[lbo-talk] let's all pray for a depression

[shag]

At 09:44 PM 1/22/2008, chuck at mutualaid.org wrote:
> >
> > On Jan 22, 2008, at 6:38 PM, Chuck wrote:
> >
> >> Why do American leftists
> >> prefer armchair activism over action?
> >
> > So what should they/we be doing?
>
>One of my criticisms of the U.S. anti-globalization movement is that it
>hasn't gone beyond the issues and themes of international neoliberalism. I
>think that  there was an opportunity after the first years of the
>post-Seattle movement to organize campaigns around domestic economic
>issues, such as predatory lending. Remember that organizing around a
>variety of campaigns during the 1990s built a movement and momentum going
>into Seattle. One example is the activism that was done in response to
>NAFTA.
>
>As you mentioned earlier today, the housing crisis is one important facet
>of this week's economic crisis. We should organize more campaigns around
>this issue. Not necessarily campaigns around middle class homeowners
>facing foreclosures, but something that focuses on affordable housing, the
>lack if which has been a problem for many years.
>
>Chuck

I guess one of the things that sometimes bothers me about your various 
proposals is that there doesn't seem to be any sustained reasons for _why_ 
you think organizing ought to go on around an issue. It just seems to 
present itself, and then you implore folks to step up to the plate for 
whatever issue of the week.

People have been organizing around this forever, as you must know. The 
struggle to protect people dealing with the onslaught of "urban renewal" 
and gentrification are big issues.

Do you consider reasons for choosing the strategies you choose -- in this 
case affordable housing (which I'd argue isn't so easy to define anyway, so 
kinda hard to keep it not about middle class homebuyers)? Is there a 
strategy here for why this issue and not another one? Is it just about 
dealing with whatever issue presents itself as likely one to get more 
people on our side?

Curious,

shag (the artist formerly known as BL)

http://cleandraws.com
Wear Clean Draws
('coz there's 5 million ways to kill a CEO)