Slandered by the middle class PC left
On Tuesday 18th December, it was drawn to my attention that an article I'd written when I was in the Independent Working Class Association (IWCA),Multiculturalism & identity politics – the reactionary consequences and how they can be challenged (
http://www.iwca.info/?p=10146), had been described on Twitter by the commentator Laurie Penny as 'racist' and 'sexist'. For those of you who haven't heard of Laurie Penny, her work can be seen here:
http://www.penny-red.com/ – I'll let you draw your own conclusions.
Needless to say, I was pretty pissed off to find that something I'd sweated blood researching and writing had been dismissed in such a cavalier fashion. What really rubbed salt into the wound was that it done on Twitter with a 140 character limit which leaves no room for justifying the comment. Laurie Penny has 55,456 followers on Twitter. That's a heck of a lot of people who've been given a totally false impression that the article I wrote and the IWCA are 'racist' and 'sexist'. Both are extremely serious accusations to make against anyone and to do it so casually on Twitter beggars belief. For the record, I've no objection to people criticising something I've written if they do it in a proper article and lay out an argument that can be engaged with.
I e-mailed Laurie Penny on Tuesday 18th to let her know, politely, that given my record in political activism over the decades, I was decidedly unhappy about having an article I'd written dismissed as 'racist' and 'sexist'. In that e-mail, I also stated what our guiding principles were on working class unity and how they underpin our criticism of multiculturalism which only serves to keep our class divided. Penny replied, responding to just one part of my e-mail dealing with a comment about identity politics. In response, I sent a second e-mail in a bid to try and get the discussion onto a broader footing and away from obsessing about identity politics at the expense of anything else. To that end, I dealt with in some detail how we operated in Thurrock when we were in the IWCA, covering the street surveys, the canvassing for elections and the numerous discussions we had with working class people about their concerns and aspirations. I emphasised that this was the basis for our analysis and tactics. I also clearly stated why I wrote the piece on multiculturalism and why I still stand by it. The second e-mail was sent to Laurie Penny on Wednesday 19th. I'm writing this on Friday 21st and as yet have not received a reply from her – so any claims she makes about a 'dialogue' going on between us really should be taken with a large pinch of salt.
In the second e-mail I sent to Laurie Penny, I did say that in retrospect, there were one or two parts of the article I'd have written differently and that what I said in the introduction about identity politics could have been written with some more nuances. Since then I've heard from a trusted source that she's taken this as me admitting that some of what I wrote was wrong. No, absolutely sodding not! There's a massive difference between saying that I could have written something better and admitting that the core principle of what I wrote about multiculturalism being divisive and counter-productive was wrong. For the record, I still stand by my criticisms of multiculturalism and intend to do so until my dying day. Lesson learned for our class...never, ever trust a university educated middle class lefty. Yours truly has mercifully had little to do with such people over the last few years which is great in one way but left me a tad unprepared for being selectively quoted by someone who wants to divide her opponents.
The conduct of Laurie Penny and her supporters, mostly from the middle class PC left, illustrates the contempt they hold for the working class, particularly those sections of it that organised to offer a militant challenge on the streets to fascism and then moved on to organise in their communities in a way that started to give our class a voice. Our class speaking for itself, not some bunch of university educated, patronising middle class lefties who think they have a divine right to run our lives. Of course the middle class left absolutely loathe the idea of us plebs having the sodding temerity to organise politically in our communities in such a way that they are removed from the equation. With the shite coming our way in 2013 from a tanking economy, worsening pay and conditions for those still in work, draconian measures threatened for those out of work and housing benefit changes leading to a further wave of social cleansing in London to name a few examples, our class is right up against the wall. The last thing we need is these nauseating, bleating PC middle class lefties trying to take over our struggles and battles.
Right, the bottom line is this... Laurie Penny owes the IWCA, our class and me an unreserved apology for her cavalier dismissal of my critique of multiculturalism as being 'racist' and 'sexist'. Nothing less than this is acceptable. If Laurie Penny can't bring herself to do this, then may I suggest that she and her supporters stop thinking they have right to tell us working class plebs how to run our lives and battles – just back off, shut the fuck up and leave us to it. Lastly, any further discussion about this takes place in the comments section below this piece where everyone can see what's being written and there's no selective quoting and trying to set former allies against each other.
Dave
