"Read Settlers" is a meme, but it's also a true meme. You should read it, or read other things about this thesis regarding the white working class in the US (I've heard other Marxists have since improved on Sakai's thesis but I don't know who they are).

White Americans are doubling down on the racism. As white settler colonialism is starting to face just a little bit of opposition (like teaching kids that maybe the US isn't a perfect, God-blessed country), they are losing their minds over the idea of losing even a tiny bit of their privileges. This is still a perfectly material explanation. White folks have enjoyed an incredible level of privilege since the beginning of this country and they will fight viciously to keep all of it.

IMO the bulk of white Americans are a lost cause. Not to say white folks can't be revolutionary (I'm white), but I think we probably should be spending our very limited time and resources on folks outside the imperial core break from western imperialism, and focus on the oppressed within the core. Any white Americans who want to join in are welcome but any concession to white supremacy is unacceptable.

Edit: to clarify, I'm not saying the Dems lost because racism or whatever. I don't care if the Dems win or lose, it doesn't matter. My point is much more about using electoral results and the campaigns that precede them to see where winds are blowing. It seems that "CRT" and fear-mongering about crime (and thus the need to fund even more cops) was a very effective message in appealing to large segments of the population - particularly the white population.

  • ChairmanBao [he/him]
    ·
    3 years ago

    I have to read Fanon first, I think I can personally trust him more. I sincerely think Sakai sounds like a post-left version of Wretched of the Earth, but I've barely gotten into the text.

    I still refuse to believe this guy is real. Regardless of how right they are, his theories havent accomplished anything so far and I cant measure the progress. If people want to use this theory to organize, be my guest but please tell me there is a plan.

    • Brak [they/them, e/em/eir]
      ·
      edit-2
      3 years ago

      Why does there need to be a plan involved for a piece that’s focused on a structural analysis? Sakai is a Maoist in the style of the Black Panthers, if I remember correctly.

      Can’t speak to how much its directly informed organizing. The book is useful for understanding racial apartheid and highlights why intersectionality is necessary.