: : Identity politics is for the birds. : SDF: I dunno. It seems to keep a good eye on racism and sexism and all the privileged white fratboys who like boasting of their libertarian beliefs on the Net, not to mention the folks in charge in the real centers of power.
I can understand keeping an eye on racism, sexism, and "the folks in charge", but why keep an eye on "privileged white fratboys who like boasting of their libertarian beliefs on the Net"? Seriously, I think politics based on gender, race, ethnic groups, nations etc. are bad because they are divisive in our collective struggle against capital - oh well. : : Theories of imperialism continue to be used to camouflage the degradation of wageworkers' lives in "imperialist centers", notably western Europe and America.
: SDF: I would be willing to agree with you if you could only cite a particular "theory of imperialism" and a specific (documented) use of this theory to camouflage the degradation of wageworkers' lives. Since many of these "identity politics" advocates are tenured professors, this shouldn't be an onerously difficult task.
No it isn't and, since I am a simpleton, I'll keep it simple: The Leninist Theory of Imperialism - the notion that the age of monopoly capitalism rapidly becomes the age of the revival of colonialism. Grabbing foreign lands and closing them to foreign competition as markets for finished products, sources of raw material and cheap labor or fields for capitalist investments, that is, as sources of super-profits. Colonies (periphery) as being the source of raw material and markets for the end products for production enterprises situated in the imperialist centers (core) has been given the status of "the" truth in "post-marxian" interpretations of history (see Andre Gunder Frank, Paul Baran, Immanuel Wallerstein). The "camouflage" of the degradation of workers' lives in the "imperialist centers" is, as I said before, due to the virtual "absence of discourse" on this matter since theories of imperialism shift the focus of analysis from production and reproduction of capital and workers' struggles to the relations between factions of capital, primary among them being states ("self determination" etc.) Exploitation then becomes a relation between strong and weak capitals, between oppressor and oppressed nations. Endless debates on the definition of nationality, continuous construction and reconstruction of ethnic, cultural, religious, racial, regional, and linguistic identities and traditions; development of synthetic history; and ruthless coercion of the working population (to keep the faction afloat in the world market) when in power are the illustrious heritage and legacy of this Leninist claptrap.
