Remember Hazlitt had a bust of Napoleon and the little general was quite popular with radicals here, even after his monarchical turn I think. Loads about the panic about copycats after the French Revolution, Oliver the spy case and all that, if I remember my EP Thompson.
yes the anti-jacobin backlash
Counting innit. Do you count your border agency as cops or not. Do you count all your Police Municipal people as police officers, even those that have less powers as GB PCSOs. Do you count things like waste inspectors and transport inspectors as cops?
Not sure I would describe Martin as middle aged..
And of course secret police. I wonder if Spain have more of those than autocratic Russia.
Don’t the French have identity politics as well or is it just a U.K. / USA thing ?
Probably. Good point.
Let’s face it the sort of people who focus on identity politics per se wouldn’t have any impact on working class struggle even if they abandoned their politics .
It is problematic though I think. Taking Freedom Family as an example it uses identity almost as a defence of the system. If the security services didn’t dream that one up they missed a trick.
They only count it as identity politics if it comes from the Politique Identitaire Region of France.
The demographic that go on and on about the problem with identity politics - not that it doesn't have its issues - is quite telling.
Let me guess? It’s the villainous cis het white male stamping his foot down again isn’t it?
You noticed a pattern too then?
Not really. One of the biggest critics doesn’t tick all of your boxes.
OK. I don't see him going on and on. But it reminded me - you missed out middle class.Not really. One of the biggest critics doesn’t tick all of your boxes.
Beware the politics of identity. They help legitimise the toxic far right | Kenan Malik
The vile ideas behind the Hanau attack have moved from the fringe to the mainstreamwww.theguardian.com
Fair point. I’m not saying people shouldn’t be fighting for their rights. They absolutely should. And as a cis het white male (no idea how you knew this, but you were correct) I don’t fully understand the issues the minorities face and shouldn’t be sticking my beak in on such matters.
I wonder if Thatcher would somehow have managed to exclude them from the group of people who might be though to be "swamping" others ...
Yes, all this has a lot to do with it.
Identity politics has been co-opted by the establishment as seen by who is now at the levers of power. Far easier to promote BAME into positions of power and then claim diversity over having a truly egalitarian society. Do those who get itchy over criticism of identity politics see this? It’s right in front of their faces.
I think his criticisms are aimed at the various tiny left groupsicles of which he is a part of, so yeah probably zero impact but also why those groups fail so worth airing (from his pov at least).
didn't want that one slipping through unnoticed.
I think your points 1, 2 and 4 have some validity, and are linked. But I don't think your point 3 works. I don't think most British people do have a subservient relationship to the state, even the monarchist types, compared to other countries. Meanwhile, the French are taught that the values of the Republic are sacrosanct, bit like Americans being taught to revere the constitution. I think you could just as easily make that case the other way round.
