> Four months into scandals and you expect fullscale tranformation of
> consciousness? What is this-- instant gratification revolution?
>
> One place I differ with many leftists is this idea of the "crisis moment"
> when the shackles of false consciousness will false from peoples eyes.
> People transform their views through active struggle. If there is a problem
> with "the left" (at least the part that self-labels that way) is they spend
> too much time on media events/rallies and not enough writing for and in
> day-to-day contact with the vast number of folks in this country.
>
> What these scandals give the left is the chance to knock on doors and have
> people give us a minute to hear our case-- nothing more, but a lot more than
> a few years ago when many woud have just politely (or not) shut the door.
> And their views will change by trying small reforms that make sense, seeing
> the corporate opposition that thrawts even that in many cases, and thereby
> getting a broader view of what needs to be done for social justice.
>
> Revolution is a process, not an event. This is a time when the process can
> be advanced but it requires lots of hard work and outreach.
Nathan: Everybody knows that our politics differs, but I think you hit the nail right on the head with these words. Revolution is a process and now would be a good time for all leftists, radicals, and activists to be out there knocking on doors and talking to people in the streets.
I've been trying to figure out why we're not seeing more of this right now. My theories range from the standard activist disconnect with working people to paralysis caused by activists reading too much carp about the Patriot Act. I think that Barbara Ehrenreich put it best:
"Or consider the federal agencies charged with saving us from gruesome deaths by terrorism. The FBI and the CIA, omnipotent bogeymen of my radical youth, turn out to possess archaic software and a system of information flow designed by Franz Kafka. And who would have guessed last fall, when the President promised us a long war, that these two agencies would be the warring parties? The only hope at the moment is that the new Department of Homeland Security will somehow be able to mediate" <http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0722-04.htm>
We need more day-to-day contact right now.
Go check out the messageboards on Yahoo, the ones that follow news about the stock market. Many of those message read like they were written by rabid anti-capitalists. Th encouraging thing is that they were written by working people.
<< 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)