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
What I’m really driving at, is how can we have a shared culture that is safe for Marxists, anarchists, and people who would define themselves as Liberal? That was uncomfortable to type, but in order to affect material change we have to learn to speak each other’s languages and treat each other with empathy, while remaining open minded and learning from each other. It doesn’t advance any cause to dunk on each other for Internet points.
The tricky part is where is the line drawn? Some ‘anarchists’ are just accelerationists. Some MLs are just Soviet flavored conservatives. Some Liberals value the system itself more than marginalized people.
I propose that the shared value we all have is empathy. Regardless of how you felt about voting for Kamala - or whether you feel the system must be improved or destroyed - if you want to see the lives of marginalized people (and by extension, all of us) improve, we should be able to find common ground.
I have an anecdote that doesn’t really answer your question, but makes me smile.
A while back, there was a rent strike at a university which led to the activists occupying a university building for a while. One of the rooms had a large double-sided whiteboard which had the day/week schedule on one side. On the other side, there was a tally chart split into “Anarchist” and “Communist” — a joking rivalry based on the fact that the majority of organisers there would describe themselves as either communist or anarchist. It made me smile because it was a tiny slice of that shared culture that you speak of (which is much harder on the larger scale). It’s such a small thing, but that joking competition did a lot to reconcile the ideological tensions that can arise in diverse activism. Of course, it helped that it was set against an incredibly vibrant and welcoming atmosphere.