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Red Arnie, believe it or not, I actually agree with you that Ethnic Studies has been "co-opted", but as you yourself concede - this should be expected under capitalism. The problem is that today Ethnic Studies, despite its myriad flaws, is under direct attack by the right wing, which for better or worse also sometimes uses the accusation of "identity politics". (Teabaggers will of course tend to say "reverse racism" or even "Black/Latin@/Asian supremacy".) No, you are not a "self-hating Asian", but you are certainly approaching this in an ineffective manner. The many potential allies and "converts" within the field (I speak more of the students than the faculty) to a more socialist or anti-capitalist analysis will not be swayed by your condemnatory language. Many people of color, because of the nature of white supremacy, come to political consciousness more through racial identity than through class/economic conditions alone. In the USA, this is especially the case since the mainstream discourse obfuscates the class struggle moreso than in perhaps any other country. As for Rosenfeld "never implying" that Aoki supplied the BPP under direct FBI orders - he certainly covered his ass in a legal sense, in that he never *directly* says that (and in fact denies it in the Democracy Now interview). But the fact that his articles and Youtube video are headlined with statements like, "Man who Armed BPP was FBI Informant", there is no need for him to make the explicit allegation. It is insinuated, and the well is now already poisoned. There is no "conspiracy theory against Rosenfeld". Those who are refuting him are showing that the evidence presented is simply not sufficient, at best circumstantial, and is mostly based on speculation and subjective interpretation. On Sat, 25 Aug 2012 04:23 Red Arnie wrote: > > I am Japanese American and participated as a non-student community member in > the demos and Asian student group meetings at SF State and UC Berkeley to > fight for ethnic studies beginning in 1969. I worked along side Richard Aoki. > I arranged a panel discussion at the 40th anniversary of the founding of the > College of Ethnic Studies at SF State entitled Liberation Studies: Beyond > Identity Politics that included Harvey Dong, the executor of Aoki's estate > and currently a staunch defender of Aoki. The point of my panel was to show > how much of ethnic studies has been changed from the conception of many of > its [founders] as a vehicle for liberation studies to a narrow, safe and > sterile field for the study of history of immigration and comparative > sociology. (I was invited to arrange this panel as a returning outside > community agitator.) My good friend Harvey Dong who teaches in the Dept. of > Ethnic Studies at UC Berkeley and who is a socialist agreed to be on the > panel because he agreed with my view on the "co-optation" of academic ethnic > studies. (I use quotes because that is what should be expected to happen in > our capitalist educational system.) > > (I suppose the insightful X,Y who accused me of white chauvinist thinking > will now accuse me of self-hate for trying to get my community to move beyond > identity politics and cultural nationalism to building a socialist mass > movement.) > > In her 441 page hagiography of Aoki, Fujino describes Aoki's frustration with > that change at UC Berkeley and gives it as his reason for leaving the faculty > of the Department of Asian American Studies at Cal to teach at a community > college. > > Rosenfeld never said nor implied that Aoki supplied weapons to the BPP on the > orders of the FBI. He only said Aoki was an FBI informant during the same > time he was supplying weapons. Rosenfeld doesn't know or say whether Aoki > told the FBI that he, Aoki, was supplying arms. The conspiracy theories > against Rosenfeld to dismiss his work are useless, time wasting and tiresome > speculations. > > Can we direct our attention to the issues in this disclosure of FBI > information that will be useful for building a socialist movement instead? ________________________________________________ Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
