "for women", since many women belong to rightwing groups like Concerned Women of America.)
I find the anti-organizational attitude of many third party folks really appalling, which is one reason I have become more and more hostile to third party politics. I've said this before, but it's worth emphasizing that I've voted Green (against Feinstein) and walked door-to-door canvasses for local Green candidates and am probably the only person on this list to be appointed to a government position by an elected Green official (I was appointed to the City of Berkeley Labor Commission by Green Donna Spring, when she was first elected to city council.) So I am hardly your basic Democratic hack, as folks continually try to paint me. I was in the orbit of third party folks - and some of my dearest political comrades are there - but folks like Cockburn et al have increasingly driven me to almost visceral opposition to third party politics, since most folks seem incapable of doing it without bashing other activists.
Any political strategy that seems to inevitably lead to such divisive attitudes is bad news in my book. Whatever good it may theoretically accomplish (and the evidence is scant), the downside of nasty attacks on organizations and activists not joining the third party activists makes me shun the whole business. There are a lot of good dedicated third party activists, but the whole enterprise seems to attract folks who seem to enjoy bashing other activists far more than bashing the corporate enemy.
> The real questions I would have for you are 1) How, with a DLC candidate
>in office, will the endless series of compromises which the Democrats have
>made with corporate America at the expense of everyone else will be
>reversed?
By organizing outside the electoral realm. Elections are for winning marginal gains, mostly ratifying the victories won in the streets. Third party folks are generally delusional and put the electoral cart before the organizing horse. Which is why they play up useless electoral campaigns while bashing those doing day-to-day organizing.
>2) Do you in fact endorse a vote for Nader in the
>non-battleground states as a means for pressuring the Democratic
>establishment. Haven't read your opinions on either of these here.
Since I am in one of those states, my position at this point is that I won't vote for Nader because I don't want the devisiveness that will descend on the Left if it gets federal funds -- imagine Workers World, Fulani et al descending on every Green chapter in the country. And I don't want millions of dollars there to amplify assaults on other activists.
I personally will probably vote for David McReynolds in November. Unlike Nader, he actually opposes capitalism, vocally supports gay rights and other key social issues, and is generally one of the most decent activists I have met. Nader is still just the lesser of three evils ultimately, so if I can actually vote for who I want, I'll vote for who I want.
-- Nathan Newman