Thoughts following the mosque slaughter in New Zealand
First a couple of plugs, then some real substance: recently TMBS (or was it M.R.) guest Joshua Kahn recommended the progressive action manual written by George Lakey, "How We Win - A Guide to Non-violent Direct Action Campaigning", which is pretty good. But if you are not a big reader and if you are new or young in progressive democratic politics I would also suggest reading "The A B C's of Socialism" by Bhaskar Sunkara. Disclaimer: I'm a kiwi, but I have absolutely no pretensions this makes me an expert on any aspect of the sociology and pathology associated with the Christchurch mosque murderer.
You can check out TMBS #82 here:
Now the substance. In this week's TMBS show Michael Brooks gave a fantastic opening analysis of global fascism and how the left (or frankly anyone with a moral conscience) needs to respond. There is no one correct response, but rather a multitude of ways you can be active for humanity and against fascism. The Australian "Egg Boy" is a deliciously immature response which I thoroughly endorse. When we are fighting fascism (which springs form the dehumanizations of neoliberal capitalism) a bit of ironic immaturity is often the perfect response. The nauseating Aussie politician who got egged, Fraser Anning, committed no acts of physical violence (as far as know), but his words and thoughts were incredibly psychologically violent, and an egg in the face was perhaps the least moral condemnation he could have expected.
In responding to the perverse anti-spiritual moralizing of the far-right and conservative neoliberals, we should be able to see a false morality. So when I hear lefties criticize each other for being "sanctimonious moralizers" (q.v. vampire castle and virtue signalling lunacy) I can get a bit frustrated. There is a vast gulf, an almost diametrically spiritual opposite impulse, between right-wing moralizing (which stems from bitterness, hatred, puritanism, condescension and disingenuous moral superiority) and the proper humanist moralizing of ordinary people who oppose violence and hatred.
I want to pull-up (not criticize) Michael Brooks on one small element of his quotes from : He notes around 11:10 into the TMBS episode 82, that we ...
"... need to fight to take economic and political power from those who benefit from systems of imperialism and racism to recreate the world materially ".
And I think Brooksy is 100% correct with no reservations, but misses a critical point. It's just a slight framing issue: instead of "... recreate the world materially..." I'd say "...redistribute the world's resources materially, and create a new spirituality." I don't think this is mere quibbling.
The point being that so many of the material problems with neoliberalism and fascism have a spiritual basis. When one is committed to accumulation, greed, one-upmanship and market logic, one naturally becomes exploitative and ultimately fascist in times of scarcity and debt stress. The opposite cannot be achieved by forcing material equality upon communities, since although that's a good goal it will likely only arise and be sustainable if the spiritual foundations of cooperation, compassion, social and economic justice and love are stronger than greed and fear. We can (and should) tax the wealthy and limit capital accumulation by law, but this will not necessarily result in the elite giving up power, nor will violent overthrow, and without sound spiritual foundations you'd only create a new cross section of the elite. The rich, as a general rule with clear moral exceptions, must suffer the most severe spiritual pressure and moral condemnation. That's not a vampire castle of ridiculous vacuous puritanical righteousness, it is a measured composed objective diagnosis of the spiritual corruptions born from capitalism in current society.
My guess is some lefties would accuse my comment above of lacking material methods. So I want to add that growing and developing spiritual robustness in communities is pretty easy. With no shame in name dropping I would cite AOC and Illan Omar as good exemplars --- simply because they both have media exposure, while acknowledging thousands who precede AOC and exceed Omar in spiritual activism will get little exposure, nor seek any --- so, as just an example,if you listen to, say, AOC's speeches and examine her actions it should be clear she is motivated primarily by spiritual impulses, not material calculations. Her material proposals follow from her spiritual convictions. That's how you grow and develop spiritually active and alive communities, you act upon your deepest heart-felt convictions. You do not just say you need to act.
"...for words are the property of all alike, whereas such deeds as these belong only to Our loved ones." --- Bahá'u'lláh, from The Hidden Words #76.
I am fully aware that's also apparently what fascists and christian fanatics seem to do, but in countering those malevolent forces we must do the opposite from even deeper reserves of spiritual and moral strength. Everyone can sound nice by professing love for their family and kin, and it's easy, requiring little thought and weakest minimal compassion, but if you cannot find it in your heart and soul to widen your concept of kinship to the entire human race then you are bigoted and need help. The "morality" of white supremacy and bigoted nationalism is objectively anti-spiritual, you can tell so by examining the rhetoric, posture, actions, and speech such false morality engenders.