Portside

Reader Comments: Italy Unions Refuse to Load Saudi Ship; Eyewitness Report: Venezuela Up Close; The Strange Workings of Identity and Adolph Reed Jr.; Boeing Allowed to Decide What Planes Are Safe?; Socialism; Announcements - Chicago, New York, DC

I personally find characterizations of Reed as a class-reductionist to be quite confusing. Far from trying to bolster an economistic, class-reduction understanding of the world, Reed has gone out of his way to do the opposite.

Total Culture War; Parkland + 1; Greta Thunberg; That NYT Cartoon; "Cultural Marxism"; White Identity; Voters Think!

Methodist melee; Smearing Omar; Jewish jihad; Hating AOC; Abrams on idpol; Poverty and politics; Chait meets Sunkara

It’s often argued that centering economics means abandoning racial or other identity groups that have fought hard for well-deserved political leverage. But political messaging is not a zero-sum game. The question is not “identity politics or economic justice,” but how to adopt a complementary union of the two.

Dissonance created by a certain conception of identity: if we believe that “women and people of color” are defined entirely by their identities, it becomes impossible to understand how anyone who shares the identity could reject a candidate who fits that identity. Once the distinction between perspective and identity is erased, voters of color become an undifferentiated hive mind incapable of political independence.

In this roiling environment, it may seem that debate over “identity politics” is of relatively little consequence. But it is, in fact, central to how the Democratic Party and progressives approach 2018 and 2020, and to whether and how the party regroups to become an effective shield against the far-right onslaught. It is of enormous importance to a left that must focus its influence on shaping the political frameworks and strategies most capable of defeating Trumpism.