On Leftist Disunity
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 พ.ค. 2024
- Watch the whole video before commenting. As I’ve expressed in the past, I don’t self-identify as a "leftist" because I believe it's too broad to meaningfully encapsulate the vast diversity of perspectives under its banner. I just wanted to clarify my position in greater detail in this video so that y’all understand where I’m coming from, even if you disagree. Peace!
introduction - 0:00
what is the left - 0:46
what i'm not saying - 7:39
moving forward - 8:49
The list of artists used is in the outro.
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outro music: Cedar Grove by joe zempel
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Spotify: open.spotify.com/artist/3vVDn...
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10 leftists and only 20 opinions? Clearly they haven’t been reading enough theory! Nice work, dude, this one is really cutting deep!
I was going to read this comment, but I had more theory to read.
As a vegan it may surprise you to learn that your brain needed meat proteins to fully develop. There exist specific nutrients that plants beans or rice simply cannot provide that are critical to normal brain development. An argument could be made that you could read all the theories of Marx or Lenin Stalin but your brain is unable to ascertain it’s content thus leaving you to being told what to think.
What is “the current thing” your mad about now?
@@LaGrandeBayou Sorry, too B12 deficient to care.
@@LaGrandeBayou I really do wonder why folks like yourself watch videos like this, let alone troll the comments. I guess all that big meat brain means you're just desperate to get a debate in wherever you can?
Hahahaha
"I don't have time to wait for a capital R Revolution like it's the rapture."
I love this line so much. The reverence some leftists have for this specific event rather than recognizing all the small and meaningful acts they can make on a local level really frustrates me sometimes. Thanks for this great video!
it would serve lots of people well to know that it is not just one future event as he said in the video "the revolution is now". it's lots of little things, it's everything that's happened, and revolution will keep happening when and where its needed.
Ok, so… mission accomplished, right? We can roll up the banners. We won!
@@jiujitsuguy74 "there's always going to be work for changes" is pretty much the direct opposite of "mission accomplished"
I think people need to realize that the great and holy capital R Revolution will only happen if we make it happen. We may not know the hour or the day, but we can speed it up if we do something no matter how small now.
@@mayayamato7351 right, so, do nothing but try to find a reason to feel as if you had. Sounds like a winning strategy to me, boys!
pea brain: accusing other leftists of being splitters
universal brain: accusing other leftists of not wanting to form Voltron
😂
omg lmao
Is this the "fully mechanised queer space communism" all the kids are talking about?
Something I have gripes with is using an ideology as an identity (e.g. "I'm a Marxist; I'm a DemSoc etc.) because using ideologies as labels prevents any kind of flexibility in intellectual growth. We're humans first and foremost, not a specific ideology.
i refuse to completely categorize myself at this point on this for this reason.
I can never work out where I supposedly belong.
I don't know if there's is much of a difference between a Marxist and someone who thinks Marx was correct
@@liammarshall-butler3384 the only real difference is I think someone who labels themselves is less likely to change thier mind.
I agree and that's why I usually say I'm just on the left.
I don't get the obsession with "left unity," when every time I've heard someone express "Left Unity," what they mean is "my politics should dominate but I'll let you in the club if you don't piss me off."
I'm generally okay with disagreements so long as people have the same actual goals as me - politics based on anti-capitalism, mutual aid, direct action, all with the goal of flattening or eliminating hierarchy, and trying to fundamentally change society outside of the State. That means that I know a lot of politically eclectic folks who are all anarchist or anarchist-adjacent, and a lot less people who think it's justified to roll the tanks into Hungary again. That works for me, disagreeing with people and yet knowing we're fundamentally aligned. That seems just...extremely logical, at least compared to forming coalitions with people who do not even share the same basic values as you.
also your facial hair rocks, nice new avatar
Agreed, the whole ´´ Why can´t we all just get along ? ´´ is not understanding the differences between people and what they believe in.
My issue with that is, that the right is kinda united. They also have differences, but on some topics the get way more along.
While the left fights over fundemental stuff, they for example rally behind anti abortion laws or fight against minorities in unison.
@@desotaku5202 I think what you mean there is that the left allows a lot ideas for some division to happen, co it allows freedom of ideas, while the right as of the us is leaning on more fanatical viewpoint with a destructive dogma on its side.
I've given up on politics because the right is too good at public relations, media, as well as hijacking left wing political ideas and posioning the word untill its unspeakable. You can't even talk about anarchy because everybody associates the word with chaos even in a political sense. Look at communism, the idea is for the people to dismantle the state by owning their work enviroment yet everybody associates it with governement takeover. I live in a small town in south florida. I've never meant anyone as left as "good hearted" liberal and theyre typically transplant Northerners.
As for hierarchy, I'm beginning to think its our way of seeing who's the apex predator among us, who can acheive the highest social status, accumulate the most wealth by whatever means, and Im not one for a biological worldview.
Conservatism, the status quo, and hierachy are older than the state. The industrial revolution changed the world we live in yet we have not changed ourselves.
@@aroace7913 Just because people disagree doesn't mean they have to be assholes to eachother. In fact, being an asshole to anyone is counterproductive rhetoric that is bound to hurt your argument more than help it.
10:10 "The revolution is now" That is such a good anti-doomer quote. You don't need to usher in a world revolution to make things better, while yes things won't be perfect they weren't really ever going to be, you can still help now
Yep, the revolution is ALWAYS now. Permanent revolution, baybeeee~
You may be a Revolutionary now but one day you will be called a right wing reactionary. Politics is not static, it is fluid.
The left of today is the right of the future.
@@purromemes7395 Peoples beliefs aren't static either. I don't know what political belief I'll have by the time I'm 80, maybe I'll be even more radical. But honestly, I don't care what label my beliefs have in the future, what matters is that they do good for society in general. So I don't really see your point
@@purromemes7395 then fucking good, nothing is fixed, if the people of the future are farther left than i, i'd die happy
also what the fuck, clearly not, what you think leftists go around calling emma goldman a fascist, tf you on about?
I've been feeling this message so much lately. Dealing with so many disagreements, I've still enjoyed discussion and debate, and I have my own visions, my own goals. But its okay if we don't agree. Thanks for this.
Albrekka
Hopefully you understand that means really not agreeing and you're not only saying that half heartedly in hopes you win over people with good will
Same, actually. A lot of people want me to care about their problems, and I really sincerely do; but it's hard to really stand with them when I know for a fact that they will never, ever return the favor.
Who made that profile pic?
Freedom is always and exclusively freedom for the one who thinks differently. - Rosa Luxemburg
Polk DSA? 👀
@@TigerT242 You know it!🌹
Queening
"Means and ends matter" - really appreciated that line, would love to hear more about your perspective on that. Great video, thanks
Zoe Baker talks a lot about the unity of means and ends in anarchist praxis. She even wrote a book about the history of anarchist movements called *Means and Ends*. Highly recommended.
This is really important and has given me a lot to think about. I certainly never agreed with the types who would claim “leftist unity” to deflect criticism against racist/ableist/homophobic online leftists, but I think it’s important how you pointed out that we should extend this framework to other issues and that’s fine.
I see leftist talking about 'the left eating the left' or 'leftist get so caught up in ideological purity' when it's just one leftist correcting or adding ideas/nuance to another leftists talking points and the whole discussion imploding because the second leftist wasn't willing to understand the deeper meaning behind the topic in the first place. It goes into things like class reductionism, white feminism, and alienation of niche LGBT identities.
@@itsdonuttime7729 The issue is punitive justice vs restorative justice. That is the issue we still carry punitive bs.
Stop! Thief!
Locke
@@shnglbot I'm not a thief, I'm a treasure hunter!
A coalition is a grouping of local groups orientated towards the same goal, something like stopping a housing development, abolishing police in the given area, defeating a specific fascist threat, these are things you can form a coalition around, having entirely different trajectories and not even living in the same affected area makes for bad coalitions.
"something like stopping a housing development"
Good job, comrade! One of my proudest moments as a leftist was when the community came together to report an illegal homeless encampment to have it destroyed the following week ---- Not on our watch! Not in our city!
@@arkology_city 😂😂 you a fool
5:14 “capitalism is not the final boss” 100x yes! One of my biggest frustrations during the 2020 election cycle was how often leftists were saying that our number one priority was ending capitalism, disregarding and minimizing all the other problems that are of equal importance.
Leftist unity is hard, but it’s natural that it’s hard. It doesn’t mean that we can’t “come together”, it just means that we have to stop telling each other what does and doesn’t matter, when the reality is that all of the problems we’re facing deserve attention and devotion to them. Of course no one person is gonna be able to care about everything, but that’s why there are so many of us!
Side note: i adore your voice ☺️
I'm not sure if this is the best place for this discussion but what do you mean by capitalism not being the final boss? I mean, I get it, toppling capitalism won't magically solve all our problems and there are many things that cannot wait for it to fall, and that's why we need to take direct action to guarantee people get the support that they need.
That said, though, wouldn't it all be much easier if not for capitalism? I know people won't suddenly change just bc we are not under it anymore and there will still be many problems of prejudice, misconceptions and what not. I understand that there won't ever be a Revolution that will solve everything and the only thing we can make is change what we can today, but like, isn't toppling Capitalism the hardest part? when I say capitalism I actually include things like colonialism and whatnot, but still.
So the question is more on the vein of "Do you mean it's not the final boss bc there won't be any revolution and people should focus on direct action rather than an abstract goal or something that went completely over my head?"
the way many white cisgender leftist take capitalism as root of every social inequality (notably racism and queerphobia) and claim it will disappear once we smash capitalism truly is insufferable. Just a way to push the problem under the rug. The most blatant example being transphobia, just look at how the history of transpeople has been erased through the eras, even before capitalism came to exist.
I agree.
Side note: Anyone know who's painting that is?
@@kwhodostuff5504 Your statement is highly class reductionist and also lacks imagination. We should be doing both. Also, read Transgender Marxism.
Capitalism is BY FAR the biggest and main problem. All other problems are subservent to it. I get that your point is that politics are continous and won't have a singular, stagnant end state, but it's absolutely vital that economic and material structures are the primary focus for all socialist politics.
“My world is a world where many worlds exist” great video!
In germany we say "if 3 lefties meet, 4 sub-groups(factions?) are formed"
I’m less than a minute in and already a like. Quite good. I completely agree with this video, left unity is impossible and that’s fine. Leninists and Anarchists in particular have some irreconcilable differences, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t work with Leninists on specific issues and campaigns when our interests align.
Also love the new avatar, the facial hair suits you.
@Dr.Anarchy69 Lenin was a ruling class puppet who murdered his own people. If you support a state in any capacity, you are not an anarchist, but you would be a statist, which means you support slavery. Government in any capacity is slavery. Natural law is the only law. True anarchy means without rulers which means freedom. Left/Right are just jaws of the same dirty batty. Free up your mind. Recognize your sovereignty. Respect.
@@nalahhuru9915 I wouldn't necessarily call the "Left/right" paradigm isn't"Just some dirty batty", organisation, its important to have even a basic idea of where someone is and more importantly whether they're full of shit.
For example people who claim Anarchism is "neither left or right" and then try to claim its compatible with Capitalism because "Capitalism is just free people trading voluntarily" which completely ignores the very basic tenets of Capitalism.
See get my point doh?
Claiming "Anarchy is just being without rulers" and telling people to ignore the left/right in itself falls into a trap, one being that Anarchism is alot more then that and its important especially in terms of building a new society in the shell of the old to demonstrate that and two it allows the Authoritarian right to co-operate ye movement.
Just recognise that we are indeed on the left politically but that for starters we are against the Authoritarian and Liberal left in their strategy and perspective.
Not to say I don't agree with you on Lenin and the Bolsheviks though, iv typically tried not to organise with people outside the Libertarian left......though that is hard and kinda stupid in many ways, most Anarchists typically come from AuthSoc backgrounds (myself included).
That's why I kinda like plan C, it's organised in a fairly Libertarian Communist way but it has got people from all across the left, though I don't know whether the whole "left unity" narrative is pushed.
@@superbananas7792 I appreciate your response. I'll be getting back here.
@@superbananas7792 And what would you qualify are the tenets of capitalism?
@@grandfathernurgle2840 Private ownership of the means of production, wage slavery and the exchange of goods and services in a market economy for profit.
I’ve been distancing myself from the “left unity” label as well. I personally prefer the idea of “left alliance” or as Black Red Guard put it, “tactical unity”.
In other words, because unity is difficult/impossible and because it implies differences can be ignored, certain fights should only be waged together where agreement is possible (hence the emphasis on tactics and alliances). Beating up fascists, mutual aid, union organizing, resisting police violence, etc. are all doable as a collective. Other than that, differences will be present.
Either way, Andrew, you’re hitting the nail on the head. There’s too much to simply ignore, and doing so is blind idealism. I’m still surprised at the number of leftist ideologies that exist. I personally consider that to be a good thing, but I digress. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Yay for Black Red Guard!
Fascists should be beaten? Carceral logic?
@@omgthisismeomgthisisme No, not really. I’m not saying to simply jail them. I’m saying beat them up. I meant this literally and I still mean it now. They have no problem doing this to us and will stop at nothing to achieve their goals; why should we restrain ourselves? This is what WW2 taught us and fascists are just as violent today, so there’s no reason to believe this century will be any different.
@@AvatarBowler beating fascists in self defence is ok but it's a waste of time to go after individuals who are self proclaimed fascists who really don't have any power.
"...Unity is not some superficial declaration. Revolution is not a single, simple, linear event set into the distant future. Nuance matters. Definitions matter. Means and ends matter..." Spot fucking on. I've enjoyed and been challenged by a couple of your clips, but this one is especially timely. You meaningfully grapple with so many contentious talking points in like 10 minutes *and* you do it all in good faith. Thank you for this.
"Let's overthrown capitalism and worry about our differences later" not only pretends ideology doesn't figure into strategy (as in, how you'd attempt to do the thing in the first place), but it feels like laying out a welcome mat for red-brown alliance stuff.
Learning that the ends and means can't be separated from one another is a difficult, painful, and absolutely necessary point of instruction.
"hero of the beach" has the ghayst profile picture Ive ever seen on TH-cam ever. and thats saying a lot. thats very ghey.
damn thts very ghey, OP.
Leftist Theory "To-Read" list be like *opens a Way to the Wanderers' Library*
Library of Babel but for leftist theory
My friend used to feel guilty that she couldn't join local protests, but I pointed out to her that she opened her home to people every Friday for folk dancers to come and dance together and that kind of community-building is just as necessary and needed as going to the streets in part because the right has so many avenues of community built-in over generations (like churches, is the example I used)
Fantastic video! Thank you
You've captured something fundamental in how anarchist language makes itself accessible to a broad audience. It's everywhere in your channel, but especially here. You're doing a great job, and I feel ashamed calling it that for how short it falls.
just a nitpick on the history of the French revolution : there were people on the left side of the Convention who sought to abolish hierarchies. They were the Hébertistes and the Babouvistes, also known as the "Enragés" and the "Conspiracy of Equals". Their camp was destroyed by the Girondins and the Jacobins - parties who only sought to replace the aristocratisc hierarchy of the Ancien Régime with a bourgeois hierarchy.
That said, very good video.
boost! bc this bugs me
For people who always drone on about how we need "left unity," it's usually shorthand for "left unity on *my* terms."
"I know I can't control the global. None of us can. But local is in all of our hands."
Still remembering that time Pinochet believed he would win in a public consult to decide to stay with the dictator aka "president" or to choose to begin election process for a new president.
Chilean left united to vote NO.
NO option won and we have democracy.
The NO campaign t shirt was white with *NO* in bold black and a rainbow 🌈 best t-shirt ever, is in fashion now 🥰💖🌈
I mean, I'm happy to work with leftists who have different ideas as my own toward a common goal. But if you think I'll be cooperating with the ideas of reactionary leftists―particularly those who oppose decolonization, use abusive language, and excuse the crimes of ostensibly socialist dictators―you've had a few too many. There are certain places I refuse to budge because I think it would harm the liberation of the oppressed; the reason I became an anarchist in the first place, and there are some people who won't want a part of my movement and I'm just fine with that.
Yeah, those “ostensibly socialist dictators” did good things and bad things. I’ve seen mls online an most of them don’t want an exact return to the soviet union. Hakim (a very prominent ml youtuber) even made a video criticizing the soviet union. I think the main thing that divides the left is misunderstanding and name-calling. Buzzwords like “Red fascist!” and “CIA-funded liberal!” don’t really do much but show how stupid hardliners of both ideologies can be.
@@ferigoli9408 Well, sure. There is nuance. But I'm not talking about Hakim. I actually like him. I'm talking about the Maupin, Infrared, Peter Coffin types who don't know how to takt the good with the bad. Hakim, even though I'm not an ml, is the kind of ml I would work with because his analysis you know…makes sense. And if he and his people decide to make Iraq Marxist-Leninist, I support them as long they let me and my people self-govern without a state. We can support each other because our peaceful coexistance is a possibility.
@@surgeland9084 Sorry not sorry but hierarchy and opposition to hierarchy can‘t coexist. And Hakim has dozens of really bad takes (especially on China).
@@epimisti Hakim does have bad takes, sure. But generally, they aren't bad enough to warrant a cancelling to my mind. Infrared and Maupin are much worse. Now yes, while I agree that hierarchy and opposition to hierarchy can't coexist in the same society, I do believe that we could make parallel societies based on similar ideals with a promise of peace between them. Because the bad news is that our common enemies are too powerful for us to be divided.
@@surgeland9084 I wish I had your optimism, but at the same time... there is a reason why hierarchical societies have become the norm. Because they are willing to kill and dominate and consume, those who aren't. Because they view a non-hierarchical society, ANY stateless society, as a threat to the very legitimacy of their power. I don't actually believe that a state can co-exist alongside an anarchist-minded collective, even though I fervently wish it were possible.
As a leftist, I agree and disagree. Peace dude.
What nonsense! I disagree and agree.
This is dum
I just agree😄
@@CorvusCoraxification If you choose to think about that statement in context and not be so reactionary, you'll understand that it means that he agrees with some parts but disagrees with others. It's also a joke in itself, making S.A.'s point that the left is diverse and often contradictory.
@@brennam954 i'm pretty sure Lucas was just doubling down on the joke tho : p
The great thing about anarchism is it encourages you to think and act for yourself, so we can be part of any struggle for liberation, and we don't have to stick with a movement if it turns oppressive.
Good luck herding cats and undermining any genuine leftist progress! You're doing great, sweatie!
You are VERY quickly becoming my favorite theory channel on the platform. This is exactly why I describe myself as "Post-Left". Leftism as a concept carries no objective meaning. It means different things to different people. I prefer to discuss discrete opinions on specific issues, and all the theory in the world isn't worth a damn thing if you don't even put it into practice. Ideological purity can only ever exist inside oneself. As soon as even a single other person becomes involved, there will invariably be differences. If your personal theory isn't dynamic and ever-changing, then you are no better than the right despite claiming to be a leftist. Both sides suffer from extreme ego delusion. Thank you very much for this video. Power to you, brother.
A lot of "leftists" I know who are critical of everything else in the world are rarely critical of their own particular beliefs. If your entire ideology revolves around pointing the finger at other ideologies, that finger will eventually be pointed back at you, and if you're not prepared for it, it can be a real mind blower
Love this video as I've been really struggling to build bridges between different local groups behind a shared cause. I've seen in real life that these movements will never unite but by setting a very specific shared goal it seems possible to achieve something. Thanks for sharing this, it makes me feel I'm not doing too bad as a stumbling, clumsy activist.
Watching this video feels like a relief. Accepting that i disagree with people, and cooperating and sharing resources with people i disagree with, feels like such a relief. I don’t believe in Utopia, the best case scenario is we struggle with people in both agreement and disagreement toward a world thats more beautiful and safe and loving than this one. Thank you so much❤
I will absolutely comment on the look and I'm here for it. It's only been a year or so of content from you iirc but the new avi is great. Feels like you're progressing and growing!
I feel exactly the same as I'm dipping my toes more and more into "discourse". Left unity slogan from the very beginning felt a little bit disingenous, as a tool for enforcing specific tendencies dominance.
BTW on side note. Lack of usual music jingle beats made this video less "upbeat" and more "serious" than usual. I don't know if that was your intention, but that felt more pessimistic than I used to expect from you, but that honesty is important.
Re side note: It's more so that i got a bit tired of the background music😂 but if folks want it back I'll bring it back.
@@Andrewism Hah, no, maybe I just over think details, don't worry. I just on some level associated them with you, like yellow drawings etc.
Ok Jack Sparrow, Time for the remix. 😎
If the same term can refer to American Liberalism, Anarcho-Communism and Stalinism, you should know its a bad term
I keep saying the political compass needs a third dimension. It will make stuff so much clearer and terms can be renovated.
@@orbismworldbuilding8428 there is a third dimension its called the libertarian party that supports laissez-faire capitalism with little to no government contol while republican party supports partial governmental control and the democrat party wants full government control they just dont get to be on stage with the democrats and republicans because of funding issues
@@linusdroptips660 Yet the reality is both parties support neoliberalism where all the corporations are given government aid and the Libertarians cry about small business failing but secretly wanted to be too big too fail
those words dont mean the same thing. They are considered the same because Americans lack naunce in political discussion. There's a big difference between the name of a guy and a political philosophy as well as American liberalism which for the life of me i dont know how people associate it with Government takeover other than right wing misinformation. communism means community, anarchy means no hierarchy, a dictator is in complete opposition to those ideas because he's a ruler(hierarchy) of the country(community).
@@VictorPerez-df8zy communism does not mean community communism in every example in history has always lead to dictatorships and a massive wealth and inequality disparity and a loss of the middle class, communism in every sense is an anti-freedom movement targeted at weakening the people, the freedom of expression and speech in every example of communism in history reflects this communism gives an unpresidented amount of power to the goverment and thats what you people seem to not understand and im sure you can understand that the goverments decisions for the past years have not been good for any of us and being reliant on the government and the goverment alone with out any saftey net is suicide for a country not to mention communism only works if that ruler is not corrupt and when you give a person that amount of power over an entire country they go on a power trip so no communism would not be the way to go for this country.
I like to think of the world is an amalgamation of different perspectives similar to how a theater seating arrangement means everyone is technically seeing the same show at slightly different angles which can drastically change the viewing pleasure depending on where someone is located.
The States have never been United, each state has their own specialized values and some people need more than others, the best thing about that is the world is abundant with resources and we could provide for those who need our help.
Personally, I'm renovating a small hobby farm into a climate controlled farmers market that can unify the local small farmers into a Market not reliant on our government. I don't need to be a billionaire, I just want to eat dinner and protect what little land I can manage.
Unfortunately some self important leftist will come by and say that if you really cared you would have given your land to the community or the indigenous people that roamed it hundreds of years ago. That's the problem. Instead of supporting the good work you're doing people will line up to tell you it's not enough.
@@mikedrop4421 I'd counter that with asking if they have done the same.
I've spoken to my local tribe and they don't want to have anything to do with the settlers, if I gave back this land, it would be smack dab around a bunch of people who don't care whatsoever about their plight and would also allow the current capitalist government that regularly invades reservation land to come and take this one too.
The problem was never about natives reclaiming their lands, it's that they are peaceful and don't use aggression to maintain it.
even when i was a bright-eyed optimistic Bernie voter i had seen enough of "The Left" to understand that "left unity" was a very silly idea.
When I was poli sci this was a great thing pushed. That the reason why a lot of left movements can lack organization and agreeing means and some times ends and it can be far broader than the right.
Good left politics organizes, colaberates, pushes together and tries to guards the victories they already won
A lot to think about from this one mate. I think the more personal touch on this one makes it stand out from your previous work. Thanks for doing what you do
I really appreciate the way you take on broad topics and manage to discuss them with enough detail to make many of the finer points clear while keeping things general enough to address a lot of different perspectives. I've been arguing with a friend who loves to compare right vs left tactics and your contrast of the two is enormously helpful in understanding why that's not a fair comparison.
I saw the title and thought it would be a vid about trying to knit together the mess of The Left. I'm so glad you posted that update with a little description BC I almost skipped this one! Nice work as always 🙂
This is such a great video, but the fact that the "left" was never united doesn't mean it isn't a useful umbrella term, especially when taking a dialectical approach. I'm sorry for the big "D word" what I mean by that is understanding why these categories you put in juxtaposition actually aren't compatible and finding a way to make them compatible.
Representation is necessary on a large scale level, and sure you may not have to care about the "macro" world but it has to work out somehow. It doesn't mean that elected representatives have to stay immune to poppular demands like they are today. The state doesn't have to be a top down structure, it can just be a name for a network of institutions who work together as cooperatives and are treated as commons by the people who live in that framework. When we speak of anti-work and workerism they also don't have to be incompatible because we can cherish creativity and production by emphasizing usufruct and enjoyment/fun/exploration within worker cooperatives etc...
I have to be an optimist, I'm profoundly burned out from all the sects I (don't) belong to and work with. Besides, different types of "leftists" live in the same neighborhoods, they can share resources, learn from each other and unite organically, and talk about their isms in context.
When an ideology is against representation, in every sense besides the use of easily recallable delegates who cannot make any decisions themselves, by capitulating to their terms in the name of unity, you are therefore excluding all other forms of representation, which others may think are not only useful but necessary and inevitable. Some people, in fact, do not believe that representation is necessary on the macro level. Others would say that to think a society could function without some representative, capable of ignoring the vacilations of the people more broadly, would be doomed to begin with. How do you make these two beliefs compatible? By doing so, you must capitulate to one, and therefore disregard or even suppress the other. I agree that "the left" is a broadly useful umbrella term, though its use is so widespread that it can only really compare itself to neoliberalism and fascism. Many people who call themselves leftists, and even socialists, believe that a capitalist welfare state based on Keyensian economics is a practical ideal, believe that average people should not own guns and that "abolishing the police is comparable to the police presence of an American suburb. How exactly do these people find compatability with anarchism? Yet it is not uncommon to hear these very people call for left unity. No synthesis can be developed, no means can make them compatible. They are in total opposition. I agree with the idea that it can be a useful umbrella, but I don't think that umbrella can ever be perfectly functional.
@@otherperson thank you for replying. I have a childish urge to write "fanatics are stupid" but that doesn't mean anything. Either extreme POV is bound to bring to cognitive dissonances. I can't imagine someone reading a translation of anything and saying "representation sucks". Without representation we'd all be truly independent. And anyone who thinks that opinions can be disregarded is making an assumption that the "fact and logic" they operate with are universal and not themselves mostly made up of opinions.
@@TheLeksilijum How are either extreme bound to bring cognitive dissonances? Is that to say that all anarchists in the last 150 years who want to limit representation to, at most, delegates who cannot make independent decisions and who are immediately recallable fanatics who simply havent thought hard enough about the topic? What about all the people in history who lived under kings, and thought it to be the natural and correct order of society? I don't really understand the last bit of your comment because, of course, the "facts and logic" that you are operating with are also just opinions lol. People who disagree are not, by necessity dogmatic, or fanatics, or illogical. These are not necessarily "extreme" positions. It is not that people have simply not realized that we NEED representation at some level. They just fundamentally disagree with this position, believing that representation, in any form in which people can make sweeping decisions for others without their direct consent, breeds bad results. You say a state doesn't necessarily have to be top down, yet this is a fundamental part of how anarchists define states. There is no historical state that does not operate on the logic of top down authority, so why should your definition be the most correct, the compromise, or the rational, dialectical synthesis? Thinking of other opinions which may not be able to square with your own as fanatical extremes to your logical center is exactly why left unity can never be achieved, and should never be achieved. These ideologies cannot functionally exist in tandem on the broadest scale. You cannot have a system of management which pleases both a Marxist Leninist who believes in state centralization and unitary action, police, militaries, and the dictatorship of the proletariat, and an anarchist who wants stateless municipal federations which collectivize under the principle of free association, which seeks to abolish centralized militaries, the authority of police, and even the proletariat as a class. These things simply cannot square. That does not mean that either represents fanaticism, and it certainly does not mean that you know the most logical, most self-evident course.
You are, in other words, disregarding the opinions of others when you say that you don't understand how any one can come to the conclusion that "representation sucks" (obviously a highly simplistic way of understanding that opinion), based on a logic which you perceive as universal and not just another opinion. Some people do indeed believe that "representation sucks" and not only that it sucks but that it is functionally impossible within a truly democratic system. That does not make them irrational. It is just their opinion, and whether or not you believe them to be wrong, does not really change the fact that your beliefs are equally just opinions, and there is no reason to believe that your opinion is right.
@@otherperson I'm sorry I gave the impression that I find my opinions to be facts and logic. Facts and logic are not normative things, science doesn't have opinions. So anything I suggest could very well be wrong predicting the future is impossible... I also apologize for not taking time to properly respond. I (reluctantly) identify as an anarchist, Murray Bookchin is my ideological father, and I'm actively working on horizontal organizing especially to abolish invisible informal hierarchies that anarchists are (from my experience) especially vulnerable to. That's where the so called "tirrany of structurelesness" comes to destroy anarchy. Most of the self-proclaimed anarchists groups I had the misfortune to come in contact with insist on consensus (de jure) by (de facto) gaslighting and emotionally draining their members who have any level of opposition to the dominant discourse of the group.
Maybe I'm a bad anarchist, but sometimes I can't make decisions, I don't feel competent. If facts and logic explain to me the correlation between say hurricane intensity and air moisture, I am incapable of doing anything with that information. If a doctor tells me I got leucemia I can only decide to commit suicide to not suffer, but if I wanted to get better and survive, I'd have to believe the doctor, effectively resigning on my autonomy. If people make food for me while I was at work and I come home to a warm meal I won't get all angry for not being asked what I want to eat, the people I live with know my taste in food. I'd feel grateful for not having to think about everything myself.
Feeling personally responsible for everything is exactly what's killing me in the capitalist economy. And without institutions I don't see how to solve these issues.
Does this make more sense?
PS: if you're not sure what I meant by something I'd appreciate you ask me instead of putting words between my lines, and if anything I said triggers you I'd also appreciate the heads-up so I don't keep on triggering and causing emotional harm.
Thanks for being such a great influence in this space.
Loving it. I've often run into this unity idea trap myself, and know many people who have as well. Time to share widely!
Its been nice to find more specific terms to describe my own views through content such as yours and my beginnings in reading theory.
Have a great day :)
i love all of your vids but this is probably one of my favorites so far! great stuff as always
This was great, I've been thinking a lot about this lately. Thank you!
This is a fantastic video and really gave me a lot to think about especially considering something I've been both working on and dealt with recently. But aside from all of that - I just want to say: I'm digging the facial hair - looks great.
I like to view left disunity as a sort of neverending, internal critical discussion of how to best represent leftist ideals.
thank god, ive been feeling this sentiment for a very long time. thank you for putting it into words! great video, as always
"My world is a world where many worlds exists". Such a great video!
You are about to get even bigger. Congrats on being chosen by the algorithm, and excellent job being ready when it did. Your content is much appreciated.
Thank you for continuing to educate me on these topics. Love the new facial hair! Peace from Japan ✌️😎
Really appreciate this. The last few years for me have been (among other things) the slow realization that the "revolution" is not an event (so far anyway) but something that informs and comes out of our daily actions.
this is probably one of the simplest yet most important videos i've seen about the "left" on youtube. you get my subscription
"We'd be able to Voltron ourself the hell out of capitalism." xD I liked that one
I've thought this for ages, but I didn't go as far as to look at the term "left" in the way you're talking about in this video. It's a fucking nice analysis 👌 Think I'm gonna adopt this way of looking at it. Rather than being generally left, being explicitly anarchist, post-colonial, intersectional etc. is a big one.
Absolutely fantastic video, thank you so much for this
Just watched this after seeing Second Thought's video on the "political compass" - what a beautiful and interesting complement to that one!
this video was so good. i think this video has the potential to advance the discourse online
Your perspectives are really helpful
Some of the discourse these days is so petty and the whole leftist puritanism and the idea of leftist purity is incredibly toxic.
I dont think Im crazy for thinking elected officials and organizers can cause more change than a bunch of twitter and tumblr users who think they're going to start the next October Revolution. But Ive been lectured on stating that.
Volunteering, donating, and being involved in our communities is the best thing we can do rather than sitting on our phones all day and partaking in social media discourse.
Volunteering to help disadvantaged youth has help me overcome depression. I advise anyone who is passionate about overcoming the oppression of capitalism to volunteer or organize. Start a facebook group, get involved in your community as much as you can.
Perhaps in an ideal society, leftists could all have their sects as political parties. I love this video.
👍🏽
excellent commentary, such a refined perceptive analysis. . So happy to hear someone talking such sense
Really well timed and even more well made video! Was just thinking about this and talking similar points out with some friends of mine about purity testing and the nature of bad faith discussions on "our" image.
Unity needs to be less "we each change our thoughts so that we can work together as one faction" and more "we'd both support this project, let's work together to get it done".
I also think true revolution on a wider scale is pretty much impossible, both because of an inability for everyone to agree on a concrete future state of the world and because of the ability for most people to agree that they'd rather not get shot.
Excellent. Thanks for making this comrade
Your hair's looking great! Thanks for giving me some more to think about
This is incredible 🔥🔥🔥
This is a great video which will be great to link for people who need a concise introduction.
Thank you for this. It's very good!
Woof, the first thirty seconds of this video encapsulated my studies in feminism as an undergrad (and following into graduate school). Every person is different, and has different life experiences, worldviews, personal histories, relationships, etc which makes their own personal feminism very different than mine - which was not something I was prepared for at first, but I'm fortunate that those who knew more than me were patient with me. Same thing with leftism, or any political movement honestly. Anyway, loved this video; the historical context was really interesting.
"Leftist unity" as the term is so often used may be beyond our reach, but I still have some hope for... call it leftist solidarity, or leftist collaboration. At a bare minimum, recognition from the various flavors of communists that other communists with different visions do not necessarily have to be enemies. Demanding that we all agree to a specific program -- the sort of "leftist unity" I think you're arguing against here -- seems to me to be the biggest barrier to this, ironically.
Why not human unity? Why only extend unity to leftists?
@@samuelforesta That's... so long as the systems of oppression that various forms of leftism seek to address still exist, such a thing is a pipe dream, nothing more. There is not the faintest shred of hope for collaboration with fascists, and a wealthy liberal capitalist has far too great a risk of sabotage to not be held at arm's length. Unity of any kind with them? No, I don't think so. That's just begging for our projects to fail. I'm not saying we should direct hatred toward non-leftists, mind, but the only way they will be reliably useful to the necessary revolution is if they change their views and become leftists of some type at a bare minimum.
@@samuelforesta How would that happen? If we don't fight the "right" in any way possible, which is not a minority but the majority. "Leftists" are all those people trying to make possible human flourishing, sharing, cooperation social & individual freedom - while "the right" are those forces in human societies who seek to dominate, oppress and accumulate for their own type of "freedom through power" . That is essentially what it could be cut down to.
i just found your channel but it makes me feel so at home. This video really sums up why I have felt so uncomfortable in leftist spaces... it's because there are so many contradicting leftist idealogies here to begin with, while each one assumes theirs is the "true" leftist way. I've never found someone else express my own viewpoints like you do and it has been very eye-opening and validating haha. I just want to help my community improve, not wait for a Revolution
Love this channel and your vids.
Your new icon looks so FIRE dude
Much love 🕉️♥️ thanks for the well made video
Thanks, I needed this.
This is one of the best videos on this subject I've ever seen. Good shit, dude.
I am so glad you made this video
Great video, you've really out done yourself!
Damn that was eye opening, thanks
Bro I love you videos!
The "left/right political spectrum" is only useful if you're right-wing.
It's not useful if you're right-wing either
@@Nero_Karel It's pretty useful when they want to win elections. And then they do. And then they don't get everything they want exactly the way they want it, but they get the largest things off from their wish lists. What do I get?
@@JanStarzak As a national socialist, I have to respectfully disagree lol - establishment politicians have no beliefs of their own, so it makes no sense to consider them "THE right" or "The left"; would go into what I think they are mechanically speaking, but this ain't the place for it
I can't speak for anyone else, but when I personally get in leftist communities and call for us to "unite," I'm literally just saying that we should sometimes organize ourselves around certain common ideals, no different than what this channel does. I'm not saying we should form our own state-I don't like states, I don't want authoritarianism. But I do think we could do a not-insignificant amount of immediate good by uniting behind certain political candidates from time to time (even in very corrupt systems). Not saying it should consume all our energy; just saying that for the duration that we're stuck living in states, it would be something good to attempt (rather than uniting behind the ideology that we should never have to unite).
My two cents. Keep up the awesome videos, though, I think you're doing a great deal of good with this channel.
Well spoken, brother.
This was a good essay
Commenting to feed the algo, love the new look!
rly fascinating video n ideas!!
This is useful! Thanks for making this video!
M8 You just capsized my boat with this one. Good shit. Thanks. °•.•°
10:53 awww love the credits roll sequence.
Great video! I’d like to contribute my thoughts, but most people say what I want to say already so I won’t bother. But I want to say I love the art featured in this video. Gorgeous stuff.
Super important topic , thank you. To understand why the right is united and the left never will be may I suggest "the divided brain" by Iain McGilchrist. Broadly the right is about focus and cancelling out that which is not relevant to it, the left on the other hand is about seeking the unknown and forming meaning. There is a lot to unpack here, understanding the way our own brains- emphasis on the (s) function is a massive relief from the circular arguments around ideology. The idea of solarpunk for instance seems to be about joining around and aesthetic more than an ideology Love your work.
There is an extreme need for especifist/platformist methods of organization within local spaces. Much too often the presently existing orgs are broad leftist groups that use left unity to clamp down upon any critique of state structures and rulers.
Spot on my man. I've never bought into the idea that the left should unite under one banner. What is more worthwhile is figuring out which specific fights different groups have common stakes in. We don't need to all agree on everything, but knowing when different leftists are the enemy of our enemy should help get things done.
The revolution raptute with the glorious vanguard had me rolling haha. I agree action is now.
I found your channel from your collaboration with Our Changing Climate, and I absolutely love your content. I realized you sounded very familiar, and I also realized I heard you debate Vaush a few months ago. I love both of your channels and I get a lot from each. I understand that you are more revolutionary and engage minimally in electoralism, however I think that conversation was really unproductive and I'd really enjoy if to hear you guys talk again. You seemed very upset at the time so I get it if you dislike him to the point of not engaging again, but I do think he would appreciate your opinions on the concept of solarpunk and direct action for climate change. Either way as you said in this video, you hope to expose more people to your ideas and I think another conversation would definitely bring you positive exposure.
The nerve! I was subbed to your channel, then TH-cam somehow unsubbed me and then recommend your videos, it's like they are trying to annoy me.
I missed 2 of your uploads, which I will be catching up on today. G'day to you
A well timed video. Something I was just thinking and talking about today. Unfortunately we do, or at least should, have the same goal of stopping the climate crisis from going full on apocalypse. I fear not even that will bring us together though... too many pet causes that are not solving the climate crisis getting in the way. Thank you for your perspective though, this issue needs much thought.
100%
Thanks for putting into words what I was thinking about left unity.
How did i just found your channel? Thanks a lot for speaking!