[lbo-talk] On Theorizing the Demand for Demands

Carrol Cox cbcox at ilstu.edu
Mon Oct 24 15:29:39 PDT 2011


"What's worth fighting for" gets you almost there. But the really difficult part is finding the 'demand' that will bring people to the streets in large numbers (and in some ways even more important) bring new people to the planning sessions. If one operates from social analysis ("data"_ will lead you to a deeper understanding of what 'should' be or what is 'needed' to 'improve' conditions; but there is no

necessary connection whatever between the 'goals' so selected and the slogans that will attract people to the fight -- that will not only attract them but will energize their participation. And it seems at present there is only _one_ 'demand' that will fulfill that purpose: Resist the Corporate Attack on Democracy. We can perhaps build a movement around that, and the energy unleashed within such a movement is the desire to know and to understand, AND THEN, but only then, can we begin to 'get back to' the demands "worth fighting for." In an ideal world the "demands needed" would coincide with the "demands worth fighting for," but if it were an ideal world we would not be in the business of trying to destroy it.

Carol

On 10/24/2011 2:04 PM, 123hop at comcast.net wrote:
> Mostly agreeing with Carrol.
>
> I have been pondering my list, which would not be titled demands but "What's worth fighting for."
>
> -- The end of the wars.
>
> -- The dismantling of the police state and the closure of prisons.
>
> -- Free health care [nationalization of pharma; accountability/transparency of medical procedures and drugs]
>
> -- Free education [organized around skills and enlightenment; includes child care]
>
> -- Stewardship of the earth [sustainable/organic development, clean up of toxic env, development of non polluting energy sources]
>
> -- Public support for the arts
>
> -- Something about immigration -- not sure what.
>
> -- Meaningful work available to all. Meaningful both in the sense as necessary (waste disposal) and in the sense of the development and refinement of human beings.
>
> ....
>
> Joanna
>
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