I’ve been reading about the development of resistance movements in WWII, and I noticed something that got me thinking.

Resistance in a unified front (i.e. among groups that disagree politically), seems to require some form of shared identity.

  • The fighting front in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising (groups including Zionists and Bundists) shared the common identity of being Jewish.

  • The united front in the French resistance (nationalists and communists) shared the common identity of being French1.

I think we can all agree that identifying with American patriotism is entirely reactionary – as a settler colony, there’s basically nothing redeemable there.

Is there an effective shared identity for people in the U$ to resist from?

I feel like the 2020 BLM protests had a shared identity of anti-racism, but it feels like that energy has dissipated.

1: not an identity without controversy, but not as directly reactionary as a full settler colonial national identity.

  • amemorablename@lemmygrad.ml
    11·
    7 days ago

    It’s a tough question. I want to think on it more.

    All that comes to mind for the moment is the concept of being a “melting pot of cultures”, but it would be crap in the standard use of it, which is associated with liberal thought and assimilation into white supremacy and imperialism. It would have to take on a different meaning, something more like: an international amalgamation of cultures with the shared goal of liberation and decolonization, with emphasis on celebrating and sharing in unique culture and ethnicity. But for those who don’t really have one (namely, “white” people) it would be tricky to have that as a focus - you could say, okay, have a focus on learning about your european heritage/culture, but how far back do you go to find stuff that isn’t steeped in colonialism and empire? For some, that may be difficult, ex: British or French roots. Whereas for Irish, it’s history is more complicated by being a victim of British imperialism and it may be easier to find roots that don’t seem as tied to the status quo.

    And if you just say the identity is being working class, this runs into problems of not confronting white supremacy and the exploitative position of empire.

    Anti-imperialist and de-colonial, seem like the most substantively important things, but I don’t know how connective they are as something to rally around in terms of identity. Self determination might be a more positive way to put the same general concept, but in individualist culture might be confused with self determination of the individual (as opposed to the meaning of self determination of a people in a sovereign state). Sovereignty is along the same lines as self determination, but could also go in the reactionary direction of isolationism in the USian context.

    To some extent, this may just be a thing that has to develop out of struggle rather than trying to think too hard about presentation outside of it.