[lbo-talk] New New Left

[Carrol Cox]

I think we are close enough together that we could probably argue
productively rather than score debating points. I'm too tired to think it
through further tonight though.

Carrol

-----Original Message-----
From: lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org [mailto:lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org]
On Behalf Of Jordan Carroll
Sent: Wednesday, November 09, 2011 5:10 PM
To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] New New Left

Right. The New Left does not equal Black Block anarchism, which does not
equal OWS. But they each seem contain elements that believe that action
should (somehow) precede theory and organization.

And Mailer's description of the Cuban revolution completely romantic.

I agree that we shouldn't try to theorize the future in a prescriptive and
premature way, but I'm not sure if this is just a disease of "detached
theorists." Those directly involved in protest have their own highly
theoretical notions of what will happen next (e.g., OWS as
"prefigurative"). Norman Mailer, marching on the Pentagon, imagines himself
as an heir to Castro and asserts that his (supposedly) structureless action
will produce the same success, even as he claims to be agnostic. The
details might not be sketched out in bad utopian fashion, but occupying a
park or spray painting a Whole Foods supermarket also imply some kind of
preconceived, albeit implicit, speculations about the future.

Jordan S. C.
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