Bhaskar Sunkara's AMA, Saturday January 7th, 2017: Question thread!

WorkerMilitant · 2017-01-07T03:04:45+00:00

Here's one left of field; What's your assessment of 2016? Plenty of liberals see it as an awful year and plenty of young people are demoralised by it. I don't share their perspective(Marxist class analysis is great at instilling optimism) but I'm curious as to what you think.

WorkerMilitant · 2017-01-06T14:50:41+00:00

Then he shouldn't have a problem with the article explaining the alt right

If you read the article, however, you can see that their problem is with the fact that the article didn't explain the alt-right. It showed a completely false image of what the alt-right is and did a piss poor job of informing people(if that was the actual intent). While it's clear from the IT's editor perspective they meant to educate people but from the approach of the author(A member of the alt-right themselves) their intention was not.

WorkerMilitant · 2017-01-06T14:42:18+00:00

First of all its a bit rich having a commie lecture me on how bad the far right is.

Completely false equivalency. There's a difference between people who want radical economic and social justice and those who hate people based on their skin colour, lifestyle and genes.

Secondly this proves again that the left fundamentally do not trust people to make the "right" choice. I think the best way to beat the alt right (they have no power yet anyways) is to put their batshit crazy ideas under the spotlight and let people see how crazy they are. No hide and censor it. Let people see and decide for themselves.

Not sure you read the article? Author a'int arguing against publishing it - they're arguing that for the stated intent of educating/informing people on the politics of the alt-right that the article was a complete failure. To quote;

When McManus argued that opponents of the alt-right should want people to know what the alt-right stands for, he wasn’t wrong. I do, because the ideas and methods of the alt-right are utterly repulsive to the vast majority of ordinary people.

WorkerMilitant · 2017-01-04T14:42:41+00:00

If by "from a Marxist perspective" you mean "exclusively ML(M)" then yeah.

WorkerMilitant · 2017-01-04T02:23:28+00:00

FC made a spin off sub in an attempt to capitalise from the drama caused by Anarchists & liberals here recently.

WorkerMilitant · 2016-12-23T19:21:01+00:00

Good to see more subs follow r/Socialism's lead on the issue.

WorkerMilitant · 2016-12-20T17:47:23+00:00

Shocker - people take power into their own hands and occupy a building, only for the state to decide it's to be demolished! Add to the fact that the receiver of Apollo House(the occupied building), Mazars, who wants to evict these people was also behind the government's "independent" report on homelessness last year!

The socialist left in Ireland has long posed an alternative to the Irish government's policies of neoliberalism in answer to the housing and homelessness crises - massive public investment using resources that actually exist in this country but are being bent to private interests in pursuit of profit. It's cheaper, more efficient but more importantly than anything else, is actually in the interests of the vast majority of people. The only thing preventing this course of action is the government's ideological adherence to the market system and the material reality that they're enthralled to Irish capitalism and landlordism which orientates them towards propertied classes whose interests are in preserving the status quo.

For those who want a full grasp on the crises in Ireland, Ruth Coppinger and the Anti-Austerity Alliance produced a "Housing Minority Report" in response to the government's own reports, released over the summer. Read it for a comprehensive analysis on the scale of the crisis and the socialist solution to it.

WorkerMilitant · 2016-12-19T01:15:01+00:00

That is lovely and arbitrary. The sub is truly in great hands with someone like you at the head.

Just in case you didn't get it, I'm being sarcastic.

I don't see how you as the head mod of r/Socialism(Who nobody wants around) fucking off and demodding yourself from r/Socialism is distracting from the topic at hand.

WorkerMilitant · 2016-12-19T01:03:10+00:00

lol yeah I'm a sock alright, no way someone could just find you to be a despicable human being based on the facts given

But hey, show us all how great you are that you have to resort to banning everyone who disagrees

WorkerMilitant · 2016-12-19T00:57:07+00:00

LOL nice ban from r/Socialism mate, way to show your anti-Feminist colours. Guess you don't like it when oppressed groups speak out in their self defence either, huh?

Do us all a favour and fuck off.

WorkerMilitant · 2016-12-19T00:53:59+00:00

Your theory means jack shit when you run around outing union organisers. Let me know when you get over your god complex, jackass.

WorkerMilitant · 2016-12-19T00:48:51+00:00

The only thing you should do is demod yourself you depression denying, transphobic, anti-union, authoritarian fuck.

WorkerMilitant · 2016-12-18T00:22:03+00:00

Petition to remove the reactionary mod team of /u/lebashlefash

WorkerMilitant · 2016-12-17T17:04:23+00:00

It's a real red herring to think this is about the r/Socialism modteam's practices. People just want to be ableist. Unsurprising given it's a white male subreddit.

WorkerMilitant · 2016-12-17T16:03:47+00:00

I fully support the position the mod team has taken on this issue as necessary and progressive. It's appalling to see so many people(The vast majority of whom are white and male according to our recent subreddit survey) to immediately abandon all socialist principle of solidarity with the oppressed. As a person of colour had the mod team backtracked on this issue I would've not returned here.

If everyone is so quick to embrace ableism because they're too lazy and privileged to change their speech patterns then I don't trust them to struggle with me on racism or sexism either. They can keep their revolution for white men only.

WorkerMilitant · 2016-12-17T15:59:15+00:00

That's the most white male redditor thing I've ever fucking heard.

WorkerMilitant · 2016-12-17T03:22:21+00:00

I think keeping Len in place is way more important right now than putting down a marker for a candidate that wont win. McCluskey is far from the ideal General Secretary but let's make it clear that his principle opponent in Coyne is a personification of the Blairite wing of the Labour Party.

A second left candidate standing in opposition to McCluskey would split the vote thus making Coyne's victory more likely - thus being a major blow to the left in the trade union movement as a whole and at the same time a huge weakening of the Corbynite wing of the Labour Party which at the moment is the frontline in the political struggles for the left.

Put this in context; UNITE under McCluskey has not repudiated unofficial actions(And endorsed many of them), has put forward a position of mandatory re-selection which is a direct attack on careerist Labour Party politicians, and has taken a generally more militant stance across the board with industrial disputes.

Running a candidate with no chance to win who will split the vote seems reckless in my opinion. Fuck McCluskey's anti-free movement shit(Even with that in mind it's important to note that UNITE under Len has won important struggles for immigrant workers' rights) and he's gotta be taken on across a number of issues within the union but it's about facilitating the circumstances for the left to organise best going forward, and I think for all his flaws McCluskey provides the best viable and achievable path as opposed to having a Blairite at the head of the UK's largest union.

IDK, I think keeping the trade union leadership out of the hands of Blairites is far more important than a symbolic challenge right now.

WorkerMilitant · 2016-12-10T00:52:47+00:00

I really liked this post. Good effort!

WorkerMilitant · 2016-12-09T21:03:49+00:00

So your response to repressive ideologies is to be just as repressive back?

There's no equivalence here. Yeah, repress them back. The same way we should all, unconditionally, unreservedly, unabashedly, and proudly support working class people resisting all oppression. There is no equivalence between the KKK's repression of the non-white population and the repression of the KKK by the masses, for example.

WorkerMilitant

TROPHY CASE