Tecumseh's Fist

A good friend handed me an extended pamphlet of sorts which directs us "Towards a politics of transformation in the US, the 2008 election and beyond" by Ricardo Levins Morales. It is interesting and worthy of a broad discussion and I am inspired that yet another older white guy(my friend) is getting more radical as his political knowledge and wisdom matures. While critical of the two party duopoly, the co-opted non profit-NGO matrix and our "formal" democracy, it nonetheless advocates radical change through a third party, in this case endorsing Cynthia McKinny and Clemente.

While providing a valid and detailed critique of Barack Obamas positions on most everything, it runs into trouble in my opinion, when it tries to identify a possible "unified front" from which to challenge the status quo. Starting with a positive identification of who "we" are, it describes a Capital L Left which "hopes to transform (as opposed to adjust ) todays power relations." Where it begins to run into trouble is when it tries to describe where power is currently located. Focusing on a "corporate class",then "foreign policy elites",then "guardians of power" and a "ruling elite" which devises "corporatist policy and an "elite agenda", it studiously avoids Marxist delineations in favor of C Wright Mills New Left type rhetoric. Where is Labor? Same place as Capital, nowhere to be found.

I can deal with this because Morales at least is looking at an "underlying structure" and calling for a "massive shift of resources to the social wage and control of economic...decision making into the hands of the people." What initiates this process is a "unifying Social Charter" which in many respects sounds like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights , using as a first principle this definition of fairness: "no one gets seconds until everyone has had firsts." (sounds like something Jesus would say) Much of Morales' urgency springs from his analysis of environmental woes, creating a convergence of opportunity ready to be exploited . Certainly the urgency is real.

The idea is that this charter could unify disparate entities of the "movement of movements" just as Tecumsahs call for indigenous land was to unify tribes with differing agendas, alliances, etc.. back in the day. (didn't work) The biggest unidentified obstacle I see is that there is a huge gulf between the anti-capitalist Left and the regulated markets left. Huge. Totally differing strategies to compliment their totally differing goals. The idea of a social wage has attraction but pre-supposes a system with vastly differing levels of empowerment which would undermine the democratic "control of economic decision making" and possibly end in bureaucratization or other forms of corruption. As for the call for a Peoples Party, again, if it is a labor party with syndicalist goals (general strike, for instance) I say yea but , the "unity" between social justice "people" has proven to be non-existent and I don't see another manifesto changing that reality. Check it out at www.ricardolevinsmorales.com/