Brad DeLong wrote:
>More broadly, however, I do think that the big problem with Seattle
>was precisely the absence of an image of utopia around which people
>could rally.
-That's not the way I remember it. The fantasy utopia was one of a -humane universalism, a world free of violence and exploitation. A bit -thin on the details
The thinness of the details is what adds up to its abscence. "Utopia" is a blueprint for an alternative society, as its original version by Thomas Moore outlined. Moralism and a condemnation of present society is not the same as concrete utopianism (in the best sense of that word).
Socialism has always been accompanied by utopian thinking, not so much as in agreed upon blueprints but rather a whole mess of competing versions. But the lack of consensus on the specific utopia did not obliterate the sense that there were plans that could be implemented if the left ever won.
The problem with the global justice movement which earns it the "anti-" label somewhat fairly at times is that people are so much clearer on what they don't want and often unconvincing in their confidence of what they do want. One reason the Tobin Tax gets so much enthusiasm is that it's something positive to advocate in a movement that mostly advocates"no."
-- Nathan Newman