Well, I would never want to suggest ignoring the powerless. They have enough problems as it is! But, the people who are suffering in the most mundane and invisible ways -- no health insurance, no babysitter, etc -- are the ones who are ultimately going to turn this shit around. And sometimes I think the left does become preoccupied with the world's most extreme forms of oppression, in a way that is not always strategic. That stems not only from foundation dollars and the careful guarding of class privilege, though I think those things contribute. It also has to do with a kind of alienation from -- or despair about -- ordinary people. Which I think is unwarranted, but plenty of others on this list have made that point.
Towards a discussion of any topic but the Kennedy assassination!
Liza
> From: joanna bujes <jbujes at covad.net>
> Reply-To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
> Date: Wed, 26 Nov 2003 10:23:23 -0800
> To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
> Subject: [lbo-talk] RE: left radical critique
>
> Liza writes:
>
> "I think lefties may be getting more interested in the kinds of disparities
>
> that you're talking about, but many continue to be more fascination with the
> totally marginal: prisoners, homeless, youth etc. Even though workers making
> $10 per hour have a lot more social and political capital than people making
> nothing, and much more to gain from radical change. A while ago, I read an
> interesting paper by a union organizer named Steve Jenkins who argues that
> foundations prefer to fund leftish activities supporting the "voiceless" and
> "powerless" rather than the working class, because the truly powerless, by
> definition, don't really pose any serious threat to the status quo."
>
> Good point, Liza. But it doesn't have to be an either/or. I think it's also
> very important to defend the case of prisoners, homeless, and youth because
> they are the victims of our domestic brand of terrorism. Moreover, the whole
> prison thing is simply the current form of racism and political
> disenfranchisement. As has been pointed out, most who go to prison can never
> vote again.
>
> Joanna
>
>
>
>
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