[lbo-talk] Are Conservatives Racist?

[wrobert at uci.edu]

I certainly don't agree with this.  As Alan pointed out earlier, we can
still find forms of racism deeply embedded in the economic and
disciplinary structures of the country.  Additionally, the gutting of the
social safety net has been legitimated through what Etienne Balibar calls
a differentialist racism not grounded in biology. Confronting those
policies also entails engaging with the forms of racism that legitimate
and often structure them.  Or perhaps to draw on Balibar's introduction to
his work with Immanuel Wallerstein.  "This is why, in the course of this
book, I have maintained, particularly, that the (re-)constitution on new
bases (and in new words perhaps of a class ideology, capable of
counteracting today's... galloping nationalism, has a pre-condition--which
already determines its contents--an effective anti-racism."  I agree that
this anti-racism has to confront the profound shifts in the theories and
structures of racism in the country, but those forms cannot be simply
reduced to an issue of prejudicial beliefs.

robert wood


> On Aug 19, 2011, at 3:08 PM, SA wrote:
>
>> I still don't see what's gained from applying the word racist to it.
>
> A sense of moral clarity of the "end-of-argument" sort? It sure doesn't
> tell you anything about what to do about it.
>
> Doug
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