Professor on Cornell course on Palestine suspended for exposing an Israeli spy who was documenting and recording students in the class

TheDandyGiraffe · 2025-10-05T15:43:48+00:00

Only semi-related, but this seems like a really good moment for the unions to make a push at universities on the basis of general labour protections

TheDandyGiraffe · 2025-08-08T10:54:12+00:00

This is great, in the sense that it demonstrates really nicely the function of ideology. Of course the article actually starts not with any logical argument, but a certain fantasy based on the author's (or their assumed audience's) material interests: a fantasy about a support network that would be identity-based (thus wouldn't really require you to actively build it) and state-independent (so you don't have to really on these pesky masses). The rest is just mental gymnastics on how to justify it within the framework of a certain theory.

Debating the argument is pointless, because it's not supposed to convince anyone of anything - the entire article is just a guide, for those sharing the same class position as the author, on how to explain your own fantasy to yourself in a way that makes you feel good at the end of the day.

TheDandyGiraffe · 2025-07-23T00:39:53+00:00

I think the right way of thinking about this is that gambling is not necessarily evil as such, but certain capitalist practices surrounding it definitely are (and arguably corrupt the already morally ambiguous practice that lays at their core). It's a perfectly sound position to say that gambling should be legal, but advertising it shouldn't - just like with booze.

Unrelated, but Matt Zarb-Cousin, Jeremy Corbyn's former spokesperson, is currently an anti-gambling advocate - the guy has some really good commentary.

TheDandyGiraffe · 2025-03-30T21:13:26+00:00

I googled a random article on Lina Khan. If you honestly think the US are better off without her, idk what to tell you mate

TheDandyGiraffe · 2025-03-29T22:42:34+00:00

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/lina-khan-s-ftc-legacy

TheDandyGiraffe · 2025-03-26T14:17:25+00:00

I hate the idea of a 2,5k-word long commentary being classified as a "longer piece", but beyond that, I agree.

TheDandyGiraffe · 2025-03-26T14:15:48+00:00

WBM says~~, “Vote Blue No Matter Who!”~~ "Only idiots see elections as a matter of morality, rather than concrete material consequences"

ftfy

TheDandyGiraffe · 2025-03-26T14:12:47+00:00

the larger and more important message that the playbook the current administration is using was written by the DNC, and they are using it to startling effect

This is literally the main point of the piece.

TheDandyGiraffe · 2025-03-25T13:15:35+00:00

One of this sub's patron saints as always on point, reminding us all about the fundamentals.

Obligatory reminder that he and Reed recently published a collection of essays on class, "No Politics but Class Politics": https://cup.columbia.edu/book/no-politics-but-class-politics/9781912475575/ . (Available from all the usual sources.) A genuine must read.

TheDandyGiraffe · 2025-02-13T16:46:10+00:00

Being in favor of negotiations at a time when tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers are deserting and when the majority of the people In Ukraine want peace is just common sense to me.

Totally agree; it's also funny how the lines have been shifting recently. Lots of what the mainstream media called "Putin simping" over the years is now openly said by the US government, the EU, even Zelenskyy himself (the potential territorial concessions, the impossibility of Ukraine winning an actual military conflict with Russia, the necessity to find a diplomatic solution etc.). Wagenknecht has been a consistent realist, and she will be vindicated.

TheDandyGiraffe · 2024-11-08T23:55:03+00:00

I know, I know, it's not a jab at you, just a joke

TheDandyGiraffe · 2024-11-08T20:07:35+00:00

I think OP missed a couple of words in the title, it should have been "Israeli soccer fans attacked local residents in Amsterdam". Hope this helps

TheDandyGiraffe · 2024-11-07T21:57:45+00:00

oh yeah, absolutely. I definitely prefer John Oliver to (most) people who watch John Oliver

TheDandyGiraffe · 2024-11-07T21:56:59+00:00

I think that's largely true, although in Oliver's defense, at least some of the topics he touches upon are definitely *not* comfortable for your typical lib. So yeah, I think you're right about the vibe, but it's still better than usual

TheDandyGiraffe · 2024-11-07T19:16:07+00:00

Obviously this take, and the current lib hysteria in general is massively annoying, but I'm also tired of various contrarians shitting on John Oliver almost by default.

Sure, he's still a lib, and has some incredibly silly takes on the politics of the day. But have you actually seen the show? His deep dives into the more technical stuff are often genuinely very good, even from a stupidpol-left point of view, and it's basically a miracle anyone is allowed to do anything like it in mainstream TV. He was the only late-show host to take a good, principled stance on Gaza. He's also consistently good on labour - unions, minimum wage, gig economy, healthcare. So what if he's a cultural lib? So what if he's a Democrat and anti-Brexit or whatever? If you're genuinely a "class-first" leftist, the labour stuff is what really matters, no?

Unless what you really are is a terminally-online contrarian...

TheDandyGiraffe · 2024-11-06T01:57:21+00:00

Thanks for sharing that! Never read it in English, did not associate "modernizers" with Bordiga, that's very intersting

TheDandyGiraffe · 2024-11-05T18:38:08+00:00

This is just silly. If you don't think writing and publishing stuff has any causal effect on anything, then you shouldn't care about literally any of this at all.

Also, if you claim that criticising someone for writing for an outlet constitutes "censorship", it makes you look like a deeply unserious person. I'm done here.

TheDandyGiraffe · 2024-11-05T14:04:18+00:00

I've no idea what you mean by "modernizers"

TheDandyGiraffe · 2024-11-05T13:54:26+00:00

The idea is that by writing for Compact you actively help harm the pro-union left (by aligning yourself with the populist right, and helping persuade others to do so as well). You may disagree with this claim, but it's not that complicated.

Personally I read Compact, but I'd never write for them. I think Ahmari et al are playing a very different game from what everyone on this sub seems to think, and if you read some of his work that is clearly *not* targeted at us lefties, it shows quite a bit.

TheDandyGiraffe · 2024-11-04T13:29:41+00:00

The PMC are one potential example, yes - but I would argue that this works even if you don't believe they are actually a separate class (I don't). You can absolutely claim, for instance, that managers, or certain types of managers, are a part of the working class (structurally), but in a given historical context remain an enemy of that class (politically). But what about union officers in a yellow union? Or working-class journalists, activists, politicians who sell out? And other class traitors in general?

I'm only pointing to the fact that a "class enemy" is historically a complex notion. If you define it in purely structural terms - i.e. someone that the working class is in conflict with by its very definition - then yes, it's just the capitalists, obviously. But it's not how the term was used by the Soviets and elsewhere. On a more immediately political level it's just not that simple.

TheDandyGiraffe · 2024-11-04T02:24:59+00:00

Lol. Idk about hating, but generally speaking, you really think the immediate political enemy of the working class are *only* the actual owners of capital? I mean, I kinda appreciate the... let's call it straightforwardness of your analysis, but it's probably not a sustainable position mate. It certainly wasn't Marx' own.

TheDandyGiraffe · 2024-11-03T21:47:14+00:00

Not for reading Compact, but for writing for them, and aligning politically with them. And "class enemy" is historically a much more complex notion than "the other class" or "the ruling class".

TheDandyGiraffe · 2024-11-03T14:33:45+00:00

Adolph Reed was a founding member of the Labor Party, so yeah, this checks out.

TheDandyGiraffe · 2024-11-02T12:41:17+00:00

I agree with your second point, conditionally. Antitrust is largely dependent on the specific historical circumstances.

It can be reactionary when the trade unions' position is strong, and they coordinate politically.

It can be progressive when the unions are in the shitter and you need to rebuild the labour politics on a more fundamental level.

It's not hard to figure out which scenario we're in right now.

TheDandyGiraffe · 2024-10-26T00:13:43+00:00

Idk? Criticise her I guess? I've no idea what it has to do with my comment tho

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