At the same time, such a response would make little sense since, if it were true then there would be a much more robust left because of all that restructuring... and there isn't. Some, including many here, would argue that the restructuring forced the liberal-left and Left into a series of generally local and often fractured defensive battles, most all of which were lost or coopted (environmental justice struggles come to mind here), battles which - rather than generating stronger coalitions as each group aided in the defense of the others - leaned towards various kinds of identity or single issue politics which only served all the more to weaken the left and have the left appear to many as a zero sum terrain - not only middle class environmentalists vs working class unionists but women's vs. gay vs. immigrant vs. prisoner vs. fill in the blank rights. Surely this doesn't encompass everything on the left in North America since 1978 but as a stab at painting the era with broad strokes it strikes me as better than your claim.
And, please, would you show me or tell me about one of those powerful left social movements that emerged out of recent good or bad times in North America or Europe, like since 1975.
Alan
On Wed, Apr 21, 2010 at 10:53 PM, brad <babscritique at gmail.com> wrote:
> shag wrote:
> >i just always think that it's a laff riot that people who take up this
> view
> - that economic crisis begets radicalization or even that economic crisis +
> correct left organization begets radicalization - didn't actually live
> through economic crisis or economic crisis + correct left organization in
> order to become radical!
>
> shag
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Oh really. We didn't live through the 1970s, 1980s and the early 2000s,
> not
> to mention the whole 40 years of neoliberalism in aggregate? Invert your
> claim- how do those who never lived through good times account for
> radicals? Doesn't work. Both can and have historically given rise to
> powerful left movements.
>
> Brad
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>
-- ********************************************************* Alan P. Rudy Dept. Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work Central Michigan University 124 Anspach Hall Mt Pleasant, MI 48858 517-881-6319