On Thu, 20 Apr 2006 02:55:57 -0400 info at pulpculture.org writes:
> While I agree with Carl, I think the problem is that no one's
> listening to
> what really undergirds Marta's ire: the fact the Left doesn't give a
> rat's
> ass about disability issues but will get up in arms about
> immigration.
Well, if the truth be told, the Left's record on immigration issues is not a whole lot better than its record on disability records. The only reason the Left has been getting up in arms about immigration lately is because of the emergence of the recent emergence of the immigrants' movement, a movement which seems to have gotten underway, largely without the help of the Left.
I suppose the take home lesson of this is to get your own constitutents organized and taking militant action, then the Left will begin to take you and your issues seriously.
>
> what more one could say on this is a simple acknowledgement of that
> fact.
> She's right.
>
> Like John Thronton, I don't look at my situation of not having seen
> a
> doctor for 18 years and say, Fuck the immigrants who get treated and
> not
> me. Because of the situations I've been in, I'm sympathetic to the
> plight
> of anyone who's fucked over. I'm one of the people being fucked over
> and so
> are a lot of people on the list. So no, I can't say I support
> ridiculous
> measures that attack a problem that might about to what? 5% of the
> budget
> if I highball the estimate? (I don't know, someone will have to
> correct me
> on the numbers.)
>
> Still, maybe one way to address this acknowledge what really pissing
> off
> Marta -- and I don't blame her.
However, it's a very BIG, indeed, politically fatal political mistake to try to advance one's own cause by bashing other marginalized groups. If politics is about anything, it is about creating alliances to advance one's objectives. Neither immigrants nor disabled people, nor African-Americans nor any other marginalized group can ever hope to attain their objectives without forming alliances with other groups. So that raises questions in my mind, as I am sure it has in the minds of other list members, what kinds of alliances does Marta expect to create to advance the objectives of the disabled. Does Marta think that she can create alliance with anti-immigrant people on the Right? As bad as the Left's record is on disability issues, the Right's record is unspeakable. Even if it would be possible for Marta to create some sort of an alliance with elements of the Right, how would that help Marta to attain such goals as universal healthcare?
>
> I do what I can to raise the issues on the blog by including it in
> discussons of, say, oppression and using the examples -- rather than
>
> something else.
>
> I don't know what else we -- little people -- can do to make 'the
> left'
> give a crap about disability issues.
> Unfortunately, we have limited
> time
> and energy. And, like Carl says, "feeling sad" about one another's
> behavior
> amounts to diddly suqat. But, so too, does wagging one's finger and
> saying,
> "You dumb ass, you're doing what "they" (capital) wants."
>
> Well, duh? Only if fantasize that you're outside ideology do you
> ever
> fantasize that you aren't reproducing the system every time you
> inhale.
>
>
>
>
>
> Bitch | Lab
> http://blog.pulpculture.org
>
> ___________________________________
> http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk
>