For a consistently democratic and internationalist left. (original) (raw)
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Times are changing, so strategies need to as well. These are some preliminary thoughts about new potential strategy for the left - includes discussion of Historical Institutionalism, Cultural Hegemony, Reform vs. Revolution, and Communicative Rationality
Left Unity: Manifesto for a Progressive Alliance
2020
Progressive politics is facing a crisis that has been several decades in the making. The ‘crisis of social democracy’ in the wake of the 1980s neoliberal revolution has been followed shortly afterwards by the demise of the liberal ‘end of history’ since the wars and financial crises of the 2000s. Rapid increases in the size, complexity, and fluidity of modern societies have disrupted old communities and identities, and brought new ones into being to challenge them. Cultural tensions have risen alongside older economic and political divisions to the forefront of ideological contests. The result has been a very specific form of polarisation: the resurgence of the far right, and a fragmentation of the left towards the centre and the extremes. To confront this crisis, the progressive left must reevaluate its approach to ideological and strategic competition. The last major precedent it has for what can happen when the left is fragmented and the right has turned towards extremism stems from one of the darkest periods of world history. The rise of fascism, the schism of the left between social democracy and communism, and the nadir of a disoriented liberalism eventually allowed bloodshed and destruction to take place on a scale never seen before. In this light, the contemporary left must work to overcome its divisions and bring about ideological unity across its various manifestations—socialist and liberal, green and anarchist, republican, regionalist, anti-racist, feminist, or pro-LGBTQ*. The left needs clear visions and proposals for how to combine its forces and face the tasks ahead with strength and determination. This book makes the case for today’s progressives to adopt a policy of ‘left unity’ across parties and all other parts of the left movement, and outlines strategies for how the contemporary left can start to build a ‘progressive alliance’. These strategies are inspired by the spirit of past efforts to achieve progressive unity, but they are motivated by the needs and possibilities of the crisis the left faces today. It is for progressives of all colours to learn from them what they can before it is too late.
REVIEW: 2016 "Socialist Register" takes aim at politics of the global right
With its 2016 edition, "The Politics of the Right," the Socialist Register has once again demonstrated why, after 52 years, it remains one of the premier international academic journals of the left. This year's issue brings together a collection of nineteen essays by scholars from around the world engaging with the pivotal challenges presented by the advance of the political right on every continent. For American readers facing record turnout numbers for Donald Trump during the primaries, the growth of billionaire-funded "grassroots" organizations, and the resurgence of racist extremism, this focus on the right danger and its connection to international trends is especially timely.
Needed: A New International for a Just Transition and Against Fascism
Journal of World-Systems Research
Mestrum draws from her extensive experience in the World Social Forum process to outline some of the reasons for past failures of left struggles to come together around the kind of fifth Internationale Amin proposes. A new Internationale, she argues “will require some serious and honest self-criticism and a downright rejection of all romanticism and naive utopianism…. we have to look for solutions beyond the easy slogans and assumptions.” Mestrum identifies important structural and ideological rifts in the global left. She is also wary of localized movements such as those advocated by Sklair, fearing that they could detract from the left’s ability to coalesce around a strong structural critique of globalized capitalism. What she sees as essential is the construction of “alter-globalist” identities and solidarity across issues and borders. This will require moving beyond abstract “anti-capitalist” ideology to build inter-connected campaigns that tackle the complex inter-connections a...
Book Review of Reclaiming the State: A Progressive Vision of Sovereignty for a Post-Neoliberal World by William Mitchell & Thomas Fazi. Pluto: London. Published in Journal of Extreme Anthropology. 2018. Vol. 2 No. 2.