Serenity… refocus – seek joy – thrive

One puzzling question I’ve been seeing, reading various poliblogs, goes something like – where is the far Left in this country (U.S.)?

My immediate thought – well, it’s right here, in many on and offline communities of color, in Labor, in some feminism, in some liberalism. In other words, pretty much where it’s always been – but I guess it has even less of an audible voice than it had in times past if people are having to ask.

There are reasons for this that I’d like to explore (with access to those far more knowledgeable than I, when I am able) – from racism (consciously or unconsciously thinking that primarily the white left counts here – which is sort of true, in the way that banks like to (or used to) only lend money to those who don’t need it) to accomodationist (or just plain embarrassed by the margins, by the “identity groups”) Liberalism/Progressivism, to incessant right-wing rhetoric and more.

I also think one answer to the question of where the activist, political Left is may lie in the reason the question is asked in the first place: this Left, peopled often with those to whom issues are not so much a matter of policy or political strategy but of life or death, are sought out for the express purpose of being a type of foil to the mainstream left. Of having these same imperative issues brought forward so that they can be explicitly and loudly dismissed by the mainstream Left – which serves to make them (the mainstream) look moderate and “sane” – and serves the “far Left” not at all, that I can see. Or little, anyway.

So, I don’t know. Many I know, while not completely disdaining the political process, are not exactly enamored with their place on the dance card that’s been set out for them. Maybe some have decided not to dance to this tune at all.

Organizing within communities quietly and fiercely, using freely available (to some) tools such as the internet to communicate issues and needs – and successes and strategies – across national, political, religious, racial and ethnic lines instead of (or, at times, in addition to) agitating in the streets or the US Congress, may yet bring a better return for the far left in the US, and other places, than all the political theater of being the designated “fringe” can do.

None of this is to say, by the way, that I don’t agree that President Obama should be pushed from the left, or that I wouldn’t love to see a vibrant, activist and active politically relevant (and represented) class opening up huge spaces for Obama (and other politicians), not only pushing him leftward but providing an opening for him to move there – but with seats at the table, not as just more political theater, to be marginalized with little return.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 4th, 2010 at 11:40 am and is filed under culture and such, feminism, politics, questioning ramble. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.