by MHI
Editor’s Note: Please also see the article on our panels at the conference and the videos of the panels (coming soon).
Silence, Absence, Abdication
The ongoing threat to our democratic rights and civil liberties in the United States, including our remaining reproductive rights, is acute. Imminent authoritarian rule is a distinct possibility. If Donald Trump retakes office, it is more than likely.
We are alarmed and disheartened that much of the left has responded to this crisis with near-total silence. For example, at this conference,* one of the major left conferences in the US in recent years, discussion of ongoing authoritarianism and the threat of authoritarian rule are almost completely absent. No plenaries, and almost no panels or presentations, focus on these issues.
The main enemy is at home. A left that does not assist in the fight-back against it, that does not even speak to this crisis at home, is abdicating its responsibilities. It will not, and should not, be taken seriously.
This is especially troubling because the Democratic Party offers no solutions to the crisis. Its vision is limited to winning one more election, by the narrowest of margins—and then hoping that court rulings and/or fascistic insurrection don’t overturn the election result.
What is needed to confront the threats we face is a mass movement to preserve, win back, and extend our democratic rights and liberties, and a left that is able and willing to help the movement develop—a profoundly reoriented left.
—Marxist-Humanist Initiative, May 29, 2024
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* Historical Materialism | Institute for the Radical Imagination conference, “No War But The Class War,” Brooklyn, NY, May 31-June 2, 2024.
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