Struggling Left – Sharing Despair

It seems that I must contend myself with some dire facts about the Indian Liberal/Left through a survey of raiot.in, scroll.in and other similar websites. For one, people who share the items that are found on these websites, seem to be thinking and reacting (this is an important word for politics in India – reaction) as a monolithic, homogenous entity. I am very welcoming of any and all objections to this generalising and reductive statement. A simple perusal will show you what is trending at the moment i.e what is trending everywhere i.e everywhere with similar ideologies.

Sharing does not necessarily mean that a post has been viewed or read. If it were the same thing I would not find the trend so frightening. Firstly, I think it is frightening when so many people share posts without even opening them.  And it is equally frightening that people might actually read something critical and engaging but refuse to share it because it makes them question beliefs and/or staves off their clicking fingers. For example, an informative, well-researched article which discusses the crucially important (and neglected) state of agricultural health in the country (a topic that should be the kernel of the Left’s political foundations) is thus less shared than one that repeats the jaded theme of ‘anti-Modism’. He is not worth your time; prioritise people! Lovers of the Left, please deactivate your Facebook accounts today!

The traffic on social media in the last few months, in the aftermath of the JNU, HCU fiascos has weighed favourably to the side of the persecuted. Maybe social media has actually helped in turning things around; perhaps it is social media that has redeemed the persecuted in the eyes of the middle class. But let us not kid ourselves further beyond that point. This is just a war of visibility. The key feat should be moving towards representation. And I am not talking about a “space” – online or imagined – but a physicality that we should work towards. The Left has always and probably will always be powerful in the realm of ideas. But this is not good enough, not now in this global age of hunger and strife. The ground is overrun with Right wing psychos and their close cousins, the Liberal psychos. Where is the Progressive Left in all of this?

Examples like those of Syriza, the POTUS candidature of Jill Stein (or even Bernie Sanders), the triumph of Kshama Sawant have helped make us less orthodox across the Left spectrum. The realm of ideas is being slowly reclaimed from the Facebook intellectuals and confined academics. It is now becoming truly more democratic. Revolution will only ever occur when we talk less of it. I think enough time has passed now such that the concept has become part of the ideological foundation of many comrades across the spectrum. However, like a bad preacher – merely quoting verses, by heartening psalms – we keep haranguing on it as though we are the only ones who know it or have heard the blessed word.

Meghalaya/India needs a political intervention by a Progressive front. “Struggles” should perhaps give way to “movements”. Why be so masochistic? The very word “struggle” smacks of pessimism. We cannot and never win so we “struggle”. We struggle when we have no floor-plan, no vision of the future, when we are reacting. We glorify the underdog, and it is a fantastic thing because it keeps us honest and alert. But the basic thing about underdogs is: they always win.

Raiot

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Avner Pariat Written by:

Avner Pariat is a poet and chronicler of Khasi Jaintia Hills.

2 Comments

  1. Jasmine
    April 25, 2016
    Reply

    Lovers of the Left, please deactivate your Facebook accounts today! I so agree with this! I recently left fb, sheer out of disgust of so called left activism happening on fb, and lack of space for discussion. I enjoyed the piece and loved the call for space for less talk and qoutes and more of concrete plans. Open letters and reactionary pieces ( online) is completely keeping left busy. Academics, activists and thinkers of the world unite and think, you have nothing to lose but your social media plug ins.

  2. A. R . Sengupta
    April 25, 2016
    Reply

    I agree with the contents of the post .The left is losing relevance not being rooted in social political and economic crises .Instead this Midi brand wretched Nationalism jargon have cofined them to debates which though important may be distraction from the main track .

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