Re: AUT: The Organization to Liberate Society

[Katha Pollitt <kpollitt@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Re the OLSOLS pledge:
I still don't understand what it means for a society to  be "liberated
to the extent that it fosters diversity in social relations, in
relations with nature, and in all dimensions of life." Presumably SOME
kinds of diversity conflict with the other basic principles of OLSOLS.
For instance, can a society devoted to equality, not getting ahead at
the expense of others, favor male dominance in marriage and
authoritarian relations between parents and children? The sexual double
standard? Refusing medical help for your children so that God can heal
them through prayer? Refusing to educate girl children beyond an
elementary level? Polygyny? Teaching that white people were invented by
an evil black scientist or that the Jews are God's special chosen
people?  Diversity is not just about ethnic food and quaint customs, but
about maintaining all kinds of horrible traditional arrangements of
power and exploitation, espeically within the family.  Presumably a
society that values diversity for its own sake would have to be neutral
on the very questions of value it commits itself to in the other parts
of the pledge.
 And what von earth does it even mean to favor "diversity in relations
with nature"? Organic gardening is good, and so are pesticides? clothes
are great, but so is walking around naked?
  I asked Michael Albert these questions (he is one of the people behind
OLSOLS, maybe the only person behind OLSOLS, who knows?) but he did not
answer them.  I must say I think the whole thing is awfully silly -- a
real misapprehension of how political change happens. Sign a statement
of principles written in abstract philosophese and wait for  another
999,999 to sign on too?  THEN talk about specific issues and actions?
  Even if a million people signed on (doubtful), the minute they started
talking about something concrete -- means or ends -- they'd fall apart.
As Barbara Ehrenreich told Michael, there already is an organization
that subscribes to these principles and does nothing about them -- the
Democratic Socialists of America.

pessimistically yours,
Katha


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