"post-leftism"

Chuck Munson chuck at tao.ca
Mon Aug 12 18:21:20 PDT 2002


"Joe R. Golowka" wrote:
>
> > This notion of "post-Leftism" is intriguing. I'm assuming it represents an
> > attempt to go beyond the ideology of "left" and "right."
> >
> > Isn't this precisely the ideological tack taken by Hitler in "unifying"
> > Germany?
>
> No, definately not. The "post-lefitst" blather spouted by some anarchists has little to do with Hitler &
> Fascism. It would be nice if you would create rational arguements instead of just comparing your
> opponets to right-wingers. When people start resorting to calling their opponet Hitler you know they've
> lost the arguement.

Post-Leftism has nothing to do with fascism or Hitler. It is, in a sense, an attempt to move beyond the concepts of "left" and "right," which are really just arbitrary poitical science mumbo jumble to begin with.

If you want to read why this is a raging debate with anarchism, I suggest starting here:

http://www.infoshop.org/afterleftism.html

Post-leftism isn't really an ideology inasmuch as it is an ongoing dialogue among anarchists and anti-authoritarian Marxists about which directions our politics should take in this post-Left era (post Soviet Union). It's also an ongoing effort to educate anarchists that there are some fundamental differences between anarchism and authoritarian varieties of Leftism. Another facet is looking at ways that anarchists can practice their politics without having their nose up the asses of whatever organized left group (i.e. the IAC) walks down the street. Finally, it is a recognition of the fact that the Left as we know it is dying out around the world. You can see that in the U.S. where anarchism is growing and leftist sects are stagnating and dying out. You can see this in places like Italy, where many people are rejecting the state capitalist-friendly trade unions and communist parties.

<< Chuck0 >>

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"...ironically, perhaps, the best organised dissenters in the world today are anarchists, who are busily undermining capitalism while the rest of the left is still trying to form committees."

-- Jeremy Hardy, The Guardian (UK)



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