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At 01:18 20/07/10 +0100, Ian Pace wrote: >Calm down Jeff, your response is disproportionate. I would have been perfectly calm if you had just wanted to discuss the occurrence of antisemitism in progressive movements, for instance. But this was brought up specifically in response to a protest against sexism in the movement, and whatever YOU were thinking when you wrote that, the POINT of it was that we shouldn't get so upset about a little sexism because we don't get upset about a little antisemitism. Well you're wrong on both counts! >There is certainly >anti-semitism to be encountered amongst some supporting the Palestinian >cause, that doesn't mean it's widespread, let alone a majority thing, just >as there was real misogyny and homophobia in the Respect coalition. And >plenty of sexism to be encountered in the trade unions. And racism and >Islamophobia in some feminist groups. And exactly what proportion of those are you willing to "just accept?" Any? If so, I'd like to hear it. If your answer is "none," as I would say, then that is exactly what all the fuss was about in the first place! NO amount of sexism is alright just because it's below some threshold, so I view with absolute contempt any desire to set such a threshold or, as you did (perhaps subconsciously), imply the existence of a threshold by making a comparison to a different evil (whether real or imagined). That's the deal. >Now one can take a holier-than-thou approach and just denounce any such >people in such movements (and likely break them up almost instantly), No, this isn't about breaking anything up, it's about forcing people to take sides. Since no one admits to being a sexist, it shouldn't be asking too much that they don't behave as sexists. Or if they do, then, as the article suggested, it could be said that they are doing the work of the cops and THAT is what breaks up movements. When an organization or movement becomes a hostile place for women, for instance, THAT breaks them away from what should be a united movement. - Jeff ________________________________________________ Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
