[Marxism] re Jesse Jackson

[Ilyenkova@xxxxxxx]

Joaquin Writes:

 >However the Gore camp basically shut him down. They said it was their fight
and Jackson should butt out. I don't know how realistic it would have been
for him to keep trying to develop the campaign he was trying to develop...in the
face of Gore's opposition, which was also the opposition of the overwhelming
majority of Black political leaders.<

I hadn't read the post based on Timmerman's jumble of vicious smears before
firing off mine--so in view of the whole thread let me say I didn't mean to
take "potshots at Jesse Jackson" and regret if the criticisms came off that way.
Perhaps it would have been better to simply acknowledge what we all know to be
true:  Jackson is a gifted mass leader with the skills and talents needed for
that role.  His personal life and private dealings should have nothing to do
with how we evlauate his political role.
The crux of the matter is JJ's relationship to the Democratic Party. When I
refer to building a movement in the Black communities
in Florida I mean a mass popular movement-- not some extension of the local
Democratic Party black leadership ("the majority of black leaders"), let alone
dependent on the political whim of Al Gore. But for Jackson "realistic" means
what's tolerated within the dominant consensus of the Democratic Party
leadership. As shown so vividly in Fahrenheit 9/11, as Gore gavelled down one 
Black
Congressperson after another, it was more important to the DP leadership to
maintain the legitimacy of the electoral process than to defend the voting 
rights
of blacks. Can anyone imagine either MLK or Malcolm X being "shut down" by
the DP leadership when challenging an act of blatant disenfranchisement?
Jesse's always available to "vigorously protest" and stir things up a bit. But 
it's
always within the context of loyal opposition within the DP and within the
allowed limits. Once he's done that, those mobilized by his intervention are 
left
with nowhere to go but the same DP which delimits their parameters of
struggle
so narrowly.  In the final analysis Jesse Jackson chills things down,
encourages the masses to vote Democratic, and
"keep the heat on."
Ilyenkova

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