Portside

Friends:

When (white) people talk about reaching out to/connecting to/working with working class people who did not oppose Trump, what exactly do they/we mean? It is a good sign that those on the left feel a need for building more real connections to those not part of or even opposed to progressive movements. And it is good that people feel greater urgency in this moment. How can this urgency be sustained? On what basis are these connections to be made, what forms of accountability need to be put in place or created? And, importantly, recognizing people’s economic and social needs cannot mean ignoring or excusing white supremacy, but it does mean understanding what allows those ideologies to persist and spread in this moment. This will necessarily mean going beyond analyzing statistics or demographic categories, it will mean speaking to people who are different from us and recognizing the limits of our own analyses.

In what ways has the (white) left been detached from reality? The assumption has been that the Great Recession precipitated in 2008 would move people to the left and yet the opposite has occurred. How do we make sense of that so that we can work more effectively? Further we should not assume that the failure of Trump’s policies will become obviously apparent to his constituents. If his supporters take him to be fighting for their causes, they will not easily desert him, unless their frames of reference are shifted.

1.If we accept that neoliberalism---according to Wikipedia “policies such as accessible narrative that clarifies this while also challenging the narrative that is currently dominant? How do we think that people understand their situation so that Trumpism seems like a positive alternative? What story are they telling themselves? What is it exactly that we have to say to people?

2.Why is the response to these economic difficulties to blame those with less power? Why has it been possible to so effectively deflect people’s outrage? How have we arrived at a situation in which people aren’t fazed by Klan support? Why did they accept and/or excuse Trump’s derogation of people of color and women?

3.What sort of “belonging” do people desire? Is it nostalgia for a time that never was; a resurgence of American exceptionalism? What is legitimate in these feelings?  How can we listen with empathy, and provide real alternatives?  What vacuum is Trump filling; what resonates in his message? 

4.What elements of people’s worldview do we want to challenge? How do we do so respectfully and without being condescending or patronizing? How do we challenge fantasies of the protective strong man that are resonant throughout the world (Putin, Erdogan, Duterte, and Netanyahu) and not only in the US? How do we challenge explicit and implicit notions of white supremacy that demonize people of color and prevent productive alliances from developing?

5.What connections already exist that we can build upon and what sort of organized relationships can we imagine developing? What are the most appropriate meeting grounds where people already have contact and in which there exists cross-race commonality as well as difference (e.g., schools, to some extent or in the “criminal justice system,” including prisons, where some whites are also directly impacted).  What are the most meaningful and realistic issues and approaches to broach?

6.What are people’s realistic commitments, ability to persevere? How might they be supported? Who are organizers accountable to? What forms of accountability need to be created?  In short, who are 'we'; and whom do 'we' represent?

7.If we are experiencing a combination of a crisis of legitimacy of neoliberalism and a resurgence of blatant white supremacist, misogynist, and nationalist ideologies, what is the relationship between the crisis and these ideologies? How can we understand how neoliberalism has fostered such resentments, how neoliberalism functions as a moral system that places the blame on individuals, and especially the poor, for their condition? Can understanding these connections help us to create a simultaneous critique of both neoliberalism and white and male supremacy?

8.How do we understand long-term trends in economic, social, and cultural conditions so that we can set realistic priorities? How can we ground ourselves in response to these trends? And how can we stay grounded while also seeking to push the limits of the debate and create space for more options and alternatives beyond the narrow limits of those currently being offered?

9.     Why does Trump’s election feel so inevitable in retrospect, but not predictable to most of us?

Durham, North Carolina-based social justice activists