The “left”, in this essay, sound like people all fired up by some obscure rant arising from fundamentalist feminism.
So either you are confused, Umair Haque, or I am.
Could it be that I was critical of neoliberal economics, all this time, but that this is not typical of the political “left”? Could it be that all these years, I thought I was, politically, leaning “left” because I opposed the oppression of working classes in a socially stratified economy?
My perplexity, upon reading your essay, is worse than that.
Doesn’t the “left” — or at least “progressive” policy and political causes, also involve a larger focus? Is the environmental movement not “left” of the dominant politcal paradigms of most industrialized countries? Is the extinction rebellion movement not “left”?
Whoever these people you are angry with are, they do not represent the massive current of the political left, as I understand it. Concern with gender pronouns and bathroom access, for me, is hardly more than a little sidestream compared to the on-coming torrent of political activism. I refer to activism calling for serious divestment from major extractive and polluting industries. I refer to widespread activism, often in support of indigenous peoples, who are fighting to save whole terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. I refer to the millions of people, from all walks of life, who are calling for policy initiatives to save over a million endangered species. I am referring to the millions who marched in the streets this past year, calling for an end to fossil-fuelled economic growth to slow and reverse the greenhouse effect.
These movements are not destroyed, in fact they are the fastest growing political motivations for activism, especially among younger people, around the world. As much as some of their political opponents might like to believe you, a few episodes of de-platforming have little to do with the tremendous power of environmental movements and climate-change activists. The left has been vanquished by “identity politics”? No, the real LEFT is stronger than it has ever been.
