[lbo-talk] Taibbi (was Re: Fwd: Antioch College Closing!)

[Carl Remick]

>From: ravi <ravi at platosbeard.org>
>
>Re: pet issues and the Taibbi post: I too found a lot of things to
>criticise about Taibbi's article, but I do think he is right about
>the left position becoming the sum of a few chosen "issues". By left
>I mean of course liberals, progressives and the blogosphere -- i.e.,
>people left of Rudy Giuliani with enough numbers and energy to make a
>difference; not 150-odd die hards on mailing lists and such. Taibbi
>laments that these issue goals obscure fundamental and structural
>analysis and struggle. I would say that it creates a low-hanging
>fruit mentality. Much of the liberal blogosphere has a carefully
>crafted position where certain things are better off not said. For
>Taibbi and much of the hard-core Western Left this fundamental
>analysis and struggle is one of class.

Yes, I think that fixation on "pet issues," identity politics, etc. is 
ultimately a way of avoiding The Issue, which IMO is class.  That's why the 
left has spent the last 30 years or so sighing on the margins of politics.


>For non-Western leftists like
>me it is one of humanism....

I'm not sure how you're using "humanism" here.

Carl

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