Thursday, April 14, 2016

j reacts to leap, ndp/green parties and the future of the post-industrial left

the green anarchism of the green party is the future of the left. that has been clear for quite a while now. and, while the leap manifesto is a little bit scant on details, naomi klein is one of the leading proponents of the new left. so, everything is lining up, right?

no.

the ndp is run by the fossil fuel industry. it's an unholy alliance of capital and labour, bent on destroying the planet for short term gain. the hard reality is that it is no more likely to pick these ideas up than the liberal party is. and, i think everybody is fully cognizant of this, too. there's just that bit of cognitive dissonance...

it's easy to suggest that the issue should have been ignored rather than dragged on. the party would no doubt keep it's base of dues-paying union members happy. sure. and it may have expanded a little on the right, too. but, then the party leadership will wake up one day, two years from now, to find it is competing with the greens for third party status.

the green party platform is available on the internet. and, it's more than two pages of vague platitudes, too.

ask yourself this question: given that the party is probably going to win in the end, is it worth this level of struggle to merely fail at reinventing the wheel? or are you better off abandoning the ndp for the greens immediately, and trying to peel off progressive aspects of the union movement one-by-one?

i fear that the future is obvious: this goes on forever. in the end, the party wins. and, everybody has wasted years they should have spent organizing outside of the party.

http://rabble.ca/columnists/2016/04/leap-time-reality-check