Interesting article at The Guardian, Rights, not righteousness by Meredith Tax.
It is one of those pieces I am always tempted to quote in their totality, but find myself at odds picking the best parts. Some tidbits:
Nobody in the US talks about socialism any more – except rightwing pundits who think any government programme is socialist, and left fringe groups so dogmatic and authoritarian that they are an automatic turnoff. Until the larger progressive movement either stops being afraid of the word or comes up with an alternative way of naming long-term social transformation, it will not be able to challenge the overwhelming dominance of capital in politics, business, the educational system and the culture as a whole.
and then this:
Because women’s labour is central to the projects of globalised capital, and control of women’s bodies and identities is central to those of political fundamentalism, it is essential for a 21st-century left to take the needs of women as its own. The left must understand that women’s issues are the crux in this period and place these issues at the strategic centre.
[…]it would be based on a broad understanding of universal human rights, not only freedom of expression, assembly and political democracy, but also the right to housing, education, healthcare, personal safety, freedom of religion and all the other goods enumerated in the Universal Declaration. This would entail a commitment to fight for full personhood for women, ethnic and sexual minorities, subordinate castes, and immigrants, including legal, social, educational and economic rights, and access to the same occupations, housing, and social privileges as white men.
If you do read the article, do yourself a favor and skip the comments. The eyerolling got so intense that I thought my eyeballs were going to jump out of their sockets.
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