abravenewsouth-blog

[abravenewsouth-blog]

If we claim to support the idea of a free society we must be fully aware of what forces are at work within that society and what impact those forces have on practical applications of concepts like freedom. Our decisions concerning which forces to oppose or support should be guided by a collective desire to ensure the most freedom for the most people.  Ensuring freedom in such a manner requires the striking of a balance between protecting individual people’s rights and protecting the collective rights of society. This balancing act is ongoing and often disrupted by cultural and institutional forces that do not value universal human liberation.  Such forces seek to violently impose a narrow vision of social order that involves the brutal dehumanization of people based on arbitrary classifications.  Such forces are by their own design antithetical to the notion of a free society.  Such forces are at work right now.

Those who proport to value concepts like rights and freedoms should endeavor to create an environment where such concepts can be applied with equal effectiveness by all people.  Creating that environment requires defending it from forces that aim to restrict people from doing so.  In the event these forces begin to manifest in the public square as political organizations a truly free society has an obligation to prevent such organizations from implementing their ideas.

This obligation should be nonpartisan.  An individual who is willing actively restrict the practical application of other people’s civil liberties forfeits any just claim to such liberties.  A society that allows for the hierarchical allocation of freedom is not free.

There is no room for moral ambiguity in the struggle for universal human liberation.  One can either work towards it or work towards its opposition.  Failure to draw clear distinctions between the opposing sides of this struggle is sympathy for the forces of oppression.  Such sympathies pose an existential threat to civil liberties in both theory and practice.

Sympathy for oppressive ideologies provides intellectual cover for them in public discourse.  When we see systemic white supremacy at work we must oppose it.  When we see organized fascism on display in the public square we must confront it.  We can and should debate vigorously about tactics and strategy but we cannot muddy the waters of discourse with logical fallacies.  There are obvious identifiable contrasts to be drawn between those who organize for the causes of fascism and white supremacy and those who organize in opposition to it.  

Black Lives Matter and Antifa aren’t organizations as much as they are political stances.  When people organize behind the idea that fascism should be opposed or white supremacy should be dismantled they do so because those oppressive institutions exist and pose direct threats to their communities.  Anyone who finds themselves unsure of which cause to support—universal human liberation or systemic oppression of the most brutal kind—will be well served to consider the options honestly and reach a definitive stance promptly.

The fundamental decision every individual must make is whether to expand the circle of liberty or contract it.  That circle must grow not only philosophically but in practical application and that growth must be constant and ambitious.  Making room for growth of this magnitude will involve the dismantling of long standing power structures and the abolition of historically oppressive institutions.  Such an undertaking will be difficult and met with staunch opposition but will be of critical necessity to any future worth building.

[abravenewsouth-blog]

Don’t Be A Bridge... Be A Battering Ram.

It’s painfully clear that any degree of meaningful political change in the South will be impossible without a profound transformation of the prevailing culture.  That prevailing culture is dominated by socially conservative white men who’s view of the world is shaped by a fundamental brand of Christianity that champions racism and misogyny under the guise of “tradition” and “heritage.” It is a culture built on patriarchy and white supremacy, driven by capitalist greed, and fueled by the exploitation of human labor.  This three-pronged mechanism of oppression does not exist solely in the pages of history. It thrives in the present and brutalizes the people of the South with deadly efficiency.  Those “traditions” subjugate women.  That “heritage” dehumanizes non-white people.  That world-view encourages exclusionary social practices which create isolated communities that resist change and distrust “outsider” perspectives. Such unwillingness to adapt causes existing industries to flee and discourages new industries from moving in. The resulting economic hardships lead people to conflate wealth with virtue.  Unequipped to face a rapidly changing world, these communities turn to wealthy white men who exploit their fears and uncertainties to seize political power.  From the seats of power these de facto aristocrats divert public resources away from social programs and towards the private sector simultaneously enriching themselves and weakening civil institutions.  The crippling poverty, failing schools, and crumbling infrastructure that characterize much of the South are all forms of systemic violence inflicted on the population by a reactionary elite seeking to expand and consolidate its wealth and power. None of this would be possible without the compliance of poor and working-class white people who comprise the demographic majority.  How do these 21st century feudal lords ensure such compliance from the people they so ravenously exploit?  By imposing the toxic social constructs of patriarchy and white supremacy onto every aspect of society.  Patriarchy provides the blueprint for a stratified society by stratifying the family unit.  Children learn from birth to normalize the concept of one person dominating another. Once people are conditioned to accept one social hierarchy, imposing others is just a matter of programming.  As the privileged few hoard the lion’s share of the wealth for themselves they take special care to make sure that poor and working-class white people get slightly better crumbs than non-white people. They use their dominate position within the culture to propagate the farcical notion that white people—by virtue of their whiteness—are superior to other “races.”  The elite sell these poor and working-class white people on the idea that they too could be wealthy and powerful if it weren’t for all the freeloading minorities milking the benefits of their hard work.  Desperate and vulnerable from lives spent toiling in squalor these poor and working-class white people buy into this illusory superiority—anything to ease the pain of scarcity and thankless labor.  The result is a poor and working-class population divided against itself along racial lines.  They fight with each other over scraps instead of standing together in solidarity against their common oppressor.  Historically, poor and working-class white people have been more than willing to do their oppressor’s dirty work.  Should the non-white population rise up and resist their exploitation, these psychologically fragile white people proudly take up arms against other poor and working-class people for the cause of preserving their master’s status quo.  Until the poor and working-class white population of the South begins to understand that their struggle is intertwined with that of their non-white neighbors and starts to see themselves not as temporarily embarrassed millionaires but victims of a brutally oppressive capitalist system true progress is merely a pipe dream.  Such understanding can only be reached by dismantling the toxic constructs of patriarchy and white supremacy and acknowledging the shared humanity that binds all poor and working-class people of the world together in common struggle.  Finding the most effective means of becoming a catalyst for such profound change is what keeps me up at  night.

[abravenewsouth-blog]

(A Brave New South) Flagship episode of our podcast... Enjoy!

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Help Syria by helping Syrians

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Working Families Of The South Shouting Down Global Fascism

[abravenewsouth-blog]

While there is a lower class, I am in it, while there is a criminal element, I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free.

Eugene V. Debs