It seems like now is a good time to have a conversation about finding common ground between the various factions of left/progressive folks. I know this isn’t a new topic but maybe it’s worth revisiting.
What are the sticking points and what can we all agree on in the context of current-day politics?
Adding some things I think any leftist should be able to agree on:
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Capitalism has been a strong negative influence on human existence
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People who look, act and live differently from you deserve exactly the same human rights as you, even if they make you uncomfortable
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Health care, food, water, and housing are human rights
My views would not be popular,
I continue to vote blue no matter who.
But I feel like the knee jerk reactions cause too many “babies to be thrown out with the bath water”
We expect perfection, we’re against perverts and deviants who believe they have a higher power on their side that blesses their"leadership"to get away with whatever they want.
Some things are not eligible for compromise. Human rights are non negotiable. We can debate about voting systems and trade policy but the only other is those who aren’t willing to treat the least privileged members of society the way they want to be treated.
When you refuse to support the lesser of two evils you get the worse outcome. I don’t like it, but as long as one side remains unified there will never be more than a 2 party system,
Don’t get me wrong, I am not talking about the recent thing we’re all doing our best not to panic spiral about. I’m talking about common ground in shared spaces and future politics.
Unfortunately, I think this is herding cats.
I wish I felt otherwise.
That’s a good way to look at it. You don’t herd cats, you show them something they want and they’ll herd themselves independently :)
The problem is that, while getting there, all the cats tear themselves to pieces for not being cat enough to really want it.
Left Unity isn’t about being ride or die together, it’s about aligning on issues you can and discussing issues you can’t. Marxists and Anarchists, for example, have a different end goal in mind. Marxists want a centrally planned, publicly owned economy with a democratically controlled government, while Anarchists want a horizontal, decentralized network of cooperatives and Mutual Aid Networks. You’re going to run into disagreements, because their analysis of Capitalism has different conclusions and as such their end goals are different.
That’s why we need to work together on things we do align on, like Palestinian liberation, anti-fascism, and anti-Capitalism.
We should also read more theory. Having a better understanding of our problems and how we believe they can be fixed is the key to any struggle. I keep a “Read Theory, Darn It!” beginner reading list on Marxism if anyone wants it, let me know if you have any questions.
“I don’t want to belong to any club that would accept me as one of its members.”
— Groucho MarxValid
I look at it this way: Republicans have been sticking to their guns with consistent messaging for decades, no matter how crazy people thought they were. Rather than trying to “court moderates,” the Dems need to come up with a properly progressive platform and FUCKING STICK TO IT like the GOP did for all those years. Their messaging needs to be consistent and constant.
What I’m really driving at, is how can we have a shared culture that is safe for Marxists, anarchists, and people who would define themselves as Liberal? That was uncomfortable to type, but in order to affect material change we have to learn to speak each other’s languages and treat each other with empathy, while remaining open minded and learning from each other. It doesn’t advance any cause to dunk on each other for Internet points.
The tricky part is where is the line drawn? Some ‘anarchists’ are just accelerationists. Some MLs are just Soviet flavored conservatives. Some Liberals value the system itself more than marginalized people.
I propose that the shared value we all have is empathy. Regardless of how you felt about voting for Kamala - or whether you feel the system must be improved or destroyed - if you want to see the lives of marginalized people (and by extension, all of us) improve, we should be able to find common ground.
