Progressives Still Not Getting It

Shaker Merciless pointed me in the direction of this post by Garance Franke-Ruta at Tapped, which discusses the "Saving Our Democracy" conference scheduled for Jan. 21, described as “a major colloquium to rescue our democracy from the far right” and sponsored by The Nation Institute and The New Democracy Project. Out of the 24 scheduled speakers, only two are female. Says Franke-Ruta:

This may seem like one of those small intra-New York left controversies, and yet it is the kind of thing that happens so frequently in so-called progressive circles around the country that it's worth noting, because it's just this kind of thing that makes people wonder if the men of the left actually prefer being a small, insular clique of out-of-power individuals above adopting the values they publicly espouse.

…I've watched too many male organizers and funders rolling their eyes from the backs of rooms as women raised similar concerns at other forums to think questions like this are unique to the New Democracy Project or this particular conference…

[C]ontroversies like this benefit no one. They make women feel diminished and excluded, and men feel like they're never going to be able to organize a simple public conversation with their professional friends without getting hit over the head with identity politics. And yet the same sad script keeps playing out, over and over again, until everyone feels like throwing up their hands in despair.

(The post includes written responses from The Nation’s Katha Pollitt and Lisa Jervis, the publisher of Bitch: Feminist Response to Pop Culture, which I recommend reading, too.)

Some of the comments left in response to the post tell the story of why this is a problem that needs to be addressed (emphasis mine).

more circular firing squad style headcount based dissent within the ranks of the left. How many black people are on the panel? Is there an outspoken lesbian poet? Jesus, it's no wonder we can't get anything done. I don't care if the only good ideas that occur to the left for the next 20 years come from men or women, or talking dogs. What needs to happen is we need for the good ideas to be heard above the din of everyone wanting to be heard because they are so enthralled with the sonorous tones of their own voices…

The prescription is for Democrats to start promoting ideas that benefit liberalism and not paralyzing themselves with absurd infighting on ridiculous issues like gender and ethnicity-counting…

It sounds to me as if "vigilance" here is code for "quotas" -- or at least something similar. Nothing good can come of that. Nothing in this earth will change while identity politics rules. Nothing. Until we start respecting only ideas and action and refusing to acknowledge what kind of "identity" is bringing it forward, we will be beating each other up continually instead of the turning our passions against the true enemies…

What I love about all three of those comments is the assertion that the Left needs new “ideas,” but doesn’t need to concern itself with diversifying its inner sanctum. Not a shred of recognition that perhaps the ideological stagnation from which the Left suffers may be a result of its major power players still being predominantly white, straight, and male—which, by the way, wouldn’t be a problem if those particular straight, white males could and did speak eloquently to progressive issues of concern to women, gays, and minorities, but they don’t. And it’s not because they can’t—Paul the Spud can speak just as passionately about women’s issues as I can, and I can speak just as passionately about gay issues as he can. Extricating oneself from the responsibility of speaking to issues beyond one’s own demographic is a choice, and marginalizing the concerns of women (for example) as “identity politics” is indicative of nothing more than the unwillingness to identify with women.

The idea that “a major colloquium to rescue our democracy” doesn’t actually look like our democracy is patently absurd. And, frankly, I no longer have the slightest tolerance or sympathy for men who “feel like they're never going to be able to organize a simple public conversation with their professional friends without getting hit over the head with identity politics.” I couldn’t organize a meeting of my friends and colleagues without including both men and women, straights and gays, and people of all colors—not because I have a love of “quotas,” but because my life is rich with people different than me by virtue of living in America, and my appreciation of a spectrum of experience.

No more excuses. If you want to avoid being head-thumped with identity politics, then start identifying.