Is the West Experiencing a Left-Wing Drift? (the international left politics activism, news, and strategy thread)

I liked this, from the end of this profile of McElwee and the Abolish ICe movement:

The prospect that Abolish ICE will continue to figure prominently during the midterms has lead to angst among Democrats over whether the stance will damage them with swing voters. A recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll found that 69% of Republican voters viewed the agency positively, while 63% of Democrats viewed it negatively.

“These activists have become incredible effective in forcing their issues to become litmus tests,” said one Democratic strategist working on several races the party is hoping to turn from red to blue. “We are in a weird position. We are all so certain we’re going to win that they are willing to ask for things no matter the jeopardy it puts candidates in.”

McElwee said that he thinks those fears have been overstated, and he will stake his future on midterm success. He requested that BuzzFeed News put this on the record: If the Democrats do not flip the House, he will stop writing about or engaging with politics.

“I think there has to be some sort of accountability, and I wish the people who supported the Iraq War had done this ahead of time,” he said. "If I’m that off in how I understand politics and my theories of change, I should just stop doing it.”

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/stevenperlberg/abolish-ice-sean-mcelwee

I also wish the neocons had done that, but I don't think it's a good idea to stake your activism on whether some suburban Republicans finally stop voting like dickheads

the gingrich cohort were all about term limits until they got in power and changed their mind. when mcelwee says these sorts of things in a world which enforces no consequences on blatant hypocrisy and lies, there's no cause to trust him.

Man, this campaign advert from Michigan is a helluva thing:

Thousands joined @BernieSanders and I yesterday as we called for a government for the people, by the people.

We are #DoneWaiting for that to be a reality. Tomorrow, we make our voices heard.

Hop on the 📞 TODAY so we can cross the finish line strong: https://t.co/0jj6eg8bwG pic.twitter.com/xuidWG8DJ6

— Abdul El-Sayed (@AbdulElSayed) August 6, 2018

I hope he does well - right now he seems to be polling in third among the Dem governor candidates

he had a decent line about that: "it's true, i'm not polling well among people who answer land lines in the middle of the day. the people we're reaching don't tend to be those people."

that's a killer ad

*bernie sanders and me

I voted for him today

Oh fuck I have a pointless and controversy-free primary I’m supposed to vote in, guess I’ll have to go to the dropbox

Looking rough for El-Sayed with 3% in

xp I threw a pointless vote to socialist and audiophile Steve Hoffman, can’t bring myself to vote Cantrell in a primary and it’s better than voting Goodspaceguy.

cantwell

Goodspaceguy’s got a beard now!

See you next cycle, Al-Sayed.

Yeah, he's a born candidate. I daren't speculate yet just how much his name and religion hurt him.

On the plus side

BREAKING: Democratic Socialist @RashidaTlaib is the projected winner of #MI13. She will replace John Conyers and makes history on two fronts: she becomes both the first Muslim congresswoman and first Palestinian-American woman ever elected to Congress. https://t.co/g09MTbZ1gg

— Daniel Medina (@dmedin11) August 8, 2018

Counterpoint:

According to Israel lobby group ⁦@jstreetdotorg⁩, Michigan congressional candidate ⁦@RashidaTlaib⁩ supports “all current aid to Israel” – that means she supports the bullets & bombs used to kill Palestinian children and their parents in Gaza. https://t.co/TmvKfipDGx

— Ali Abunimah (@AliAbunimah) August 8, 2018

lmao calling JStreet an "Israel lobby group" as if it's not closer to JVP than AIPAC

Liz from Leeds is my nu-god

Last week when @AyoCaesar was on The Wright Stuff, Liz from Leeds rang in to explain communism and it was beautiful. 😍😍 pic.twitter.com/OJoCHicuey

— Novara Media (@novaramedia) August 9, 2018

novara crew are going to need a better line on the USSR etc. than that

Are they?

if only stalin had had more revolutionary zeal

I don't really think it's up to present-day communists to answer for past regimes any more than it is present-day capitalists' job to answer for [insert major war or other foreign misadventure of your choice]. It's a dumb line of argumentation.

I agree but that doesn't make no true scotsman arguments convincing

liz from leeds i luv u

made this while bored at work
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10160621854435304&set=a.98630175303&type=3

https://i.imgflip.com/2fzdto.jpg

Ha, is that from an actual Misfits show?

could be, I just wanted a tense/ambiguous image of a crowd of people so I GIS'd mosh pit photos

A+

Corey Robin in the NYT:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/24/opinion/sunday/what-socialism-looks-like-in-2018.html

It took Mr. Sanders to convince them that if tax credits and insurance exchanges are the best liberals have to offer to men and women struggling to make stagnating wages pay for bills that skyrocket and debt that never dissipates, maybe socialism is worth a try

What a ridiculous statement. You have miles and miles of distance to cover on the spectrum of re-distribution of wealth in America. How about exploring some of that before pursuing an entirely different economic system. If you're really serious about advocating something, which you have no evidence of being ever being succesful to a fraction of what you promise, then how about addressing the major inherent inconsistencies in the economic theory before deciding that "eh, it's worth a try"?

The socialist argument against capitalism isn’t that it makes us poor. It’s that it makes us unfree.

There are many arguments against and valid criticisms of capitalism. Expounding does in no way increase the merit of socialism. Marx had that drivel about the oh so terrible division of labor as well, but at least he put forward a more or less coherent theoretical base. How about starting there?

Socialism means different things to different people. For some, it conjures the Soviet Union and the gulag; for others, Scandinavia and guaranteed income

Denmark, Sweden and Norway are literally examples of how wealth generated from capitalist economies can facilitate strong social programs to ensure high living standards for everyone and people are actually using it as an example of why capitalism is bad?

Under capitalism, we’re forced to enter the market just to live. The libertarian sees the market as synonymous with freedom. But socialists hear “the market” and think of the anxious parent, desperate not to offend the insurance representative on the phone, lest he decree that the policy she paid for doesn’t cover her child’s appendectomy. Under capitalism, we’re forced to submit to the boss. Terrified of getting on his bad side, we bow and scrape, flatter and flirt, or worse — just to get that raise or make sure we don’t get fired.

This is written by someone with a degree in political science? What kind of argument is this?

an argument that sure sounds fucking effective if you've ever been that anxious parent

Cool sock Prof Friedman

And why do you need to abolish capitalism to fix it? You know there are capitalist countries where basically everything up to breast implants is 100% covered by the state, right?

Actually, in many cases, you can get public grants for breast enhancement surgery here in Denmark, so imma scratch that

we need to abolish capitalism because it's destroying the planet and can't be "fixed"

also, you're in the wrong thread, you want this one:

your terrible ideas

also, FP

what's with the proliferation of Danes

did Fred leave the back door open again?

why do you need to abolish capitalism to fix it?

Good lord, This is the reddest of red herrings. "Abolishing capitalism" is nowhere on the US political radar. the highest flights of contemporary US socialism extend no further than "Medicare for all", student debt relief, and some form of livable wages. There are minor rumblings about Universal Basic Income, but they are no larger than a tiny cloud on the horizon. Europe is also far from trying to abolish capitalism, afaics.

Simmer down a bit and try to address reality.

tbf my city council rep is on the record as in favor of nationalizing Amazon.com

european capitalism is good yo varying degrees capitalism isnt the problem tbh sorry

there's only one capitalism

~ bob marley

no point in a totalizing theory if it doesn't totalize

oh i enjoy the discussions dont mind me

I was addressing an article that was posted here that criticized capitalism. Not crony capitalism, not unhinged capitalism, not neo-liberalism, not corporatism, not the state of the american economy. Unless the NY Times is in its own bubble way left of the US political radar, how am I off target?

Aboloshing capitalism because of environmental concerns is probably the only valid argument, yeah.

just as well we're literally destroying the planet and it's the most pressing concern in the existence of the earth

an article that was posted here that criticized capitalism.

god forbid! we all know that capitalism is beyond criticism. btw, here is a direct quote from that article:

There’s not much discussion, yet, of classic socialist tenets like worker control or collective ownership of the means of production.