PSL and ANSWER are notorious for co-opting organically created mass struggles; they routinely insert themselves into events related to the fights of oppressed peoples, and make their brand excessively visible so that they can gain in fundraising and recruitment. This is an observation I’ve heard from former PSL members who’ve become disillusioned with the org’s lack of willingness to do anything more than what’s necessary for maintaining its own business model; as has become the default for mainstream leftist orgs in the USA, PSL and its leader Brian Becker seek to organize for its own sake. Which amounts to a practice of opportunism.
You can easily debunk him if you spend the time actually engaging with PSL content.
This is exactly what i was asking for with this post. I want to hear from people familiar with this situation how and why this article is misrepresenting it. Unfortunately i have yet to see that easy debunking, and so far all the responses to this post have merely attacked the credibility of the author - which is valid and fine, i agree that their takes in the past have been dubious at times, but this doesn't help me present solid counter-arguments to people who are genuinely worried about this situation around Uhuru.
The only thing we can do is analyze the specific situation being presented. So far the evidence I have read is that PSL/ANSWER scheduled an event that stole attention and attendance from another event organized by Black socialists. I would have to dig a lot to be able to make sense of whether or not this was actually a spoiler move that had a major impact and represents antagonistic motives.
But the rest of the article is all bombastic judgements based on this one singular event of a scheduling conflict. Rainier doth protest too much. So much, in fact, that it seems far more likely he's got a chip on his shoulder about PSL and is actively working to undermine them and create divisions in their support and not actually interested in anything else.
The only thing I could debunk here is whether or not PSL actually scheduled an event deliberately to split focus from another event. That's it. And while it's an interesting question, it's gonna take me a while to get to the bottom of it.
This is exactly what i was asking for with this post. I want to hear from people familiar with this situation how and why this article is misrepresenting it. Unfortunately i have yet to see that easy debunking, and so far all the responses to this post have merely attacked the credibility of the author - which is valid and fine, i agree that their takes in the past have been dubious at times, but this doesn't help me present solid counter-arguments to people who are genuinely worried about this situation around Uhuru.
The only thing we can do is analyze the specific situation being presented. So far the evidence I have read is that PSL/ANSWER scheduled an event that stole attention and attendance from another event organized by Black socialists. I would have to dig a lot to be able to make sense of whether or not this was actually a spoiler move that had a major impact and represents antagonistic motives.
But the rest of the article is all bombastic judgements based on this one singular event of a scheduling conflict. Rainier doth protest too much. So much, in fact, that it seems far more likely he's got a chip on his shoulder about PSL and is actively working to undermine them and create divisions in their support and not actually interested in anything else.
The only thing I could debunk here is whether or not PSL actually scheduled an event deliberately to split focus from another event. That's it. And while it's an interesting question, it's gonna take me a while to get to the bottom of it.
You're probably right. The more i think about it the more this seems like making a mountain out of a molehill.