The use of the term "left" in politics goes way back to the French Revolution if not before. The "Left" are those who wish to empower and enfranchise everyone on a more or less equal basis, and oppose the tyranny imposed on them by the wealthy and through institutions which serve the wealthy best. While government and religion are included in these institutions, the self conscious deep left does not ignore that the primary source of oppression is the institution of property itself, and the existance of property ultimately corrupts all other social institutions.
I have chosen the left as my side.
But over the past 100 years, the left has been defamed. Authoritarians have re-defined communism and socialism in their own terms, and the Right has been happy to accept these definitions. Thus in many people's minds the far left is authoritarian and anti-democratic. That is not my Deep Left or the one most actual leftists ascribe to.
Meanwhile, identity politicians, often responding to very real oppression but without a universal vision, have also re-defined the Left for their own purposes. But identity politics is not unifying, it is fragmenting, and it is not a framework that will ever work for the left, because WE must stick together, that is the only way We can win.
This blog will attempt to find the deep left that gets to the roots of freedom, that appeals to universal rights rather than identity politics, and that embraces democracy and not authoritarianism.
No comments:
Post a Comment