> Another deeper issue is the weird fetishization of theory vs.
> practice.
This has started making some unfortunate inroads into the anarchist movement of late. I ran across an example this weekend in an article which really pissed me off.
> It's particularly strange to see it among marxists; after
> all, there was a brilliant marxist work from 1950's USSR which argued
> against this fetish in the case of mathematics, and I think it applies
> more broadly. (_Mathematics_, edited by Aleksandrov et al, lauded even
> in the US.) Maybe Jeff Schmidt's _Disciplined Minds_ talks a bit about
> the ideology of theory vs. practice among the professional class in
> the US.
>
> It's not that there's no difference between theory and practice; there
> is. But there's an interesting relationship between the two, where
> they frequently feed into each other.
As I see it, the Left and most American radicals suffer from a lack of practice (praxis).
You can always find some leftist talking about the need for more theory.
What some of these people don't get is that practice (and experience) helps inform theory. The anarchist movement in the U.S., for example, really didn't start taking off in the late 90s until more and more anarchists were involved in activism, actions and practical projects. We'd been talking about stuff for years.
When I was intensely involved in the anti-globalization movement from 1999-2002, I was constantly busy with meetings, protests, networking, meetings, and organizing. I didn't have much time for reading, not to mention theory. But I learned quite a bit from my *practical* experiences, to the extent that in these "quieter" times I can apply that experience to theoretical discussions.
The fetishization of theory vs. practice reminds me of a librarian co-worker who I worked with several years ago. Our manager informed her that she was going to be the point person on our team for networking. She went out and bought the fattest book on Novell Netware that was in print at that time. She absorbed that book, took the tests, and got her CNE license. She was then loosed on the Novell server for the library, which she quickly fucked up beyond FUBAR. She knew all of the theories, but didn't have any practical experience.
Chuck -------------------------- Bread and Roses Web Design serving small businesses, non-profits, artists and activists http://www.breadandrosesweb.com/