What is Antiracism? | Ruth Wilson Gilmore and Arun Kundnani

Why has liberalism been ineffective at combating racism? And what would a more radical anti-racism look like?
On July 13th 2023 Ruth Wilson Gilmore joined Arun Kundnani at an event to launch his new book, What Is Antiracism? And Why It Means Anticapitalism, at the Independent Social Research Foundation in London. This is the event footage from that evening.
Find Arun Kundnani's new book here: www.versobooks.com/products/2...
Ruth Wilson Gilmore is a noted prison abolitionist. Her latest book is Abolition Geography: Essays Towards Liberation www.versobooks.com/products/2...
This event is the twenty-seventh in the ISRF’s series of Book Launches: www.isrf.org/events/book-laun...
With thanks to Arun Kundnani, the ISRF, the IRR, and SOAS University of London for hosting this event.
00:00:00 Arun Kundnani
00:17:17 Ruth Wilson Gilmore
00:45:58 UK’s attitude to colonialism
00:49:38 Identity Politics and CRT
00:58:38 Fascism and Neoliberalism
01:08:36 Liberal foundations

[@heathers.7975]

"...fascism...is ripe and growing. Fascism is ideology, system and outcome with racism at its core."

[@kc0itf]

Dude, it's OK to use capitalism... ENJOY CAPITALISM!

[@jirehla-ab1671]

​@@kc0itfhahaha

[@yuothineyesasian]

The reason liberalism has been ineffective at combating racism is because there are differences between groups of people. Only a totalitarian, Orwellian state could erase those differences at the expense of taking from one to give to another according to the bias of politicians.

[@TheDraxton]

Kind of an odd place to be a troll

[@madeinengland1212]

@@TheDraxton yeah this is a Marxist echo chamber here, how dare he.

[@kc0itf]

is racism they are talking about skin color or the capitalist "rat race"?

[@didymussumydid9726]

@@madeinengland1212 Such a profound echochamber that the mere existence of someone representing a coherent dissident opinion presents a literally unsolvable brainbusting mystery, prompting the tentative guess "Must be a troll?" lmao

[@beyondaboundary6034]

It's not erasing differences between people to question the division of humanity into 4 or 5 "races" invented in the 1700s and 1800s. Kundnani is not arguing against ethnic identities, which predated the invention of ludicrous constructs like "the white race" or "the black race" and will outlive them. Also the historical reality is that BOTH socialism and capitalism can take the form of authoritarian dictatorships. If authoritarian capitalist states don't discredit all forms of capitalism, why do authoritarian socialist states discredit all forms of socialism? Democratic socialists like Martin Luther King, Jr. supported something closer to Scandinavian social democracy than Stalin's USSR. Call that capitalism if you want, but there are many working examples of worker co ops, socialized medicine, social housing, etc. existing in predominantly capitalist market economies with multiparty elections. Why can't that successful hybrid be built upon further? Democratic socialists want to combine universal healthcare, housing, etc. with antiracism, not authoritarianism or denying the existence of ethnic group identities.