September 12, 2018
Page 13
Opinion articles do not necessarily represent the views of the Portland Observer. We
welcome reader essays, photos and story ideas. Submit to news@portlandobserver.com.
O PINION
Popularity Rises for Democratic Socialism
Making gains
at the ballot box
l aWrence W ittner
Recently,
when
28-year-old Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez, an ob-
scure, upfront demo-
cratic socialist from the
Bronx, easily defeated
one of the most powerful
U.S. Congressmen in the Democratic Pri-
mary, the story became an overnight sen-
sation. How, the pundits wondered, could
this upset have occurred?
Actually, it shouldn’t have been a total
surprise for, in recent years, democratic
socialism has been making a remarkable
comeback in American life. Bernie Sand-
ers, the democratic socialist U.S. Senator
from Vermont, won 23 Democratic prima-
ries and caucuses during his tumultuous
2016 election campaign. Indeed, he nearly
defeated Hillary Clinton, all but coronated
by the Democratic Party establishment for
the Democratic presidential nomination.
In addition, numerous candidates
backed by a Sanders campaign’s succes-
sor, Our Revolution, won Democratic Par-
ty primaries and election to office in 2017
and 2018.
Other indications of socialism’s recent
popularity are numerous. They include
Gallup polls done in early 2016―one
showing that 35 percent of Americans had
a favorable view of “socialism” and anoth-
er revealing that 6 out of 10 Democratic
primary voters felt that “socialism” had a
positive impact on society.
by
Polls found that socialism was espe-
cially popular among young people, a key
factor behind the jump in membership of
Democratic Socialists of America from
5,000 in November 2016 to 40,000 today.
Of course, democratic socialism―cen-
tered in the idea of democratic ownership
and control of the economy―has had peri-
ods of growth, as well as decline, over the
course of American history. During the first
decades of the 20thcentury, it flourished. By
1912, the Socialist Party of America, led by
charismatic labor leader and presidential
candidate Eugene V. Debs, had succeeded
in electing socialists to 1,200 public offices
in 340 American cities, including 79 may-
ors in 24 states. But, within a few years, the
party was largely destroyed by government
repression (thanks to its opposition to U.S.
entry into World War I) and by its bitter feud
with the rising Communist movement over
the Communists’ contempt for political de-
mocracy and civil liberties.
With the onset of the Great Depression,
the Socialist Party experienced a modest re-
vival, but soon began to fade as the Demo-
cratic Party, then in its New Deal phase, be-
gan to implement many of the key programs
long championed by democratic socialists:
collective bargaining rights for workers;
minimum wage and maximum hour laws;
public sector jobs for the unemployed; a so-
cial security system; and heavy taxes on the
rich to pay for an array of social services.
Increasingly, the Democratic Party at-
tracted the support of the democratic so-
cialist constituency, including some of its
prominent figures―labor leaders like Wal-
ter Reuther, David Dubinsky, Sidney Hill-
man, and A. Philip Randolph, educators
like John Dewey, women’s rights activists
like Margaret Sanger, and popular writers
like Upton Sinclair.
For some decades, the Democratic So-
cialist Organizing Committee, founded in
1973 by the writer Michael Harrington and
other committed socialists―and its suc-
cessor, Democratic Socialists of America
(DSA)―tried to revive democratic social-
ism by cutting loose from fruitless third
party election campaigns and focusing, in-
stead, on fostering public support for great-
er economic and social democracy.
On occasion, DSA backed worthy can-
didates in Democratic primaries. But it had
only minimal success. For the most part,
the best that DSA could do was to keep the
democratic socialist current alive by pull-
ing together socialist-minded activists scat-
tered about in the labor, women’s rights,
racial justice, and peace movements, and
putting them in touch with a small group of
sympathetic public officials.
Nevertheless, the rise in American life
of a rapacious corporate capitalism, a wid-
ening level of economic inequality, and the
sharply rightwing policies of many states
and the federal government are clearly in-
spiring a revolt on the Left. As the Sanders
campaign and the recent election victories
of Ocasio-Cortez and other leftwing can-
didates indicate, in electoral politics this
revolt is finding expression largely inside
the Democratic Party.
Although it’s too early to know how
this revolt will play out, there are signs that
it is beginning to alter Democratic Party
politics. With a heartily-despised Donald
Trump in the White House and with right-
wing Republicans now dominating Con-
gress and the Supreme Court, many new-
ly-energized leftwing voters will probably
close ranks with mainstream Democrats in
an all-out Democratic Party effort to drive
the Right from power.
At the same time, there is a comparable
recognition among establishment Demo-
crats that, unless they welcome the grow-
ing number of democratic socialists into
their ranks, they have little chance of win-
ning elections.This might well explain why
so many leading Democratic politicians
have now turned to backing the staples of
the Sanders campaign, such as Medicare
for all, free public college education, and
curbs on corporate power. It might also ex-
plain why the Democratic National Com-
mittee is busy cutting back the establish-
ment-controlled super delegate system for
choosing a presidential candidate.
As a result, just as the Democratic Party
largely absorbed America’s democratic so-
cialist constituency during the 1930s and
1940 and, in turn, was itself transformed
by that process, the same phenomenon
might be underway today. For many years,
sectarian leftists have railed against the ac-
tivity of democratic socialists within the
Democratic Party, claiming that it has held
back a workers’ revolution or some other
ostensibly glorious occurrence. But this
contention seems dubious. Instead, dem-
ocratic socialist activity within the Dem-
ocratic Party helped produce the kind of
progressive politics and public policy that
delivered significant economic and social
gains to most Americans in the past. And it
might well do so again today.
Dr. Lawrence Wittner, syndicated by
PeaceVoice, is Professor of History emeri-
tus at State University of New york/Albany
and the author of Confronting the Bomb
(Stanford University Press).
‘Crazy Rich Asians’ a Triumph of Representation
Less one misstep
with token gay
character
J ill r ichardson
The new film Crazy
Rich Asians is a triumph
of representation in Hol-
lywood. It’s the first film
in a quarter century to
have an all-Asian cast.
Crazy Rich Asians is wonderful, on so
many levels. It’s a charming and fun movie
with a great cast. For the characters, Chi-
nese culture is not foreign, as Chinese cul-
ture is often portrayed in movies aimed at
white audiences.
The value of having an all-Asian cast
shouldn’t be understated.
The film shows diversity in personalities,
showing that there’s not just one way to be
Asian, just as there’s not only one way to be
any ethnicity. The characters are all Asian,
but they’re going through universal human
by
problems that everyone can relate to.
Often Hollywood chooses a white person
as the hero or protagonist in the story, and
then casts a token person of color or two in
a supporting role. For example, the main
characters of Harry Potter are all white, but
he has a black classmate, crushes on a Chi-
nese girl, and asks an Indian girl to the Yule
Ball.
For white audiences, this feels normal
and right. If you’re white, you feel like the
protagonist in your own life. The people
around you may include people of color, but
like everyone else who’s not you, they’re
supporting characters.
It seems like Hollywood only casts
more than a token number of people of
color if there’s a plot-driven reason. Hid-
den Figures, Selma, and other films about
anti-black racism need black actors to play
black characters fighting racism.
The same is be true of sexual minorities.
And here’s where I think that Crazy Rich
Asians makes a misstep.
If you’re writing a film about a gay
character coming out, then you need a gay
character. If it’s simply a story about an
action hero, well…. Why would an action
hero need to be gay? So they aren’t. The
action hero is straight.
Otherwise, minority characters play
stereotypes: the Latina maid, the Chinese
kung fu master, or the nerdy smart Asian
kid.
And, coming to my point… the flam-
boyant, hilarious gay best friend.
In Crazy Rich Asians, a character named
Oliver plays this role. He’s funny, he’s
flaming, and he provides the main charac-
ter with fashion help when she needs it.
Just like there’s more than one way to
be Asian, there’s more than one way to
be gay. Not all gay men lisp, obsess over
fashion, and overuse the word “fabulous.”
Not all gay women wear flannel and drive
Subarus.
When we’re protagonists in films, it’s
because the plot centers on something
straight people recognize as gay: coming
out, conversion therapy, or same-sex ro-
mance.
But just like Chinese people don’t ex-
ist for white people’s entertainment, gay
and bisexual people don’t exist for straight
people’s entertainment.
The character of Oliver is hilarious
and entertaining. But it feels to me like a
gay version of minstrelsy. Our identities
shouldn’t be someone else’s comic relief.
Lack of representation in Hollywood
drives home the point that straight, white
people are truly human, undergoing the
whole range of human experiences and
emotions, and the rest of us are two-dimen-
sional stereotypes.
We play supporting parts in a straight,
white world. We’re tokens. We’re not fully
human.
Movies and TV reflect our world, but
they also shape how we see it. For people
of color and LGBT people, the world of
Hollywood doesn’t reflect our real world
experiences — but it does shape how oth-
ers in the real world perceive us.
OtherWords columnist Jill Richardson is
pursuing a PhD in sociology at the Univer-
sity of Wisconsin-Madison. She lives in San
Diego. Distributed by OtherWords.org.