Re: [Marxism] jesse jackson

[RRM48@xxxxxxx]

Joe D:
>I have mixed feeling about Jesse Jackson. I've seen him at a lot of events,
and there's no doubt tht he is a great speaker and tireless activist. I think

he's retained much of his outlook from the civil rights era - ie a belief in
mass movements, people power, civil disobedience, etc. - and I don't go in
for a
lot of the criticism he seems to attract from many quarters on the 'left.'<

Do you ever see or hear from Jesse at any time other than when the Democrats
need a left face and lyrical voice to herd the progressive, especially
Arfrican-American voters back into the tent? Yeah, he's the feel good pol-- 
*Keep
Hope Alive* *I am somebody* etc. But you don't have to be an ultraleft cynic to
see through this routine. When Jesse took Mel King's Rainbow Coalition theme
national in 1984 he did make an unusually pointed appeal for the support of a
Rainbow working class and he was refreshing. But that was the only time-- It
seems whatever fuel there was in his engine gave out sometime around the
extramarital infidelity flap (It also seems that the JJ mantle has passed to 
another
Reverand--Al Sharpton). If Jesse Jackson took his own words seriously re the
electoral fraud in Florida  in 2000 why wasn't he busy leading a mass movement
in the streets against the Supreme Court's handing the electoral prerogative
over to a neo-Jim Crow State apparatus?
Since list members seem to have a penchant for concrete action over words why
not hold Jesse to his words. They're spot on sure; but pretty prosaic at this
point, no? The verdict's in on Jesse long ago: At best, a waste of political
talent and lungs. As Juriann points out, if he's so exercized over the
American electoral system why doesn't he join Ralph Nadar and the opposition?
Ilyenkova

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