On Jun 13, 2011, at 11:11 AM, lbo83235 wrote:
> On Jun 13, 2011, at 4:48 PM, Doug Henwood wrote:
>
>> But listening to him talk about LatAm and the Middle East really brings home how backward we in the USA are. The Bolivian teachers, for example, called for the state to pay for uniforms and shoes. Imagine if our teachers unions were doing something similar. It's almost like they want to make the right's task of demonizing them easier.
>
> This is you at your pithy best, Doug. Love it.
Thanks.
In my interview with Greg Grandin
http://www.leftbusinessobserver.com/Radio.html#S110611
he talked a lot about how all (what we used to call) "the new social movements" in LatAm have been working together admirably and also with the state. They've left behind all that talk from the last couple of decades about how the social movements (and everyday acts of resistance) were all that we needed and we could forget about the state (a la John Holloway). Also, the base of the new South American radicalism is a broad coalition of activist groups of all kinds - unions, feminists, queers (McNally recites a similar list). I'm reminded of a comment that Kim Moody made in an essay in NLR back in 1996:
> The 1930s vision of the working ‘class’ as a homogeneous group of white male factory workers, never accurate, is gone forever. The working class itself is more Black and Brown than the population, and the unions—though not their leaders—more so than the class or workforce. The activists of today’s resurgence are the products of the diversity of the actual existing working class and of the cultural terrain on which they must fight. The organized labour movement of today is criss-crossed with both independent and official organizations of African-American, Latino, Asian, and women workers. It’s also worth noting that Jesse Jackson is a perennial favourite on picket lines, particularly among white workers. Most of the independent political organizations also reflect this diversity to one degree or another. We have, in other words, a chance to get the active concept of class right this time.
They're doing it better in LatAm than we are!
Doug