Centrist Democrats are now the great defenders of social justice? Please.

[rainbows_]

The left half of the American political spectrum is in the middle of a big fight between the left and the center-left, which will surely get more intense as the midterms approach. Much of the battle, writes Franklin Foer in a very long piece at The Atlantic, will be between economic issues and social justice ones: "Two of the party’s largest

Comments

[calinewarkwc69]

The DSA shout out is everything

[mhfromnh]

eh, my state's DSA is rubbish. they can't even coordinate a march, let alone a campaign.

[blackjedii]

But Russia! And Trump!

The closer we get towards the 2018 midterms, the more I expect Dems to not make any inroads and/or we have a massive economic crash all over again.

[lovedforaday]

i'll believe progressives are good at social justice and race when they start examining the racism in their midst more often.

[prehnite]

I'll believe centrist Dems are good at social justice when they start doing the same.

After white establishment Dems realized they did not own her… support, @ninaturner responded "I'm not on the plantation anymore." pic.twitter.com/LWO07dA0vR
- Jeanette🌹Corbynista (@JeanetteJing) June 25, 2017

#JoanWalsh and her minions going #racist again. pic.twitter.com/6ZWFTqx2Vh
- OfThePeople (@Of_the_People7) June 9, 2017

Nina Turner Discusses Racism & Sexism w/in the Democratic Party #PPLSummit https://t.co/IlZyMFjrc7
- Anoa C. ❤ (@TheWayWithAnoa) June 23, 2017

i'm not gonna tag or RT her because i'm 100% sure she would yell about me to my boss, but joan walsh's racist meltdown is WILD. pic.twitter.com/Sj1AL4EAGl
- Isaiah Breen (@isikbreen) June 14, 2017

Also see @disco_socialist's entire timeline and this entire thread:

look i promise to get back to vulgar acrostics soon but

you gotta understand just how many times i was called a white bro by hillary fans
- Lana Del Raytheon (@LanaDelRaytheon) June 7, 2017

[lovedforaday]

What makes you think I wanted these tweets in my inbox just because I didn't mention the Dems suck as well? You're telling me about a problem I already know about, and that neither "side" has any moral superiority imo. Nina Turner quotes won't change my mind.

[meadowphoenix]

I'll believe progressives can have moral superiority over ~regular democrats when they actually understand how much their class politics is white and male. Like all of y'all ain't just giving lip service.

(Lmao in general re: Sanders. His weaknesses in social justice were legion. It wasn't just race. It was also disability rights. Rights for women. None of that shit was mentioned in his platform, and all of it was mentioned in Clinton's. You can "focus" on economic justice as much as you want, but if you CAN'T point out specific issues that affect marginalized groups that aren't based on class, and actively DON'T WANT TO? Nobody rightfully will believe you give a fuck.)

[rainbows_]

I mostly agree in terms of weaknesses ie. Sanders. I remember during the primary being particularly impressed with the Clinton campaign on disability rights.

I can only speak for myself (and I agree that progressive movements being mostly white and male is a big concern for me as well), but I think it's incredibility important for progressive movements to be intersectional in terms of dealing with race. Being progressive for me is helping to improve people's lives who have been marginalized or oppressed, so if my movement is mostly white, mostly male then what is the point? Who are we truly helping?

Progressives themselves within their movements should be incredibility strict and critical with themselves (and with other people in their movement) in terms of being intersectional.

[meadowphoenix]

You know I think you clarified what's pinging me so badly about the way progressive are trying to frame themselves in the present

[rainbows_]

This was a really insightful comment

[icetypejim]

Class for me is the material expression and manifestation of oppressive ideologies like racism, so when people think you can address issues related to racism/sexism/homophobia/disability/etc. without addressing class, they're basically telling me that don't actually want to do anything tangible. They want some feel-good changes that don't improve material conditions. I know more working class black activists fighting for #FightFor15 than white ones, as just one example, but democratic pundits keep trying to tell me that's a white issue that won't help black people because it won't "solve racism". Note that the alternatives they offer never "solve racism" either, and always manage to keep the existing class dynamic undisturbed to boot, but they're never held to that standard for some odd reason