Morning Comrades!
Back to a non-covid having reality over at this end and I have made somewhat of plan in regards to what we are going to be chatting about this week. That doesn’t necessarily mean that it will go as planned as the world has tendency of late to throw a number of extreme curveballs, but I’ll try my best.
First up though, your new Weekly Jams- and what a damn fine week it’s been for new music! Most importantly, Fontaines D.C. released their third album late last week and it’s another monumental step forward that explores the depths that post-punk can, when done right, offer. I am sure you have noticed just how much of a fan I am of their work so there is a one or two of their songs in this playlist. Asides from that, man this week is sweet, lot’s of tunes to float to, a couple of classic tunes that snuck their way into my post-covid work day and heaps of deep cuts for you to dance, vibe and get it on to. Killer week to be honest, so click the image below to get to it.
Identity and Action
It would absolutely unrealistic to try and cover the discourse between identity politics and material marxism in this newsletter. Entire libraries have been written about the two and their interaction and rightfully so, it’s hugely interesting and important topics when it comes to any sort of scientific utopian work and the term, whilst predominantly and wilfully misunderstood to serve the authoritarian, capitalist culture war narrative, is now part of the narrative. So whilst I will be leaning on some academic work in regards to the above, today’s story starts off like most good ones, with this old bastard having a few street beers on Saturday night and some anarchist buddies.
If you spend any time in these so called “leftist” online spaces you will surely have come across the bickering between online whatever branch of communism and anarchism is currently trending. For anyone actually involved in real life work it’s hilarious because when it comes down to it, there is no real beef between perceived anarchists and perceived communists- anyone even remotely serious about this work knows full well how much they depend on each other to get shit done and that kicks off this little story. I purposely used the word “perceived” in the above sentence and if you picked up on that, you’ll find out shortly.
In any case, Saturday night. Went to one of friendly watering holes with some friends to enjoy an early spring evening and met a person that I had only known through sight and we had a lovely chat. It got to a point when said person said, “you’re the commie Steven, right?” and we both had a chuckle first and foremost but more importantly, my answer to that was “well, I don’t identify as a Commie, but I dedicate a large part of my life working towards the betterment of my community based around communist principles. If you think that makes me a communist, cool.” To clarify, homeboy has a big ass anarchy tattoo on the side of his neck. The point here is that whatever identity one chooses for themselves, and this is particular when you move in online spaces, is entirely irrelevant if this identity is of your own choosing without having done any of the work to warrant that identity.
The way I understand it at this point - and yes, I am still learning and this is just my current mindset - is that your identity is shaped by those perceiving you based on the work you have done. This is why I would also never identify myself as a Feminist, for example. If my real-life actions work towards the goals within Feminism, then those perceiving me can call me that. Choosing an identity like a second skin to then perform according to the current zeitgeist’s IG friendly info slides feels disingenuous to me but is precisely what social media has created- and hence bastardized the entire philosophical reality of identity politics. Social Media quantifies and rewards performance without real world effects and that makes it one of the greatest smoke screens ever invented - I cannot think of one change.org campaign that has actually resulted in anything net positive, but I can name a few revolutions that certainly have. I don’t think that companies like Facebook and Twitter started off as the massive nefarious psy-ops to woo people into inaction but they certainly have become just that- a virtual colosseum for the legions of disenfranchised plebs to blow off steam and insult one another whilst the 1%’ers continue the dramatic and violent destruction of this planet for another buck.
The fact is though, that within this colosseum of culture wars a real understanding of what “identity politics” actually is lacking. The scope of political movements that may be described as identity politics is broad: the examples used in the philosophical literature are predominantly of struggles for recognition and social justice by groups of citizens within western capitalist democracies, but Indigenous rights movements worldwide, nationalist projects, or demands for regional self-determination use similar arguments. Predictably, there is no straightforward criterion that makes a political struggle into an example of “identity politics.” Rather, the term signifies a loose collection of political projects, each undertaken by representatives of a collective with a distinctively different social location that has hitherto been neglected, erased, or suppressed.
The phrase “identity politics” is also something of a philosophical punching-bag for a variety of critics. Often challenges fail to make sufficiently clear their object of critique, using “identity politics” as a blanket description that invokes a range of tacit political failings. From a contemporary perspective, some early identity claims by political activists certainly seem naive, totalizing, or unnuanced. However, the public rhetoric of identity politics served useful and empowering purposes for some, even while it sometimes belied the philosophical complexity of any claim to a shared experience or common group characteristics. Since the twentieth century heyday of the well-known political movements that made identity politics so visible, a vast academic literature has sprung up; although “identity politics” can draw on intellectual precursors from Mary Wollstonecraft to Franz Fanon, writing that actually uses this specific phrase, with any of its contemporary baggage, does not begin until the late 1970s. Thus it was barely as intellectuals started to systematically outline and defend the philosophical underpinnings of identity politics that we simultaneously began to challenge them. At this historical juncture, then, asking whether one is for or against identity politics is to ask an impossible question. Wherever they line up in the debates, thinkers agree that the notion of identity has become indispensable to contemporary political discourse, at the same time as they concur that it has troubling implications for models of the self, political inclusiveness, and our possibilities for solidarity and resistance.
Just as introduction but it’s been on my mind a lot lately, mostly as an increasing awareness of how little time we all actually have left to get shit moving in the right direction. I have been spending a little too much time digging deep into climate research and without wanting to spook anyone, and again, my understanding of the data presented is limited by the fact that my training is in history/philosophy, not climate science, but holy shit, even with that limited understanding I know how dire it is all looking. With everything else that is going on the world, this looming giant fuck-off reality of an uninhabitable planet is genuinely hard to grasp, but it puts the above "conflict” into a stark reality.
We don’t have time to fuck around and individually find out which doesn’t mean you shouldn’t, it’s absolutely not my intention to tell anyone not to fuck around and find out, IF we can agree that doing the work is what defines us, and not vice versa. The great part about doing the work is that we know what needs to be done to save this blue rock we are all cruising on for free around the universe: end capitalism. Yup. We’re back here on that one, but it’s the main fact every climate scientist agrees on. Our current economic reality on this planet is killing it. We have the ideas and tools to make that change. If that means that a few thousand rich bastards don’t get to have 13 yachts, I am ok with making that happen.
I am sure you are too.
This is what this here place is for and I am happy you’re along for the ride. Dare to struggle, dare to win.
Yours, without compromise,
V