At the end of a long decade of global austerity, that the 'c' (lass) word should be so taboo on the left that it provokes accusations of nostalgia at best, sexism and racism at worst, I find rather worrying and sad. If one said 'occupational status,' 'income bracket,' or whatever politically neutralising appellative the local national statistical agency goes by, such knee-jerk reflexes would probably be less common.
But does politics mean belonging? For identity politics champions, it really does seem to: their political reasoning moves along lines of inclusion/exclusion, recognition/suppression, voice/silence and, in its most pedestrian moments here, even in-fashion/out-of-fashion. But can identity politics be inclusive of those inherently ill-disposed to narcissism? More fundamentally, does an understanding of politics as transformative action not clash with one of it as a practice of belonging? And why does the latter dominate the scene on left and right, just as hope in system change is at its lowest? I do think that I, some self, alone, is ultimately incapable of politics, as is the endless multiplication of selfsameness.
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