I’m in awe of the masterful, though not surprised by the way you use the English vocabulary. It can make me laugh, but other times it pisses me off because of the truth that it implies. Why aren't you more popular with people not just on the left, but on the right as well is beyond me? Conceivably it’s on the factualness of what you write and the way the problems could be remedied.
Can't wait to read your next installment. Your reads are addicting. Ya- the system is f*#ked. The French had their revolution -off with their head-
-Liberty, egalite, fraternity- what came of that? Marxism :Been around for a long time...where's that got us lately. I think (maybe) you are trapped in your ony box and can't think your way out of it. Yes we need change but we shouldn't be looking in the past to find the answers that need fixing today. -that's the box your in Paul-
Can't wait til read your next installment. Your reads are addicting. Ya- the system is f*#ked. The French had their revolution -ofby with their head-
-Liberty, egalite, fraternity- what came of that? Marxism :Been around for a long time...where's that got us lately. I think (maybe) you are trapped in your ony box and can't think your way out of it. Yes we need change but we shouldn't be looking in the past to find the answers that need ficing today. -that's the box your in Paul-
The interview is richly consistent with my critique of the hyper-identitarian pathology.
Lulu Garcia-Navarro
...you say, “identity and positionality are misused to create a doom loop that undermines the effort to build political power.” Can you take me inside this doom loop? Can you give me an example of what it looks like? what have you seen?
Maurice Mitchell
Sure. So I’ve witnessed identity — whether that’s somebody’s gender identity or racial identity, one’s position, whatever it is — being weaponized in ways that were not useful for the work.
For example, I’ll use myself. So like I said before, I’m the son of Caribbean immigrants. I’ve been in conversations where we would be debating ideas, and then somebody might stand up and say, well, as a Black son of Caribbean immigrants, I think the organization should support candidate A. And then that would move the room in one direction or just shut debate down completely, when —
Lulu Garcia-Navarro
But why isn’t that —
Maurice Mitchell
— the thing that we needed most was to continue the debate.
Lulu Garcia-Navarro
So if I said, as a Latina whose parents didn’t graduate from high school, I think x, why is that a problem? Am I not centering my full self? Am I not saying where I come from so that people can have a sense of — a better sense that my experience informs my opinion?
Maurice Mitchell
It is not a problem, only in how you employ it. Oftentimes, people use that phrase to do the opposite of opening up. People use that phrase to close down and to almost suggest that, because I have these identities, because I’m a Black son of immigrants, that this is a mic drop, and my identity, in itself, establishes the legitimacy of my position, whereas your identity is a jumping-off point that could create greater awareness, more connection, the possibility of deeper curiosity and solidarity.
Oftentimes, people are misusing that. And so it’s not the fact of. I, as —
Lulu Garcia-Navarro
There could be two Black son of immigrants who have differing opinions, for example.
Maurice Mitchell
Absolutely. And look. I am Black. So is Clarence Thomas. So simply elevating my Black identity, as a totalizing argument for the legitimacy of my ideas, is, I think, a misassessment.
Love your stuff and look forward to everything you publish. You are dead on with your analysis of the DSA, and other so called "democratic socialists". As a former Green Party member, I can attest the same can be said of the Greens. The Greens for the most part are a bunch of upper middle class bourgeois liberals, interested in only reforming capitalism, and the existing system.
I also know there is a Marxist contingent within the DSA, who are continually debating whether to make a break from the organization. They are, unfortunately, too busy arguing to come up with a concensus.
There is a book you might want to look at, that presents a possible outline of what an alternative society would look like beyond capitalism and imperialism. Just do a search for a book called Socialist Reconstruction. There is lots out there on the web about it, including episodes on podcasts like This Is Hell. But as the authors of this book say, this book only presents one possible future, of a post capitalist America, anybody else is welcome to come up with their own scenario.
Would you be willing to name specific groups your are referring to when you talk about economic class reductionists, or are you just limiting yourself to trade unions? And by unions, are you referring to the established unions, that are simply wholly owned subsidaries of the Democratic Party, or are you talking about newer unions, like Starbucks, Amazon etc?
As you have written about in the past, it is very difficult not only to gather enough left unity to build a real left movement, but as we saw with BLM, and the post-George Floyd uprisings in 2020, any left movement gets co-opted in the cradle by the corporate Democrats. If you have any ideas as to how we can build movements that are too big to be taken over by the state, would you be willing to share them?
Can't wait to read your next installment. Your reads are addicting. Ya- the system is f*#ked. The French had their revolution -off with their head-
-Liberty, egalite, fraternity- what came of that? Marxism :Been around for a long time...where's that got us lately. I think (maybe) you are trapped in your ony box and can't think your way out of it. Yes we need change but we shouldn't be looking in the past to find the answers that need fixing today. -that's the box your in Paul-
Excellent essay Paul. Solid.
Brilliant, thank you. Identitarian ideology is also rampant here in Europe, but not as pathetic as in the US, at least for now.
I’m in awe of the masterful, though not surprised by the way you use the English vocabulary. It can make me laugh, but other times it pisses me off because of the truth that it implies. Why aren't you more popular with people not just on the left, but on the right as well is beyond me? Conceivably it’s on the factualness of what you write and the way the problems could be remedied.
Paul,
Can't wait to read your next installment. Your reads are addicting. Ya- the system is f*#ked. The French had their revolution -off with their head-
-Liberty, egalite, fraternity- what came of that? Marxism :Been around for a long time...where's that got us lately. I think (maybe) you are trapped in your ony box and can't think your way out of it. Yes we need change but we shouldn't be looking in the past to find the answers that need fixing today. -that's the box your in Paul-
Think outside the box Paul
Think beyond Marx
Love you
Paul,
Can't wait til read your next installment. Your reads are addicting. Ya- the system is f*#ked. The French had their revolution -ofby with their head-
-Liberty, egalite, fraternity- what came of that? Marxism :Been around for a long time...where's that got us lately. I think (maybe) you are trapped in your ony box and can't think your way out of it. Yes we need change but we shouldn't be looking in the past to find the answers that need ficing today. -that's the box your in Paul-
Think outside the box Paul
Think beyond Marx
Love you
An interview with Maurice Mitchell, the head of the Working Families Party (of which I am no particular fan, to be sure) went up on the NYT the same day as my essay above: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/26/opinion/the-left-purity-politics.html?showTranscript=1
The interview is richly consistent with my critique of the hyper-identitarian pathology.
Lulu Garcia-Navarro
...you say, “identity and positionality are misused to create a doom loop that undermines the effort to build political power.” Can you take me inside this doom loop? Can you give me an example of what it looks like? what have you seen?
Maurice Mitchell
Sure. So I’ve witnessed identity — whether that’s somebody’s gender identity or racial identity, one’s position, whatever it is — being weaponized in ways that were not useful for the work.
For example, I’ll use myself. So like I said before, I’m the son of Caribbean immigrants. I’ve been in conversations where we would be debating ideas, and then somebody might stand up and say, well, as a Black son of Caribbean immigrants, I think the organization should support candidate A. And then that would move the room in one direction or just shut debate down completely, when —
Lulu Garcia-Navarro
But why isn’t that —
Maurice Mitchell
— the thing that we needed most was to continue the debate.
Lulu Garcia-Navarro
So if I said, as a Latina whose parents didn’t graduate from high school, I think x, why is that a problem? Am I not centering my full self? Am I not saying where I come from so that people can have a sense of — a better sense that my experience informs my opinion?
Maurice Mitchell
It is not a problem, only in how you employ it. Oftentimes, people use that phrase to do the opposite of opening up. People use that phrase to close down and to almost suggest that, because I have these identities, because I’m a Black son of immigrants, that this is a mic drop, and my identity, in itself, establishes the legitimacy of my position, whereas your identity is a jumping-off point that could create greater awareness, more connection, the possibility of deeper curiosity and solidarity.
Oftentimes, people are misusing that. And so it’s not the fact of. I, as —
Lulu Garcia-Navarro
There could be two Black son of immigrants who have differing opinions, for example.
Maurice Mitchell
Absolutely. And look. I am Black. So is Clarence Thomas. So simply elevating my Black identity, as a totalizing argument for the legitimacy of my ideas, is, I think, a misassessment.
Are you really.
To me your essays sound like -that's where you are stuck-
I read you alot but we need modernity in thought.
Hello Paul,
Love your stuff and look forward to everything you publish. You are dead on with your analysis of the DSA, and other so called "democratic socialists". As a former Green Party member, I can attest the same can be said of the Greens. The Greens for the most part are a bunch of upper middle class bourgeois liberals, interested in only reforming capitalism, and the existing system.
I also know there is a Marxist contingent within the DSA, who are continually debating whether to make a break from the organization. They are, unfortunately, too busy arguing to come up with a concensus.
There is a book you might want to look at, that presents a possible outline of what an alternative society would look like beyond capitalism and imperialism. Just do a search for a book called Socialist Reconstruction. There is lots out there on the web about it, including episodes on podcasts like This Is Hell. But as the authors of this book say, this book only presents one possible future, of a post capitalist America, anybody else is welcome to come up with their own scenario.
Would you be willing to name specific groups your are referring to when you talk about economic class reductionists, or are you just limiting yourself to trade unions? And by unions, are you referring to the established unions, that are simply wholly owned subsidaries of the Democratic Party, or are you talking about newer unions, like Starbucks, Amazon etc?
As you have written about in the past, it is very difficult not only to gather enough left unity to build a real left movement, but as we saw with BLM, and the post-George Floyd uprisings in 2020, any left movement gets co-opted in the cradle by the corporate Democrats. If you have any ideas as to how we can build movements that are too big to be taken over by the state, would you be willing to share them?
Paul,
Can't wait to read your next installment. Your reads are addicting. Ya- the system is f*#ked. The French had their revolution -off with their head-
-Liberty, egalite, fraternity- what came of that? Marxism :Been around for a long time...where's that got us lately. I think (maybe) you are trapped in your ony box and can't think your way out of it. Yes we need change but we shouldn't be looking in the past to find the answers that need fixing today. -that's the box your in Paul-
Think outside the box Paul
Think beyond Marx
Love you