I love the RCN work, and have a ton of respect for the political chops of Anat and the analysis of Ian. And: I'm concerned that it's ultimately moving us in the wrong direction. That is, built into the RCN is "othering" and the identification of an enemy. So while there's no question it can be effective in short-term or even medium term campaigns and electoral politics, I fear that it's not actually getting us closer to what we ultimately need to do... which is build a world that works for everyone. That invites those who currently oppose us to join us.
I fear the class-based strategy is too simplistic of a frame, and allows us to lay the blame at the feet of corporate elites (who, to be clear, are certainly a massive part of the problem). But does anyone really think a return to 1960s pre-neoliberalism will actually get us where we need to go? Even if corporates were more egalitarian, or followed the German or Norwegian model... the far-right is thriving there too.
I'd love to see two shifts/evolutions to the RCN work: one, to bring in gender more prominently, since that is the common feature uniting the far-right globally (it's an overwhelmingly male phenomenon, and a very traditionally-gendered phenomenon among women), and to anchor the narrative in belonging rather than blaming an enemy, or taking the easy way out of trying to build solidarity along class lines (and ignoring the more complicated reality that many of the richest people in America are actually progressives who share these values and are struggling to figure out how to navigate a system that they recognize is corrupt even as it benefits them).
Thanks for your words! I'm happy to share my thoughts. I do deeply believe in the importance of centering an accurate analysis of economic power in our organizing and illustrating the common material interests of those who have to work to live and how those differ from those of people who grow astronomically wealthy from the labor of others. That mega-rich class is on both sides of the aisle (I used to do dishes at a private equity firm for men with $200,000 cars and pictures of them and Nancy Pelosi on their desks). I personally think the RCN won't be truly effective until it is tied to a political project or organization that is also deeply focusing on the big-money issues with the Democratic Party.
That working class-based, multiracial organizing though, that is centered in a class analysis, I believe can also include an understanding that this economic system -- which incentivizes the most elite people in this society to pursue ever-greater wealth--also deeply dehumanizes them (and may in fact ultimately have material consequences for them too as climate collapse and capitalist wars, among other things, touch more and more of us).
I don't think, though, that we can subvert the class-based organizing approach and assume something else will fundamentally change capitalism... we can offer a pathway toward belonging for wealthy people who want to join working class-based organizations though, as many organizations have done in the past.
I love the RCN work, and have a ton of respect for the political chops of Anat and the analysis of Ian. And: I'm concerned that it's ultimately moving us in the wrong direction. That is, built into the RCN is "othering" and the identification of an enemy. So while there's no question it can be effective in short-term or even medium term campaigns and electoral politics, I fear that it's not actually getting us closer to what we ultimately need to do... which is build a world that works for everyone. That invites those who currently oppose us to join us.
I fear the class-based strategy is too simplistic of a frame, and allows us to lay the blame at the feet of corporate elites (who, to be clear, are certainly a massive part of the problem). But does anyone really think a return to 1960s pre-neoliberalism will actually get us where we need to go? Even if corporates were more egalitarian, or followed the German or Norwegian model... the far-right is thriving there too.
I'd love to see two shifts/evolutions to the RCN work: one, to bring in gender more prominently, since that is the common feature uniting the far-right globally (it's an overwhelmingly male phenomenon, and a very traditionally-gendered phenomenon among women), and to anchor the narrative in belonging rather than blaming an enemy, or taking the easy way out of trying to build solidarity along class lines (and ignoring the more complicated reality that many of the richest people in America are actually progressives who share these values and are struggling to figure out how to navigate a system that they recognize is corrupt even as it benefits them).
Curious how you think about this.
Hey Brian,
Thanks for your words! I'm happy to share my thoughts. I do deeply believe in the importance of centering an accurate analysis of economic power in our organizing and illustrating the common material interests of those who have to work to live and how those differ from those of people who grow astronomically wealthy from the labor of others. That mega-rich class is on both sides of the aisle (I used to do dishes at a private equity firm for men with $200,000 cars and pictures of them and Nancy Pelosi on their desks). I personally think the RCN won't be truly effective until it is tied to a political project or organization that is also deeply focusing on the big-money issues with the Democratic Party.
That working class-based, multiracial organizing though, that is centered in a class analysis, I believe can also include an understanding that this economic system -- which incentivizes the most elite people in this society to pursue ever-greater wealth--also deeply dehumanizes them (and may in fact ultimately have material consequences for them too as climate collapse and capitalist wars, among other things, touch more and more of us).
I don't think, though, that we can subvert the class-based organizing approach and assume something else will fundamentally change capitalism... we can offer a pathway toward belonging for wealthy people who want to join working class-based organizations though, as many organizations have done in the past.
I share about the false choice between these things in this article if that's helpful: https://towardsolidarity.substack.com/p/how-inequality-harms-the-1-percent