• archomrade [he/him]
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    1 month ago

    This article is excellent, even if many here will be offended by the headline and refuse to read further.

    This part struck me:

    In the United States and elsewhere (think of French President Emmanuel Macronā€™s disastrous electoral machinations), the liberal centrism or ā€‹ā€œprogressive neoliberalismā€ that casts itself as the bulwark against fascism is proving to be anything but. Not only has it contributed to the social miseries upon which reactionary politics feedsā€‰ā€”ā€‰mass incarceration, predatory finance, imperialist war and the rollback of social welfare have all been bipartisan projects in the past half-centuryā€‰ā€”ā€‰but it stands revealed as aĀ failed brand, kept alive primarily by the investments of party elites and donors, but also by what historian Adam Tooze calls its profound narcissism. This delusional conviction that it is aĀ historical force for progress, sanity and the good makes elite liberal politicians slip easily into paternalism and condescensionā€”something many voters find more offensive than directĀ insults.


    Edit, Jesus what a banger. The last paragraph is perfect, too

    An anti-fascist politics does not require constantly decrying the fascism of your opponent (which may prove numbing or alienating) but it certainly has to cleave to aĀ different logic than that which ā€‹ā€œdepends on the momentā€ or on electoral calculus alone. It needs to discover ways to not just make emancipatory ideas popularā€‰ā€”ā€‰fortunately, many of them already areā€‰ā€”ā€‰but to weave them into aĀ project rooted in everyday needs. To this end, liberal centrism is not just useless, it is an obstacle. It demands endless moral and political sacrifices from leftists and progressives, while not even serving as aĀ decent vehicle for the kind of reformist compromises we might expect from representative politics. When existential issues are on the agenda, from genocide to the mounting climate catastrophe and the manifold crises it will bring, betting on liberalism is aĀ foolā€™s errand.