writing a new piece, which led me to thinking about this, so I thought I'd share: I'm a "generation X" person. this is not news, of course...
...but, as a young person (in my 20s), I identified as a Green (this was pre-Jill Stein awfulness). and most of my generational cohorts identified that or as anarchists...
...very few of us identified as socialists or communists, despite overlapping philosophies/goals. And it wasn't because we despised those ideologies per se...
...rather, it's that *my* cohort was #LGBTQ+. and in that day, if you were openly queer, #socialists & #communists would lecture you about how "homosexuality was a bourgeoisie vice!"
...and they would say that to make it clear that 1) you weren't welcome, or 2) force you to stay closeted or repent, which would conveniently create the appearance that there were no queer socialists/communists, and that it really was a bourgeoisie thing!
...I've been thinking about this a lot lately because many of my younger #LGBTQ+ friends (& some older ones) are DSA nowadays. I'm glad that they can participate now. but to be clear, their participation is allowed now, not because #socialism is awesome...
...but because of f-ing "identity politics!" (I hate that phrase, for reasons I'm writing about, but let's just call it LGBTQ+-centered social justice #activism)...
...we (the LGBTQ+ community) worked together *collectively* (because the second word in "identity politics" that everyone ignores is *politics*) to make it safe to be queer. this was f-ing *materialist* work...
...in that it materially allowed us to exist & have lives & have jobs & access healthcare & not have to f-ing die or disappear for the sake of the dominant/majority's fragile snowflake sensibilities... (yeah, I said snowflake)
...anyway, I'm writing about bad leftist takes on ID-politics. you know the ones: where we all focus on economic issues (instead of that "divisive" IP shit) and a rising tide lifts all boats! ...or wait, is that trickle down economics that lifts all boats? I always forget...
...suffice it to say, focusing solely on economic issues won't help everyone. not by a long shot. we need anti-racism to end racism, anti-sexism to end sexist, anti-ableism to end ableism. & so forth...
...in other words, we need what y'all dismiss as "identity politics." & some IP is misused or goes too far, as I've written about extensively: juliaserano.blogspot.com/2016/07/activi…
...but some socialism is misused or goes too far, such as (as described at start of this thread) those who insisted that LGBTQ+ people were merely engaging in a bourgeoisie vice!
...socialists are always talking about the importance of working collectively. But those who want to jettison "IP" are sending clear signals that they do not view us as part of their potential collective...
I have been working for over a decade (see writings at top of this thread) to make "identity politics" more inclusive & constructive. I'm not the only one; there are many of us...
I'd love see a movement that's truly (not superficially) intersectional - one that is focused on economic class, but also other forms of marginalization. I think that it is not only possible, but it's the only way forward if we want to create lasting positive change in the world.
this tweet encapsulates both the failings of pure economic-class-activism & single-issue-IP. let's do better!
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