street roots
13
June 8, 2012
Radicals and Reformers: Part 3: Cooperation means we win!
n my column in the April 13 edition of
Street Roots I explained how radicals
who indiscriminately denounce cap and
trade and carbon trading unnecessarily
undermine reformers fighting for the only
way to prevent climate change before it is
too late. In the May 11 edition, my column
explained how reformers fighting to make
capitalism less unfair and inefficient who
denounce radicals calling for “system
change” only further empower those
defending the status quo. I could have
provided other examples where radicals and
reformers have chosen to undermine one
another unnecessarily, to the detriment of
both, but why not concentrate instead on
what can happen when radicals and
reformers cooperate?
In 1920, with the passage of the
Nineteenth Amendment to the U S
Constitution, we won women the right to
vote in all elections in all states. But the
long struggle to win women voting rights
was waged by a movement that included
radicals as well as reformers. Moreover, the
women’s movement fought in ways that laid
the groundwork for “second wave feminists”
to advance the cause of women’s liberation
much further 50 years after women won the
right to vote.
In 1935, with passage of the National
Labor Relations, or Wagner Act, we won
protection from retaliation for workers
seeking to bargain collectively with their
employers, including “full freedom of
association, self-organization, and
designation of representatives of their own
choosing, for the purpose of negotiating the
terms and conditions of their employment
or other mutual aid or protection.” But this
reform victory also paved the way for leftists
working in the labor movement to spread
the “radical” notion among tens of millions
of enthusiastic new union members that
those who do the work deserve to enjoy all
the fruits of their labors.
A hundred years after the Civil War freed
slaves we finally outlawed unequal voter
registration requirements and racial
segregation in schools, workplaces, and
facilities that serve the general public with
passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. But
in the process of fighting for equal rights
African Americans were also able to free
themselves and many whites from the
shackles of a white supremacist ideology
that haunted the country from its inception.
Neither would have been possible had not
integrationist “reformers” and black power
“radicals” managed to cooperate despite
profound differences.
I
Robin Hahnel is a
political activist and
visiting professor of
economics at
Portland State
University. He is a
co-creator o f the post
capitalist economic
model known as
participatory
economics, along with
Z Magazine editor
Michael Albert. He is
also Professor
Emeritus at
American University
in Washington, D .C .
In April 1975 the Vietnam War ended in
no small part because of the anti-war
campaign waged by the U S peace
movement. But the anti-Vietnam War
movement also left a core of Americans who
have never forgotten that the doctrine of
“American Exceptionalism” is a lie, and who
continue to fight against every new imperial
venture. (I am one American who can trace
my radicalization directly to the anti-
Vietnam war movement, and who continues
to believe that the first duty of every citizen
is to prevent his or her government from *
harming citizens of other countries.)
Radicals and reformers — with profound
disagreements — participated together in
every one of these great social movements.
Every one of these social movements
achieved more than many initially believed
possible, and every one fell short of what
many hoped for. But the important point is
that when radicals and reformers learned
how to keep their differences from
preventing them from cooperating, both
came out the better for it. Not only do
successful mass movements win reforms,
they create a political environment where
more radical ideas about what we should
change can grow. It is a mistake for radicals
to conclude that because a mass movement
fails to take what we see as the logical next
step that the movement did not advance the
cause of fundamental system change. The
relevant question is: “Where would the
cause of system change have been had there
been no mass social movement?” If the
answer is: “Not as far along,” then radicals
as well as reformers win when social
movements are more successful - which
only happens when radicals and reformers
do not undermine one another needlessly.
If those calling for eco-socialism and
those fighting to prevent climate change
while global capitalism persists can
cooperate, we just may prevent climate
change before it is too late — and in the
process create treaties and domestic
policies that demonstrate the practicality of
the economics of equitable cooperation. If
we continue to fail to cooperate we will
achieve neither.
If radicals and reformers work together to
replace plutocratic capitalism with a “new
economy” - with stronger unions, more
cooperatives, more community development
corporations, more locally supported
agriculture, and more environmentally and
socially responsible businesses — we can
simultaneously weaken the stranglehold of
giant corporations and sow seeds that
eventually blossom into a full-blown
participatory economy.
At the moment Greece is ground zero.
The old regime in Greece has vanished.
First an establishment, center-right
government failed. Then an establishment
center left government failed. Then a care
taker government of technocrats failed. And
now elections have led to a political
stalemate in which no government could be
formed, and new elections are scheduled for
June 17. If voting trends continue on their
present course,it is quite possible that a real
left-coalition government will emerge from
these elections. If this happens many will
focus on the political parties in the new
government and its emergency policies. But
an equally important question will be what
young, radical Greek anti-authoritarians do,
and how the new government relates to
them. Over the past five years Greek anti
authoritarians mostly shunned electoral
politics to spearhead protests against
corruption and austerity and build
alternative institutions. In the process, they
have become increasingly numerous and
well organized. After making little progress
for years, left political parties who focused
instead on elections have just expanded
their share of the vote dramatically. Much
depends on whether these left political
parties and the anti-authoritarians can
overcome differences and figure out ways to
aid and protect one another instead of
squabbling. If they work out a productive
division of labor, they may be able to
combine their new electoral strength with a
powerful radical base in streets and
neighborhoods to (1) implement a strong
economic program of national salvation, (2)
accelerates the growth of new institutions of
equitable cooperation, and (3) protect the
new governments from both domestic and
foreign anti-democratic elements. If they do
not cooperate, right wing authoritarianism
may follow in the wake of the collapse of the
traditional Greek establishment.
All of us — not just Greeks — are living in
a time of crisis. Traditional elites are failing
miserably to respond effectively to financial
crises, unemployment crises, education
crises, ecological crises, and political crises
everywhere. Whether strong peoples’
movements will rise to the occasion and
solve these crises will depend in part on
whether radicals and reformers learn how to
better manage our differences so as to be
able to cooperate. History says we can win
when we do.
Mine
By Jacob Averi
I always wonder what people see when they look at me.
A short boy with a baby face.
Or maybe they see the girl side of me,
This feminine part that is usually invisible to me.
Maybe they see a dangerous kid —
White rag around his neck, flicking a razor-sharp knife around,
Etching his love into a tree for some unknown girl.
Sometimes that rag goes up, yes, and sometimes that knife comes out.
To be honest, I just like the sound it makes.
To be honest, I just get tired of the shit I have to put up with,
And I know nobody will talk to someone with his face covered.
I like hiding. I like feeling safe.
.
And being on the streets a nineteen, a young guy is pretty often not sate.
But look, I’ve got my friends, my rag, my wife.
I’m safe. I’m happy. I will carve my name into all the fucking trees I want
With my girlfriend’s scratched crudely underneath and a rough heart
Surrounding it all.
This is my life: messy and jagged and all mine.
Tfo friarM ed stürz ài tüton.
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