I argued recently on lbo-talk that radicals should not concern themselves
with the far-rightists who have been pushed into lunacy by the steady
right-ward move of the DP, leaving no room for even minimally rational
opposition to their right. Our concern as radicals is expanding the number
of radical activists & enlarging local left groups; and it is the DP which
is our enemy there. This is of course especially visible in election years.
I refer not to the mass of voters but to those radicals who fall for the
"lesser evil" line, and give their time & energy to the DP. 

 

In the years before Wisconsin, in the decades in which, to borrow a phrase
from Tolkien, we fought the long defeat. But new possibilities opened up
after Wisconsin, as became startlingly visible in the nationwide and even
worldwide response to OWS. There have been many horrors of police violence
against Blacks during the past decade, some worse than the Troy Davis or
Trayvon Martin case: the immense nationwide reaction to these cases showed
the impact of Wisconsin on local activists. In the 1970s the Normal Fired
Department went to jail for 40 days for refusing to obey an injunction. Near
the end of the 40 days the city contracted with a private firefighting
company called Eagle, which sent three men. When word got around on the
location where one was staying, a crowd of well over a thousand gathered,
and the man left town. (Later on a local judge, refusing to extend the
injunction, noted that the Eagle had flowen.)  Time magazine published a
story on the jailing. What happened around the nation? Nothing. What would
happen now if such an event in a little hick town (such as Normal was then)
occurred? There would be demonstrations all over. 

 

My point: We need more local activists, desperately, because the world is
opening up for us, and we need to exploit that opening. There aren't enough
of us - and the reason is the pull of the More Effective Evil (Black
Agenda's label for Obama) on so many who might be giving their thinking and
their energy to building the radical left movement in this country. And it
is the horror at the 'danger' of the lunatic left that attracts them, not
the positive appeal of the DP. We've got to discipline ourselves to just
ignore the Republicans and their lunatic supporters. Keep our eye on the
prize.

 

Carrol

 

  _____  

From: Science for the People Discussion List
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Phil Gasper
Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2012 10:52 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Can You Understand the Republican Brain?

 

http://truth-out.org/news/item/8564-can-you-understand-the-republican-brain?