[lbo-talk] Thoughts on the Tea Party (and why the Left is

[brad]

Alan wrote:
>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
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I think you missed the last sentence in my post- "Both (good and bad
economic times) can and have historically given rise to powerful left
movements."

What about the anti-glob movement as an example of one left movement that
emerged out of the neoliberal era.

Brad