James Petras wrote the following things as early as in 1998 in an essay "Identity Politics and Democratic Concept"; he has elaborated on the tendency of the so called Post-Marxists' denial of classes and class struggle . In order to lend legitimacy to the neo-liberal political and social structures, class-collaborative answers are often offered as solution for problems of social transformation; for this, a politics defined and dictated solely by identities is put in place to discredit class struggle as obsolete:-
"..In “post-industrial” society, some post-Marxists argue, the source of power is in the new information systems, the new technologies and those who manage and control them. Society, according to this view, is evolving toward a new society in which industrial workers are disappearing in two directions: upward into the “new middle class” of high technology and downward into the marginal “underclass”. Marxists have never denied the importance of racial, gender and ethnic divisions within classes. What they have emphasised, however, is the wider social system which generates these differences and the need to join class forces to eliminate these inequalities at every point: work, neighborhood, family. What most Marxists object to is the idea that gender and race inequalities can and should be analysed and solved outside of the class framework: that landowner women with servants and wealth have an essential “identity” with the peasant women who are employed at starvation wages; that Indian bureaucrats of neo-liberal governments have a common “identity” with peasant Indians who are displaced from their land by the free market economic policies. For example, Bolivia has an Indian vice-president presiding over the mass arrest of cocoa-growing Indian farmers. Identity politics in the sense of consciousness of a particular form of oppression by an immediate group can be an appropriate point of departure. This understanding, however, will become an “identity&148; prison (race or gender) isolated from other exploited social groups unless it transcends the immediate points of oppression and confronts the social system in which it is embedded. And that requires a broader class analysis of the structure of social power which presides over and defines the conditions of general and specific inequalities. The essentialism of identity politics isolates groups into competing groups unable to transcend the politico-economic universe that defines and confines the poor, workers, peasants, employees. Class politics is the terrain within which to confront “identity politics” and to transform the institutions that sustain class and other inequalities. Classes do not come into being by subjective fiat: they are organised by the capitalist class to appropriate value. Hence, the notion that class is a subjective notion, dependent on time, place and perception confuses class and class consciousness. While the former has objective status, the latter is conditioned by social and cultural factors. Class consciousness is a social construct which, however, does not make it less “real” and important in history. While the social forms and expressions of class consciousness vary, it is a recurring phenomenon throughout history and most of the world, even as it is overshadowed by other forms of consciousness at different moments (that is, race, gender, national) or combined with them (nationalism and class consciousness). It is obvious that there are major changes in the class structure, but not in the direction that the post-Marxists point to. The major changes have reinforced class differences and class exploitation, even as the nature and conditions of the exploited and exploiter classes has changed. There are more temporary wage workers today than in the past. There are many more workers employed in unregulated labour markets (the so-called informal sector today) than in the past. The issue of unregulated exploitation does not describe a system that “transcends” past capitalism: it is the return to nineteenth century forms of labour exploitation. What requires new analysis is capitalism after the welfare populist state has been demolished. This means that the complex roles of states and parties which mediated between capital and labour have been replaced by state institutions more clearly and directly linked to the dominant capitalist class. Neo-liberalism is unmediated ruling class state power. Whatever the “multiple determinants” of state and regime behavior in the recent past, today the neo-liberal model of accumulation depends most directly on centralised state control horizontally linked to the international banks to implement debt payments and to export sectors to earn foreign exchange. Its vertical ties to the citizen as subject and the primary link is through a repressive state apparatus and para-statal “NGOs” who defuse social explosions..." "..Intellectually, the post-Marxists are the intellectual policemen who define acceptable research, distribute research funds and filter out topics and perspectives that project class analysis and struggle perspectives. Marxists are excluded from the conferences and stigmatised as “ideologists” , while post-Marxists present themselves as “social scientists”. The control of intellectual fashion, publications, conferences and research funds provide the post-Marxists with an important power basebut one ultimately dependent on avoiding conflict with their external funding patrons The critical Marxist intellectuals have their strength in the fact that their ideas resonate with the evolving social realities. The polarisation of classes and the violent confrontations are growing, as their theories predict. It is in this sense that the Marxists are tactically weak and strategically strong vis-a-vis the post- Marxists.." "..There are more Latin American billionaires with the bulk of their funds in us and European banks than ever before. Meanwhile, entire provinces have become industrial cemeteries and the countryside is depopulated. The us has more military advisers, drug officials and federal police directing Latin American “policing” than ever before in history. Yet we are told by some former Sandinistas and ex- Farabundistas that anti-imperialism/imperialism disappeared with the end of the Cold War. The problem, we are told, is not foreign investments or foreign aid but their absence and they ask for more imperial aid.." ".. Intellectually, the post-Marxists are the intellectual policemen who define acceptable research, distribute research funds and filter out topics and perspectives that project class analysis and struggle perspectives. Marxists are excluded from the conferences and stigmatised as “ideologists” , while post-Marxists present themselves as “social scientists”. The control of intellectual fashion, publications, conferences and research funds provide the post-Marxists with an important power basebut one ultimately dependent on avoiding conflict with their external funding patrons. The critical Marxist intellectuals have their strength in the fact that their ideas resonate with the evolving social realities. The polarisation of classes and the violent confrontations are growing, as their theories predict. It is in this sense that the Marxists are tactically weak and strategically strong vis-a-vis the post- Marxists.." "..The structure and nature of NGOs with their “apolitical” posture and their focus on self-help depoliticises and demobilises the poor. They reinforce the electoral processes encouraged by the neo-liberal parties and mass media. Political education about the nature of imperialism, the class basis of neo-liberalism, like class struggle between exporters and temporary workers are avoided. Instead the NGOs discuss “the excluded”, the “powerless”, “extreme poverty”, “gender or racial discrimination” without moving beyond the superficial symptom, to engaging the social system that produces these conditions. Incorporating the poor into the neo-liberal economy through purely “private voluntary action”, the NGOs create a political world where the appearance of solidarity and social action cloaks a conservative conformity with the international and national structure of power. It is no coincidence that as NGOs have become dominant in certain regions, independent class political action has declined, and neo- liberalism goes uncontested. The bottom line is that the growth of NGOs coincides with increased funding from neo-liberalism and the deepening of poverty everywhere. Despite its claims of many local successes, the overall power of neo-liberalism stands unchallenged and the NGOs increasingly search for niches in the interstices of power." On Jul 24, 12:12 pm, sunil kumar <[email protected]> wrote: > Just a reminder about the seminar on idntity politic and Democracy > > Dear friends, > Please go through the detailed programme notice attatched. > > Sunilkumar > > > > > Welcome all > > > Seminar > > > Identity Politics and Democratic Concept > > > Organized by > > > Nava Janadhipathya Prasthanam (NDM) > > > 25th July (Sunday), 1.30 pm onwards > > > Venue: Public Library Hall, Kottayam > > > Speakers: > > > Dr. Geevarghese Mar Kurilose, > > > Prof. T M Yesudasan, > > > K. K. Kochu, > > > J. Reghu, > > > K. P. Sethunath, > > > K. Ambujakshan, > > > Dr. Shamshad Husain, > > > Reshma Bharadwaj, > > > Sunny M Kapikkad, > > > Dileep raj, > > > Dr. T. V. Sajeev > > > Rekha raj, > > > K. K. Baburaj, > > > K. Asharaf. > > > Programme notice attatched > > > K. Sunilkumar, > > > Convenor, > > > Nava Janadhipatya Prasthanam > > > mob: 9847072664 > > > For CSSC > > Shibi/Justin > > -- > > Centre for Social Studies and Culture (CSSC) > > C/o Prof. TM Yesudasan > > Thaiparambil > > Sachivothamapuram PO > > Kottayam- 686532 > > Ph. 0481 2430597 > > Mob. 9446201659, 8089520220 > > Email- [email protected] > > > -- > > 0091 9746339846 > > > -- > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > > "Green Youth Movement" group. > > To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. > > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > > [email protected]<greenyouth%[email protected]> > > . > > For more options, visit this group at > >http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB. > > > > notice.pdf > 63KViewDownload -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. 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