Socialists haven't done much better in continuity. The CP for instance in the 30s and 40s had a large number of black members; I don't think it does now. The lack of continuity isn't necessarily the fault of anarchists and socialists, though. Bad things can happen to decent people. ;->
At 12:37 AM -0500 12/30/02, Chuck0 wrote:
>From what I've seen, there are more people of color in the North
>American anarchist movement now than there were 5 or 10 years ago.
>Last March I attended the Bay Area Anarchist Conference, which had a
>considerable number of people of color in attendance.
Compared to five or ten years ago, yes, I do see more diversity, though not radically more so.
At 12:37 AM -0500 12/30/02, Chuck0 wrote:
>I wouldn't say that I'm happy with the current state of the North
>American movement on this subject, but many anarchists feel the same
>way I do. The anarchist movement has put alot of time, energy, and
>resources into addressing this issue. It's not that easy for us,
>since we aren't recruiting-oriented like most of the socialist
>groups. And we have this problem with the white punk anarchist
>ghetto (which is a good problem to have by the way, since the punk
>movement sustained the anarchist movement through many dark years).
BTW, I don't mean to say that socialists are much better on this score. But for constant infusion of the foreign-born people who come to the States already socialists, the socialist movement (if we can call it that in the singular) in the USA may be as white as "the white punk anarchist ghetto."
What I've found interesting is that particular socialist groups tend to attract particular races and ethnic groups; I see Indians and others from the subcontinent in the ISO, blacks in the RCP (and RCP-initiated coalitions like Refuse and Resist), Arabs, Puerto Ricans, Koreans, etc. in the WW (and the WW-initiated coalitions like the IAC and ANSWER), etc. Each socialist group has issues about which it is better at organizing: union democracy for Solidarity, police brutality for the RCP, anti-war activism for the WW, etc. All the more reasons for making a socialist alliance or, better yet, creating One Hell of a Party out of many, so we can combine our strengths. -- Yoshie
* Calendar of Events in Columbus: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/calendar.html> * Anti-War Activist Resources: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/activist.html> * Student International Forum: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/> * Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osudivest.org/>