Forum Post: Leftish Celebrities and the continued problem of ideological incoherence at Occupy Wall Street
Posted 13 years ago on Sept. 28, 2011, 6:50 p.m. EST by RossWolfe
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Certainly the OccupyWallStreet demonstrations have created a lot of buzz and enlisted a lot of leftish celebrities like Chomsky, Michael Moore, Cornell West, and others to support their cause, but I believe that the rather inchoate, generalized discontent expressed by the protestors needs to be given adequate theoretical clarification in order that the participants in this phenomenon might dedicate themselves to a longer-term program of reconstituting the Left. Michael Moore quite transparently wants a return to neo-Fordist Rooseveltian capitalism, Chomsky is a self-proclaimed "anarchist" who voted for John Kerry in 2004, and so on down the line. I therefore offer the following (Marxist) critique of the protests to this point.
Of course, I realize that it is not enough to relentlessly criticize from the sidelines, but it is essential that these protestors be engaged so that their understanding of global capitalism is deepened and their politics radicalized. This means more than waving a few placards with populist slogans and other such theatrics.
Regressive "Resistance" on Wall Street: Notes on the Occupation
Eventually the Occupation will have to confront the fact that capitalism doesn't work. They have already broken out of the liberal procedural framework. Let them work their way forward. 'Inchoate' also means 'in the early stages'.
As for the 'anti-Semitism', don't you recognize the work of provocateurs when you see it? It's pretty plain in this case.
for crying out loud. From RossWolfe's article: "Apparently the childish anti-capitalism on display on Wall Street has already drifted into a perverse form of anti-semitism" Really? You think it's OWS commenting on Huffington Post articles?
Please bear in mind that all revolutionary movements are composed of a plurality of ideological positions. What happened in Tunisia and Egypt was not the result of any particular political group or ideology; rather, it was the coming together of an entire society.