Harry Targ
Among the political difficulties in times like these
is thinking coherently about theory and practice. What is happening? Why is it
happening? What can we do about it? Random thoughts and experiences follow:
First, while an Indiana resident, I spent the last
four months in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Much of my occupation (I teach political science) and my passion
(progressive politics) lead me to participate in social movements. Also I have
been in a socialist organization for years.
While in Milwaukee I attended meetings of the
Milwaukee Coalition for Normalizing Relations With Cuba and the End the Wars Committee,
an affiliate of Peace Action. I viewed a broadcast of a Milwaukee speech by
Rev. William Barber during his recently created new Poor People’s Campaign. He called
for organizing against the three evils articulated by Dr. King: militarism,
racism, and poverty. One week later I attended the annual “Fighting Bob”
celebration of the life and work of progressive Governor and Senator Robert La
Follette. Speakers underscored La Follette’s struggles to democratize political
institutions and to oppose the consolidation of corporate wealth.
Attendance at the Barber event, which occurred at St.
Gabriel’s Church of God, was interracial and mostly middle aged. Short speeches
were made by activists from Black Lives Matter, Fight for Fifteen, and Veterans
for Peace. The Fighting Bob event featured Nation magazine contributor, John
Nichols, Our Revolution spokesperson Nina Turner, and state legislator, David
Bowen among others. About 200 people, mostly white but varied in terms of age,
attended and about 20 tables circled the crowd with political literature on a
variety of topics including local politics, peace, the environment, Cuba, and
support for constitutional amendments.
Also, Wisconsin Peace Action’s End the Wars Committee,
co-sponsored with the Milwaukee Coalition Against Trump (MCAT) and other
organizations a panel discussion at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, on “Rebuilding
the Peace and Justice Movements.” The panel was diverse including Lisa Jones, a
leader of UBLAC, RidRacism and other justice organizations; Harry Targ, member
of the End the Wars Committee and the Wisconsin Coalition to Normalize
Relations with Cuba; Maricela Aguilar Monroy, Young People’s Resistance
Committee; and Samir Moukaddam, a progressive advocate for Palestinian rights.
About 40 mostly older white activists attended the event.
Over the summer the Milwaukee League of Progressive
Seniors held two events: one luncheon seminar on Trump Care as a device to
shift wealth to the super rich and another on the recent enormous tax breaks
the state of Wisconsin contracted with Fox Conn, a Taiwanese electronics
corporation. Speakers linked the Fox Conn giveaway to major cuts in resources
for government supported projects such as Milwaukee senior centers. Most LPS
members are retirees from social services, trade unions, and civic
organizations, and continue to be activists.
In addition to these events, Milwaukee progressives
marched, protested, and organized around a panoply of critical issues such as
prison reform, police violence, the environment, single-payer health care,
opposition to the above-mentioned Wisconsin state government tax giveaway to
global corporation Fox Conn, and other issues. Progressive values pervaded
music, film, drama, and street events during the summer.
The Greater Lafayette community, which includes Purdue
University, is about one-quarter the size of Milwaukee. However, over the years
it has seen episodes of activism not unlike other communities big and small
around the country. Particularly, there has been a significant increase in
grassroots political activity in the community since the November, 2016
election. These have included work around electoral, feminist, immigrant solidarity,
redistricting, anti-racist and anti-fascist issues, paralleling political
activism in Milwaukee. In both venues, groups that identify themselves with the
political Left (communist, socialist, anarchist) are miniscule. Some more
self-defined or externally perceived radical groups, such as Black Lives
Matter, feminist, and immigrant rights groups are visible but small.
My guess is that the political maps of Milwaukee and Lafayette,
Indiana are not too different from many other communities in the United States.
It may be that the traditional centers of more radical politics (New York,
Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles) are the outliers in American progressive
politics, not the norm.
My reflections are not to demean or criticize the
political work being done in the two venues in which I have had some
experience. To the contrary, I have been excited and inspired by the level of
activity and the theoretical and practical sophistication of activists. But my
long-standing frustration with progressive/radical politics in Indiana was
reinforced by what I experienced in Milwaukee.
Lisa Jones, activist in the Milwaukee African American
community and panelist at the UWM event, introduced a useful concept to
articulate my frustration: “siloing.” In other words, radical/progressive
politics in these locations is characterized by the existence of a multiplicity
of very active groups which have limited connection with other groups working
on different issues. And the “tragedy” of the silo problem is that the many
groups engaged in their own issues would probably agree with the positions that
others take. And while sometimes individuals in one group work in others,
theorizing, strategizing, and action is divided up among ten or twenty or more
groups. And within each silo there exists a dominate demographic as to age,
race, gender, and personal background.
It
may be that the task ahead, if the drift toward a heartless and environmentally
devastated world is to be avoided, is to figure out a way to break down the
silos, find some common theoretical narrative to explain the current period,
identify core issues that interconnect the silos, and all hit the streets and
the electoral arenas together. In addition, networks of activists should begin
to work toward building new community institutions.
It
is important to remember that such radical cooperation has occurred before. It
can be done again.
