There is no radical left in the United States, period.
Our worst protest was overblown by the right as the Stonewall Riots or something. It really WAS mostly peaceful protests. Compare Black Lives Matter or Antifa to uprising in the same year or two. It was social unrest for REFORM WITHIN THE CURRENT SYSTEM, not REGIME CHANGE.
And what's so radical about speaking your mind about things that affect you and your community directly? I can't think of a more anti-radical position than argumentation.
And what else is this radical left doing? Buying comic book with lgbt representation? Seeing movies with a black actor replacing a white comic book character? Changes done by businessmen to sell a product? In other words, bog standard consumerism?
Such a radical concept!
I dunno, show me this radical left, because I sure can't seem to find them.
__________________ What CDTM believes;
Never let anyone else define you. Don't be a jerk just to be a jerk, but if you are expressing your true inner feelings and beliefs, or at least trying to express that inner child, and everyone gets pissed off about it, never NEVER apologize for it. Let them think what they want, let them define you in their narrow little minds while they suppress every last piece of them just to keep a friend that never liked them for themselves in the first place.
only people i can think of as "the radical left" in america live on hippy commumes in the middle if nowhere and have cowshit between their toes.
__________________ Your Lord knows very well what is in your heart. Your soul suffices this day as a reckoner against you. I need no witnesses. You do not listen to your soul, but listen instead to your anger and your rage.
This song encapsulates the radical left in the UK of my generation. This is what raised us people from between the wars like my Grandfather who was a gas engineer.
Re: There is no radical left in the United States, period.
No thats not what the left are asking for at all. Certainly not the radical left.
They want Medicare for all, an end to the foreign wars, an end to the war on drugs, an end to support for big business over the people who actually need it.
They tried to force a vote on Medicare at all, but that didnt get enough support. Nina Turner was a big hope for them, but thats gone the wrong way, mostly due to corporate money. The left want an end to corporate money entering political campaigns.
The radical left want more police accountability as well. And do everything they can to get equal opportunities for everyone, in spite of the level of income your parents had or the area you grew up in.
Never let anyone else define you. Don't be a jerk just to be a jerk, but if you are expressing your true inner feelings and beliefs, or at least trying to express that inner child, and everyone gets pissed off about it, never NEVER apologize for it. Let them think what they want, let them define you in their narrow little minds while they suppress every last piece of them just to keep a friend that never liked them for themselves in the first place.
Re: Re: There is no radical left in the United States, period.
That's just sort of general-left. Most of the Democratic party are 'liberals', 'centrists', imo fairly right-of-centre on economic issues, so actual left-wing members seem 'far-left', 'radical left' by comparison.
To be 'radical left' you must want an end to capitalism in all of its forms. That's a basic entry requirement.
Hmm. Thinking about it, I'd like to amend my last post. 'Radicalism' is broader than the extent of belief in or support for a cause or ideology.
So I'd say 'radical left' can be used in different ways. One is the definition I used before, to describe 'extreme left-wing' or 'far-left' or what have you. But radicalism can also describe those who use more extreme tactics regardless of their beliefs. So that broadens the definition somewhat; those who take part in direct action (such as the extreme sides of protesting, all the way to assassination and revolutionary tactics) could also be considered even if they aren't entirely opposed to capitalism.
That said, most of them probably are. For example a radical 'green' activist might not be entirely opposed to capitalism, but the chances are that they are, because they recognise that only by removing the earth-salting capitalist machine could saving the planet be possible; if they didn't, they'd just keep voting or whatever, thinking that ordinary politics could garner positive results (it won't).
So whilst I'd still say that generally when one thinks of the 'radical left', full opposition to capitalism is a staple concept, I wanted to make clear that there are exceptions. Also, obviously, not all 'radical leftists' engage in extreme methods to further their ideological goals. Most just sit around posting long-winded messages on the internet.