tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6058072377999486184.post1833613559534542858..comments2023-12-29T18:13:21.495-06:00Comments on pink scare: Pushing the Struggle Forward in GreeceUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6058072377999486184.post-56419443956834025652012-05-21T10:39:48.705-05:002012-05-21T10:39:48.705-05:00I do think electoral intervention is a viable tool...I do think electoral intervention is a viable tool that revolutionaries can and should be willing to use in the right conditions. But in the contemporary US, the electoral cards are stacked massively against the Left. From the ruling-class funding of campaigns to the winner-take-all procedures, it is damned near impossible to even make a dent in the two-party straight-jacket by playing within the rules of the game. That's assuming you can even get on the ballot.<br /><br />Electoral-oriented strategies in the US are generally nothing but a recipe for demoralization and defeat. The lesser-evil argument is also strengthened by giving left-leaning people the (false) impression that elections are the primary sites of political struggle. <br /><br />Of course, if a broad-based Left electoral challenge to the Democrats was on the horizon, and it had the ability to genuinely throw a wrench into the two-party straitjacket and shatter the connection between labor and the Dems, then I would support it. But my support would come with the HUGE caveat that such an intervention was absolutely not a substitute for extra-electoral struggle. On the contrary, an electoral Left challenge to the Democrats would only be possible if it was built upon a massive extra-electoral movement that raised demands in excess of what the Dems could deliver. <br /><br />If there are, in some cases, advantages to electoral interventions, there are also huge dangers and costs as well. In the US, those costs include demobilizing movements, thwarting struggle, and encouraging illusions in the "proper channels". It also has the ability to absorb huge amounts of funds that would be much better spent organizing and educating people through critical media, publishing, events, etc. Right now, rather than maneuver within electoral channels, it is far more important to win people to the idea that independent, extra-electoral struggle--e.g. mass marches, occupations, strikes, job-actions, etc.--is what's needed to push the struggles forward. Moreover, it's far more important to build the Left in general--from educating activists about the rich history of struggle in the US to raising ideas about socialism and systemic problems with capitalism. <br /><br />There are so many struggles on the ground right now that need our support, it would be a crime to tell people that all we needed to do was to try to elect a few people here and there. I would much rather spend my money and energy right now supporting striking workers, than electioneering. <br /><br />That said, if a broad-Left electoral force existed that put forward arguments for demands that the Democrats will never satisfy (e.g. single-payer, an end to wars abroad, etc.), I would support it cautiously, with the caveat that the heart of the struggle in the US is in the streets, not at the ballot box.thttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05268192967377248928noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6058072377999486184.post-25285113096137185972012-05-18T08:42:34.291-05:002012-05-18T08:42:34.291-05:00An American SYRIZA will never emerge unless we sta...An American SYRIZA will never emerge unless we start to organize one. SYRIZA has been contesting elections for almost a decade and lost a lot of races before they got to where they are now. The American socialist left barely participates in electoral politics at all, save for hopeless state and national races where they split less than 1% of the vote between SWP, PSL, WWP, the SP, to say nothing of the left vote split between Obama, the Greens, and the Justice Party.Binhhttp://www.northstar.infonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6058072377999486184.post-48718151842170030142012-05-14T15:24:49.447-05:002012-05-14T15:24:49.447-05:00Hello, I'd like to cite some of your thoughts ...Hello, I'd like to cite some of your thoughts from the post about nostalgia film [http://pink-scare.blogspot.com/2010/11/nostalgia-films-as-ideology.html] in my BA thesis. However, I need your name at least and I cannot see it anywhere. I know that it sounds a little bit odd but "could you give it to me"?marta nowaknoreply@blogger.com