<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div>David--</div><div><br></div><div>You write, quite correctly, "...When have I ever NOT talked about class issues?"</div><div><br></div><div>That's why I was so surprised to see your name associated with this panel.</div><div><br></div><div>The Occupy movement is the clearest expression of explicitly class politics since the 1970's. (The identification of "the 1%" is parallel to "naming the system," in the distant days of SDS. And in those days, the counterattack of neoliberalism was paralleled by a liberal discovery of identity politics, to take the place of demands for economic equality.) To my amazement, quite legitimate opposition to racism is being used <i>against</i> the Occupy movement - this panel is not an isolated example - in a repeat of 40 years ago. </div><div><br></div><div>American liberalism lost its nerve in the 1970s. It had put its hand to the plow - discovered class politics - and then looked back - discovered that the cost of real equality would be too high. (See, for an account of the outcome, Chris Hedges' <i>Death of the Liberal Class.</i>) </div><div><br></div><div>Walter Benn Michaels described the earlier move in his 2006 book, <i>The Trouble with Diversity: How We Learned to Love Identity and Ignore Inequality. </i>I'll attach a recent interview that updates the argument. </div><div><br></div><div>Regards, Carl</div><div><br></div><div></div></body></html>