Hello, Genossinnen und Genossen.
The weekend of the 19th, I (along with Genossin Jessie and Genosse Sam) attended Fighting Bobfest 2015- I've written extensively about the sorts of presentations there and how awesome the speeches are, even when we know we're in trouble.
(If you like the rest of this post please check out its original home at http://grahamkrueger.blogspot.com/... )
Well, in some ways, this year was a really strong showing- Once and Future Senator Russ Feingold headlined, and made an excellent argument for his signature issue: ending the Citizens United regime of legalized bribery which is poisoning the frail remains of American Democracy. Even knowing how high the money is piled against our efforts, it's obvious that Russ loves talking about it, and everything else- he really is fun to watch, and I look forward to seeing more of him.
It was also great to see Secretary of State Doug La Follette and Professor Nancy Unger again-
Professor Unger gave a great presentation on Belle La Follette and her Peace and Equal Rights work, still carried on by the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, which she helped to found. I highly encourage you to check both Unger and the WILPF out. I'll post a more detailed analysis once I read Unger's new book.
Doug pointed out how alienated the working class tea partiers and evangelicals are from benefiting by the supply side cult they support, a classic example of what he has technically termed "bamboozlement", which has operated in this country for centuries. It's been expressed in a variety of artful phrasings- Walker's own "Divide and Conquer", the villain's mantra from Gangs of New York- "You can always hire half of the poor to kill the other half" and deployed in so many situations, none more visibly than in race relations and social policy.
While depressing, this should encourage us in that the evil system of capitalism seems to require a divided society- achieved with those tools of the ruling class: religion, racism and revision of the facts- to sustain itself.
Of course, other systems of oppression have been tried and have been able to work with less reliance on any particular of these tools: for example, fascism, by reducing reliance on religion and pursuing economic policies less transparent in their hostility to workers, compensated for by increased central control and heightened racism, is rather different in its functioning but no less horrific, and this is precisely the menace of the Trump campaign. But I digress. (If you want me to explain why Trump is a fascist, let me know in the comments- for now I'd rather not discuss him further unless you want to see it).
This brings me to a sad point I want to document- this is the fourth consecutive year I've attended Fighting Bob Fest, and it keeps getting whiter and less diverse both in speakers and audience. It's gone from having Wisconsin's two leading Black Progressive Politicians as featured speakers in 2012 to having one of them in 2013 to having a single speaker dedicated to the BLM movement in 2014 to... a bone white morning lineup with police brutality issues mentioned in passing by some speakers but mostly relegated to breakout sessions. This is a gross failure of representation and solidarity. Our comrades at the Progressive Magazine/FBF need to make sure Bobfest 2016 takes steps to reach out to all communities, both for the audience and for the lineup. Moving the festival back to a major city (Madison) was a good but clearly insufficient step- if we are serious about rebuilding a leftist movement we need to work on all leftist concerns, and nothing is more leftist than equal dignity and safety under the law. Why was there no special attention paid (at least in the first half of the day- I didn't stay for everything I admit) to the 6 Black men killed by the police every week? This seems to be a growing blindspot for our comrades at FBF- we need to address that quickly.
Finally, South Korea's sex workers, endangered and cut off from social services by a decade of criminalization, are marching for legal recognition, allowing them to win better working conditions, increased safety and independence, and the full benefits of the law to protect them, not persecute them. This is a tremendously important step- whether or not the practice is legal, prosecuting the prostitutes themselves can have no effect but to hurt the most vulnerable person involved and enable greater violence by johns and pimps. Yet, according to Aljazeera, no other unions in the RoK have joined their march or even expressed support.
These two problems are clear examples of failures of our leftist movement: we cannot ignore the struggles of those who are different from us, or else we will continue to be divided and conquered. All Workers and Allies must welcome all Workers into an inclusive United Front to have any chance of beating the Right and establishing a just society.
Genossin Elise
