when in doubt just stfu and listen. McCorkle Terence Diamond www.terencediamond.com 646-876-1700
*The sage does not hoard* *The more he helps others, the more he benefits himself.* *The more he gives to others, the more he gets for himself.* *The way of heaven always does one good and never does one harm.* *The way of the sage is to act but do not compete.* - Lao Tze On Tue, Jan 12, 2021 at 10:09 AM Dmytri Kleiner <[email protected]> wrote: > > So, I don't buy my ink by the barrel, so can't respond to everything in > this gish gallop, but I'll share my notes. > > - I'm the real narcissist, possibly crazy. > - Some boilerplate stuff about "us and them purism" > - I'm a tankie LARPer with "heroes" > - Some filler words about being more than "against capitalism" > - Broadly cast insults towards non-Bernie supporters, nihilistic street > fighters, confused clowns or paleo-Communist orgmen and women. > - US-centric filler words about what the right is doing. > - Yet more filler words about aesthetics. > - Some swipes at outdated leftist and dreamy anarchists. > - Some grandstanding about self-declared enemies and off duty cops with > guns. > - Comments on Capitol rioters as strategy > > I mean, the blovial density is impressive, but there is not much in the > above that I care to respond to, as it bears little relation to what I > wrote, which is fair enough, my text had little to do with what you > wrote. So maybe it was useful for you write this out, maybe others will > find it useful. > > In terms of strategy, you note: > > - Embracing Black, Brown and Indigenous leadership > > Now this is really key, I would add embracing the leadership of the > young, the queer and the formerly colonized to this. > > So what does embracing this leadership look like? > > For one, it must start with the practices promoted by Freire, McAlevey > and others. Which means listening to the problems as they describe them, > deferring to their organic leadership, and engaging dialogically, not > telling then what you think they should know and trying to improving > them by depositing your knowledge into their empty vessel. > > The key is not being a third party. The strategy you focus on is not > only US-centric, tho many Black, Brown and Indigenous people who are > harmed by the US are not in the US, but it's entirely propagandist in > Freire's words, it's all about explaining and convincing. It's a > disengaged, third party approach and that is doomed to fail. > > Also, in my experience, the black, brown,and indigenous people either in > the US or outside are far less likely to call me a tankie larper, so it > doesn't feel to me like you are really listening to them or even know > their point of view. > > You believe what they really need to do is listen to you. This is not > going to happen, so it's not much of a strategy. > > > - Political strategy is not a set of talking points > > Indeed it's not, yet all you offer is (lengthy and meandering) talking > points. > > Political strategy requires what McAlevey (drawing on Mills) calls a > power structure analysis, how are you going to force the opposition to > give you what you want? > > You mention the DSA in what I think was intended to be a positive light, > hard to tell given the proximity to various denouncements, so here is a > McAlevey Study Guide published by the DSA: > > > https://fund.dsausa.org/files/sites/10/2019/07/No-Shortcuts-Discussion-Guide-for-DSA-Fund-Website.pdf > > She distinguishes between the liberal and progressive theories of power > and endorses a proletarian theory instead. She explains why the liberal > and progressive practices, what she refers to as advocacy and > mobilizing, are shallow and ineffective, and calls for deep organizing, > which is rooted in the leadership and efforts of the workers themselves. > She strongly condemns third-party strategies rooted in explaining, > convincing, advocating, mobilizing, negotiating on behalf of, etc. > Freire would obviously approve. > > This is a real strategy, not a set of talking points. It is the strategy > of the left, and it's not new. > > - Convince well over 50% of society to make a change of course > > So there it is, "convincing." > > Your theory of power is propagandist in Freire's terms, not dialogical, > and your strategy is not a strategy, in McAlevey's terms, because it is > not rooted in the efforts of the workers themselves. > > But yes, it sure would be great if over 50% of society would believe > stuff like healthcare should be free, housing is a right, education > should be available to all, etc. > > But wait! Billions of people already do, yeah some in the US, but > billions in the global left, in China, Vietnam, North Korea, Cuba, quite > a few in Bolivia and Venezuala, and millions more in movements like MST > and unions like NUMSA, they already believe what you want to convince > people of! What's more, they have even won power and put much if it into > practice. This is why the liberal and progressive sections of the US > left are trained to hate and denounce them. > > Wouldn't it be great if the US left would join and work with the global > left rather than than throwing around cartoonish > cold-war-and-nazi-propaganda and rejecting and denouncing them at every > turn? > > Now, given what João Pedro wrote, quoted in a different response here, > about the rise of China and the new global possibilities this is opening > up, you might think that this should be taken into account in any talk > of, you know, a "strategy" for the left? > > Best, > > > On 2021-01-11 23:18, Brian Holmes wrote: > > > On Sun, Jan 10, 2021 at 3:57 PM Dmytri Kleiner > > > The point is to contribute to what's actually happening. > > -- > Dmytri Kleiner > @dmytri > # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission > # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, > # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets > # more info: http://mx.kein.org/mailman/listinfo/nettime-l > # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: [email protected] > # @nettime_bot tweets mail w/ sender unless #ANON is in Subject:
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