Far left and far right politics are hurting us all. Extremism is an ugly thing.
i dunno man - i think it is throwing the baby out with the proverbial bathwater to condemn left
and right because shit is so polarised.
it would be nice to go back to simpler times, where we didn't have to pick a side - but when it comes to openly hateful, bigoted politics - i'm not uncomfortable about taking a hard line against it. i think a strong stance is important for combatting nasty stuff like the normalisation of neo-nazis and the like.
and - y'know - there is no "alt left". in our 21st century western context, the radical left's links to 'the counterculture' are as undeniable as the far right's links to (the more brutal sides of) law enforcement
the collaboration and cooperation between police and fascists go from all the way back to Mussolini, to the present day - like in Greek neo-nazis Golden Dawn which are known to have members of the police forces within their ranks.
as people chant at US anti-racist rallies, "cops and klan go hand in hand". this shit goes back a long way, and it's not really a coincidence.
but - y'know, i'm told there are some good cops out there too. allegedly :D
"extremism" is kind of a relative thing.
some of the most incredible activists i've ever known - brave people who lock on to heavy machinery, superglue their hands to the balcony of parliament house, and spend weeks in forest blockades and trees-sits trying to preserve old growth forests and koala habitats and that sort of stuff - get called "extremists".
i read an article this week saying that koalas are on track to be extinct by 2050 if the destruction of their habitat continues at the rate it is now.
is it extreme to do whatever you can to change that - or is it more extreme to be complicit and/or ignore it?
i know that they're driven by deeply held, well-informed convictions and i don't necessarily consider radical politics to be extreme at all, if the people involved are sincerely doing what they think is right. not sure how many people here have engaged with anti-fascist activists on any level, but when i go to antifa actions, i get this amazing sense of being in a
really fucking good bunch of people.
i'm not joking - it's like when i used to go to "bush doofs" (illegal forest psytrance parties) in my younger days - the sense of camaraderie and community, tinged with rebellion and determination.
except most of the psytrance kids are hippies, and most of the antifa kids are punks. but to me it's all much of the same thing; it's counter-culture.
sure, i never saw a fight at a psytrance party - but nor have left and right come to blows at any of the actions i've attended.
but in both cases, everyone got pretty edgy when cops and ambulances turn up.
there is an argument that any healthy "activist ecosystem" or grassroots political movement needs all manner of folks to engage - from the families going to marches with little kids on their shoulders, the "knitting nannas" we have over here who do a lot of anti-fracking actions to your anarchists and direct-action hard-liners - they all play an important role in the scheme of things.
obviously someone who disagrees with any such activist movement is going to call that idea ridiculous - but i think there is some truth to it.
there is an awful lot of cynicism in the politics of our times, but i'm not going to stop calling out racism when i see it. it is more prevalent in mainstream politics than any time in my lifetime, and that greatly disturbs me. challenging racist bullshit is - to me - an honourable thing to do.
i'm very bored of the outrage politics, the culture wars and the polarisation too, but i guess my political beliefs haven't changed much since i first started volunteering to help out candidates i liked when i was 16 or 17 and too young to vote. the world has changed, but even in the wake of trump and the alt right and stuff - my attitude to that sort of stuff has always been the same.
maybe i'm just an extremist? at least i'd be in good company - so many of my favourite writers, musicians, philosophers etc have been involved with (or linked to) radical left wing politics.
also, your post reminded me of a joke about centrists;
far right: "kill all the jews"
far left: "no killing
any jews!"
centrists: "come on guys, don't be crazy, let's sort this out - we'll just kill
half the jews!"