It seems like now is a good time to have a conversation about finding common ground between the various factions of left/progressive folks. I know this isn’t a new topic but maybe it’s worth revisiting.
What are the sticking points and what can we all agree on in the context of current-day politics?
Adding some things I think any leftist should be able to agree on:
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Capitalism has been a strong negative influence on human existence
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People who look, act and live differently from you deserve exactly the same human rights as you, even if they make you uncomfortable
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Health care, food, water, and housing are human rights
My views would not be popular,
I continue to vote blue no matter who.
But I feel like the knee jerk reactions cause too many “babies to be thrown out with the bath water”
We expect perfection, we’re against perverts and deviants who believe they have a higher power on their side that blesses their"leadership"to get away with whatever they want.
Some things are not eligible for compromise. Human rights are non negotiable. We can debate about voting systems and trade policy but the only other is those who aren’t willing to treat the least privileged members of society the way they want to be treated.
When you refuse to support the lesser of two evils you get the worse outcome. I don’t like it, but as long as one side remains unified there will never be more than a 2 party system,
Yes, but if you pledge unconditional support to the lesser of 2 evils, they have no incentive to ‘be better’ - they can just be slightly less evil than the monster who gets worse every day.
I did vote blue even though I wasn’t happy about it and it mainly came down to ‘i really haven’t done much to express my distaste over the past 8 years, why am I choosing to protest the Dems today?’
But I do think this is a turning point for me. I want to be having these conversations more often, I want to be more involved, and I want to make it known to the people in charge: what can they do to earn my vote. I think starting to define what are the universal ideals we can agree on is a great conversation to have over the next few weeks.
Leftism at world is a Tankie Community, you can even see the post explicitly making a point about anti-capitalism.
We can hopefully all agree that genocide is bad and funding apartheid is never acceptable
I have always agreed on that but also knew Trump would make it worse.
Did you believe that genocide was a reasonable compromise? Did you constantly guilt trip people into voting Kamala? Did you consistently downplay all of her bad policies by bringing up Trump whenever mentioned? I’m not saying you did but there were waves of “leftists” (liberals) who did. Now that she lost can you aknowlage that she lost her own election? That constantly appealing to Fascists wasn’t an effective political method? That nobody likes war hawks? Or are you going to blame third party voters.
(This comment was intended for someone else but it also applies here tbh)
People with a conscience are all trying to make the best decision in front of us in the moment we find ourselves in. This election was one of those moments.
I voted for harm reduction and the ability to safely push and advocate for future change. Instead, apathy and right wing extremism held hands to send a demoralizing message. Whatever your motivations were for sitting it out or voting in protest, you didn’t achieve your goal of less suffering. That’s not a judgement, it’s a simple fact. Your passive act is actively contributing to the acceleration of the policies that have you so outraged.
Looking at the social media feeds of my undocumented and non-cis friends hurts. Seeing the fear and sense of rejection about the implications of this election is not like anything I’ve personally witnessed in my lifetime. A candidate for president discussed using an act that allowed the internment of Japanese Americans in concentration camps, and people didn’t take that seriously. I do, and I hope anyone else who does is actively planning ways to resist.
So great job, I guess. It’s time to go from bad to worse. Life requires hard choices in hard times, and so many Americans couldn’t or wouldn’t meet that moment. Now we all get to endure the consequences.
You proved my point exactly, the fact that I criticized Kamala made you assume I didn’t vote for her. I did vote for her, that doesn’t mean I like or supported her. Despite voting for her I still think Kamala Harris deserved to loose. Its not the voters jobs to constantly make excuses for a fascist politican, did I want her to win of couse but I also understand why people voted third party. Before the next election I hope the workers can put together a true workers party.
Also I’m Trans, I understand how a lot of people are feeling. I also happen to be lucky enough to have a one way ticket out (which I obviously took).
I am not doing left unity. Sure there are some common grounds, but most often there are also clear incompatibilities. I do not think someone calling themself leftist is enough for me to work with them.
Instead I want to be able to agree or compromise on these points:
- shared vision for the future
- what we want to do in a practical sense
- preferences for managing relationships(like how to organize, etc)
Of course this results in a pretty limited range of folks/groups I am happy to work with. In my case its mostly anarchists. But in singular contexts(like antifascist action and mutual aid) or in projects of limited scope like organizing a demonstration the alignement of these points is often enough for me to consider it.
That seems like a reasonable definition of unity that most people could actually commit to.
Left Unity isn’t about being ride or die together, it’s about aligning on issues you can and discussing issues you can’t. Marxists and Anarchists, for example, have a different end goal in mind. Marxists want a centrally planned, publicly owned economy with a democratically controlled government, while Anarchists want a horizontal, decentralized network of cooperatives and Mutual Aid Networks. You’re going to run into disagreements, because their analysis of Capitalism has different conclusions and as such their end goals are different.
That’s why we need to work together on things we do align on, like Palestinian liberation, anti-fascism, and anti-Capitalism.
We should also read more theory. Having a better understanding of our problems and how we believe they can be fixed is the key to any struggle. I keep a “Read Theory, Darn It!” beginner reading list on Marxism if anyone wants it, let me know if you have any questions.
I look at it this way: Republicans have been sticking to their guns with consistent messaging for decades, no matter how crazy people thought they were. Rather than trying to “court moderates,” the Dems need to come up with a properly progressive platform and FUCKING STICK TO IT like the GOP did for all those years. Their messaging needs to be consistent and constant.
I dont see any consistency even when I just look at Trumps messaging. The platform Republicans ran on also changed significantly in the last two decades
Unfortunately, I think this is herding cats.
I wish I felt otherwise.
You’re making this comment in a Tankie Community that explicitly stands against Liberalism, it’s more like wolves trying to heard cats to fight other cats and eat the remains.
That’s a good way to look at it. You don’t herd cats, you show them something they want and they’ll herd themselves independently :)
Ya’ll are agents of chaos preaching unity lmfao
