As anyone who has spent any time in Europe knows, the U.S.A. is an extremely conservative country. We have no real “Left” to speak of. I say this as one who belongs to the Democratic Socialists of America (which is not a Party, I’m still a registered Democrat)! Yes, Jill Stein the anti-vaxxer and Putin lover is stupid and the Green Party does itself no favors by making her their candidate and spokesperson. But she’s a flyspeck, not a force, and most of her other positions would fit comfortably in any European Center or even Center Right Party.
Some here have accused Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) of being “alt-Left.” Bernie may be a self-declared “democratic socialist,” (though, unlike Cornel West and myself, he’s not a DSA member) but most of his positions would fit in any center to center left European party. He’d be considered more a “social democrat” than a “democratic socialist” in most of Europe. Much of the U.K.’s Labor Party is to the left of Bernie.
If you gathered every member of the The Communist Party, USA, the Socialist Party, the DSA, the Green Party, etc., and put them in an average football stadium, it would still be ½ empty.
Further, “alt-Left” implies a commitment to violence and hatred that is similar to the white nationalist/white supremacist commitment to violence and hatred that is the loose network called the “alt-Right.” I see no evidence of this. Some on the Left (such Left as exists in the USA) are not committed to nonviolence, it is true. Apparently the young anarchist, anti-fascist movement that calls itself “Anti-fa,” (I’ll save my curmudgeonly gripes about the decline of the English language for another diary!) is committed to lightly armed self defense, similar to the self-defense stance of Malcolm X or the original Black Panther Political Party. But that is very different from the terroristic violence of these rightwing white nationalist groups.
Now, one can argue, as I do, that, AT THE VERY LEAST, one should commit to nonviolence as a tactical manner so that it is THAT MUCH HARDER to engage in “both-sidism.” There is no moral equivalence between between Nazis and anti-fascists, but showing up with armor (homemade), shields, and sometimes clubs gives cover for those like Drumpf who would make the CLAIM of moral equivalence. Strict nonviolence in protests makes such “both sides do it” claims SELF-EVIDENTLY absurd.
But that’s an argument about tactics and optics, not an argument about substance, like a smear term like “alt-Left” implies. We should NOT allow such framing.
And, the use of such a term by Democrats and/or progressives leads to more infighting among ourselves, more re-litigating of last year’s primary, more doubt and suspicion among us. This is a time when we should be united in resistance. The term is nonsense and its use by us plays into the hands of Drumpf and David Duke and all their slimy ilk. Stop it, please.