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| The Digital Divide and YPSL |
 The National Executive Committee of the Young People's Socialist League thanks Josh Benson for designing our website, which is an excellent recruitment and outreach tool for the League. One of its most powerful features is the discussion forums which creates a space for yipsels and friends to share ideas and information that did not exist before.
Over the past year however, the composition of those participating on our discussion boards has made clear to us the pervasiveness of the Digital Divide. The historic privileges of white, male and middle class peoples has reproduced itself into our generation in the form of unequal access to technology, and education regarding its use. Furthermore, the privileges that allow white, male and middle class peoples to dominate discussions is amplified by the impersonal nature of internet communications. If left unaddressed, the NEC is concerned with how these forces may influence the development of YPSL.
Socialists too often revert to an ossified Marxism that places issues of race and gender secondary and separate from the revolutionary project. The Eurocentric and essentialist models of early Marxists have proven to be insufficient. This tradition within Marxism has been abandoned by current liberation struggles in both the developed and underdeveloped worlds. YPSL looks to a more sophisticated radical tradition that integrates the experiences of women, people of color, immigrants, and the colonized into a more complete understanding of oppression and exploitation. YPSL strives to always be vigilant against allowing past conclusions to limit new analysis and learning.
The NEC would like to see YPSL discussion boards develop into a community space for young radicals of all backgrounds to share knowledge and self-organize. We invite women, people of color, immigrants and others to participate on our website?s discussion boards. In order to motivate a more inclusive dialogue, we suggest the following discussion questions:
1) How has your race, gender, nationality, and sexuality influenced your values and political views?
2) How has your identity impacted your experiences as an activist?
3) How can privilege be leveraged to fight against oppression? In which cases must we explicitly reject privilege in order to achieve equality?
4) What relationship do you see between capitalism and the struggles against race, gender, and national exploitation?
5) What are the prerequisites to a united feminist, anti-racist, internationalist socialist movement?
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on October 06 2006 04:59:16
Sometimes I feel that Socialists are a little too focused on internationalism, to the detriment of individual cultures. It scares me that the Indigenous people of North America seem to be marginalized even by the Left. Native Americans have much to contribute to progressive issues, with a philosophical tradition at least as rich as classical European-American traditions. I think that the reason non-natives don't want to engage native people is that native people are still living with the effects of the massacre of our people and the theft of our land, and non-natives see those events as being in the distant past. In order for there to be a dialogue Euro-Americans must concede to have their egos taken down a few notches by acknowledging that their was an American Indian holocaust, and in some places the cultural genocide continues. Some may think I'm describing a one way street, and I am. Would you ask Jewish people to concede anything to the Germans? I truly hope these issues can be resurrected, so there can be constructive dialogue between native and non-native people. Our people have witnessed the best and the worst of this country, and like I said before, I believe Indigenous people have much to contribute towards building a real Left in America. |
on October 12 2006 05:40:08
That's probably the most intelligent and thoughtful comment I've seen on ypsl.org. Thank you. This statement was adopted to serve a purpose. I'm amazed by the number of hits it has gotten. I hope we're starting to make progress as an organization on diversity issues.
I would be interested in learning about the Native American philosophical tradition. Has it been preserved in writing? The Socialist Party had a Native American Commission for a long time, although i don't think it's active anymore. It was mainly the project of an elderly Native American in Idaho. The commission was dechartered for inactivity, but I do believe he is still active as an individual in the Party. I'd suggest asking the SPUSA National Office about it. |
on May 25 2007 12:51:31
I think the forum is an excellent idea and has worked very well, I've visited some anarchist forums which are dominated by very intellectual people considering everything from the stand point of pretty bewildering post-marxist continental philosophy.
The Yipsel forum is a very inviting place, as this whole piece suggests, no one beats anyone else up for their views being out of step and there's none of the sorts of infighting and political sectarianism which marked socialism even seven or eight years ago and sometimes marks demos were all the different factions get to congregate.
On the other hand I do think Marx, rather than Marxism, has something to contribute, the perennial needs to be seperated from that which is rooted in the day and hour it was written.
I also dont feel euro-centricism is such a problem, I personally believe in diverse and diffuse sources of resistance to oppression, since oppression is by its own very nature diverse and diffuse BUT surely euro-centric thinking, or ideas which could be labelled as "euro-centric", has a place within the mix and people shouldnt spend too much time beating themselves up about their lack of understanding, experience, or even interest in other cultures, histories and ways of life.
I'm very conscious of how labelling can be utilised to discredit otherwise fine ideas, its led to some interesting divisions in the UK were socialist parties have wound up in strange alliances with very atavistic islamic or third world movements who advocate ideas which they would reject out right were they advocated by more familiar cultural agents like Christian or Roman Catholic churches or congregations.
I think its great that someone is advocating outreach work so affirmatively, its much better than spending all the time in introspection which wears away at any link you could possibly have with ordinary work a day people.
On the other hand while fragmentation happens, it could even be a sign that most of the age old goals of socialism, particularly in the developed world are being surpassed, I still think that socialism is at its simplist about share and share alike and what shared and common goals we all have in common irrespective of our own individual identities, oppressions or challenges in life. |
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