Surviving Capitalism (Not) : Identity politics and the growth of inequality within racial minorities

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Sunday, October 8, 2017

Identity politics and the growth of inequality within racial minorities

Click here to access article by Eric London from World Socialist Web Site.

The most useful aspect of promoting identity politics that London does not make clear is its ability to distract subjects of the capitalist ruling class away from any class analysis or class identification. And a further (to our masters') benefit, which he alludes to, is that it fosters competition between groups over opportunities to serve the ruling capitalist class.

Identity politics has become a key mechanism through which the next 9 percent situated below the top 1 percent advances its grievances within the political establishment, fighting for “space” in the universities, trade unions, political parties, state apparatus, and corporate media. This layer, which forms a principal social base for the Democratic Party, is generally pro-war and supportive of the right-wing policies that have produced a soaring stock market.