On 2012-01-10, at 6:48 AM, shag carpet bomb wrote:
> thanks to Jeff for pointing this out. Thought it was most excellent, especially since I just finished up O/R Press's Occupying Wall St. which has some excellent descriptions of some of the behind the scenes machinations, all of which make even the most sympathetic commentary from those who aren't actually involved look, well, idiotic (heh - inthe Greek sense of the word. lol)
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> From Boots' FB status:
>
> <http://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10150516738123664&id=520078663>http://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10150516738123664&id=520078663
>
> Ok. This may piss off some friends.
>
> I think that if you're an academic writing published critiques of modern day mass movements, the only way to be honest and scientific in your critique is to be involved, on a day-to-day basis, in organizing some kind of mass movement.
>
> Otherwise- even if you are a "left" academic, the only thing you are doing is telling people why they shouldn't be involved in a movement while showing that the best thing to do is to simply remain an academic. Yes, you may point to the way other movements in the past did it better. Those movements faced critiques from academics who refused to be involved in movements as well…
The hostility of Riley and his fans to left academics is too indiscriminate. To be sure, there are any number who are not shy about painting themselves in varying hues of red and black but whose only contact with protest movements is through books and conferences with like-minded members of the professoriat. These academics are seldom engaged enough with contemporary movements to want to offer tactical advice or criticism. But there many left academics and intellectuals who may not themselves be "involved on a day to day basis in organizing some kind (!) of mass movement" but who know many activists who who are and who identify strongly with these movements and study them.
I regularly came in contact with them when I was active in the unions and various movements, and, far from scorning them, we considered them comrades even if they were not in the streets with us. Many of them had been active at some point in these causes and understood them. In most cases, they maintained attachments to the far left and social democratic parties, and continued to draw indirectly on the practical lessons younger activists were learning in the mass organizations. They had the experience and the opportunity to reflect on the dynamics of protest that we didn't, and their contributions were as important as ours, perhaps more so, though the unity of theory and practice eschews giving primacy to one or the other. In any case, I can't measure the debt I owed to those Marxist historians, sociologists, economists, political scientists, and other academics who shaped my world view and understanding of the mechanics of social change, and thereby my effectiveness as an activist.
I don't think things have changed much in this respect. It's unfortunate that mass-based left parties no longer exist to provide an indispensable common home and laboratory for intellectuals and militants to exchange views. The chaotic blogosphere is an imperfect substitute, but it still provides this generation of serious and politically sophisticated left academics and intellectuals with a huge mass of information about contemporary protest movements and the opportunity to interact with their organizers. It's grossly misleading to suggest they remain cocooned in their offices , impervious to what is happening in the streets. The Occupys, for example, were well attended by many left academics and intellectuals who would not ordinarily describe themselves as activists, and many have reported widely and well about what they observed. This profile would fit most of the contributors to this list, including those who have persisted in taking cheap shots at Doug for being an "armchair leftist". Yet it was Doug who was invited to speak at OWS, along with a slew of other left-wing academics and intellectuals of the kind derided by Riley. I expect there are many young militants who are benefitting more from what they've contributed through their blogs and books than from the empty moralizing of the "activistists" who regularly excoriate left-wing intellectuals for not laying down their laptops in favour of picket signs and bricks.