[Peace-discuss] Cornel West denounces fake left politics

[C G Estabrook]

Munich, 1938

Forget Neville vs. Adolf — We All Have a Duty to Confront the Full Reach of Imperialism

So, which side are you on? #TeamNeville or #TeamAdolf?

Choose fast, preferably within seconds, and don’t come to this gunfight with a knife. No, like some nerdy Rambo, we want you greased up and loaded with ammo: your most painful character smears, your most “gotcha” evidence of past political infractions, a blitzkrieg of hyperlinks and, of course, an aircraft carrier of reaction GIFs.

That’s pretty much how the online debate has played out ever since Neville Chamberlain published his piece in the British papers regarding Adolf Hitler (“Peace in Our Time’), an article you either regard as an outrageous injustice or an earth-shattering truth bomb, depending on which team you have chosen.

We see it differently. We see this debate as a political opportunity, one that has far less to do with either of these brilliant men and everything to do with how, at a time of unfathomably high stakes, we are going to build a multiracial [Anglo-Saxon/German] human rights movement capable of beating back surging Aryan supremacy and rapidly concentrating corporate power. As women, we see the question like this: What are the duties of radicals and progressives inside relatively wealthy countries to the world beyond our national borders?... 


> On Dec 24, 2017, at 9:59 AM, Karen Aram <karenaram at hotmail.com> wrote:
> 
> This from the Intercept, maybe even better, once you get past the first paragraph or two.
> 
> 
>> https://theintercept.com/2017/12/21/cornel-west-ta-nehisi-coates-feud/ <https://theintercept.com/2017/12/21/cornel-west-ta-nehisi-coates-feud/>
> 
> 
>> On Dec 24, 2017, at 06:19, C G Estabrook via Peace-discuss <peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net> wrote:
>> 
>> The US government is killing people around the world, but not for white supremacy.
>> 
>> https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fcommentisfree%2F2017%2Fdec%2F17%2Fta-nehisi-coates-neoliberal-black-struggle-cornel-west&data=02%7C01%7C%7Cb2033471046f4b807ad508d54ad96e6a%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C636497220078317095&sdata=pR%2BFOyrxOf8kdm80yFc88yZCaU5U6M6JEGbQu0YrY%2F8%3D&reserved=0
>> 
>> ‘...any analysis or vision of our world that omits the centrality of Wall Street power, US military policies, and the complex dynamics of class, gender, and sexuality in black America is too narrow and dangerously misleading. So it is with Ta-Nehisi Coates’ worldview.
>> 
>> 'Coates rightly highlights the vicious legacy of white supremacy – past and present. He sees it everywhere and ever reminds us of its plundering effects. Unfortunately, he hardly keeps track of our fightback, and never connects this ugly legacy to the predatory capitalist practices, imperial policies (of war, occupation, detention, assassination) or the black elite’s refusal to confront poverty, patriarchy or transphobia.
>> 
>> 'In short, Coates fetishizes white supremacy. He makes it almighty, magical and unremovable. What concerns me is his narrative of “defiance”. For Coates, defiance is narrowly aesthetic – a personal commitment to writing with no connection to collective action. It generates crocodile tears of neoliberals who have no intention of sharing power or giving up privilege.
>> 
>> 'When he honestly asks: “How do you defy a power that insists on claiming you?”, the answer should be clear: they claim you because you are silent on what is a threat to their order (especially Wall Street and war). You defy them when you threaten that order…'
>> 
>> ###
>> 
>> 
>> 
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>