On 2012-02-06, at 9:11 AM, shag carpet bomb wrote:
> ...while it may be true that doug's personality is inclined toward non
> participation, a preference for not actually getting involved much…
True to whom - you and two or three others? Doug can speak for himself if he thinks it's worth the bother, but he's never struck me as someone who is "not inclined" to engage in demos, marches, and other standard protest activity, even if his most valuable contribution, as one of the few public intellectuals on the US far left, has been to raise the political consciousness of a broader liberal and radical audience through his books, articles, radio show, and newsletter. I didn't think it would need saying here that political education constitutes a higher form of "political participation", but I guess this is what Doug had in mind when he wrote about the limitations of anarchist-influenced "activistism", which has its admirers on this list. Ironically, it's been my experience that those who theorize most about "praxis" are those who have the least to show in the way of participation in working class organizations of any size or influence.