Letters to a Young Activist (Art of Mentoring)

Rating:
Summary: Graceful, Useful
Review: In LETTERS TO A YOUNG ACTIVIST, Todd Gitlin, articulates with grace, humility, and warmth the lessons learned over a lifetime of political activism. Offering encouragement, perspective and a sense of proportion, he identifies the pitfalls of absolutism of all stripes. That includes the creed Hard Right, which he castigates vicious and all-too-willing to play dirty (he cites David Brock's "Blinded by the Right" in this context), and Noam Chomsky (whom he cites as a representative of the Hard Left) -- and represents a bloc that is as conspiracy-minded as John Birchers and their fulsome political offspring.

This is not to say that Gitlin is a political moderate -- he rails against the conservative clique that has taken over the US government, a gang dedicated to better serving the plutocracy, and who in their anti-middle, and anti-lower class policies have sought to unravel the social safety net and smooth the way for the speedy destruction of the environment. He, unlike the Foucaldian left, believes that reason can be persuasive, that convincing arguments must be made to support pro-human policies. His counsel of moderation is intended to prepare activists for long haul; to keep the fires of moral indignation burning hot, but not so hot as to consume them (as did the fires of the sixties consume many).

Those who have read his "Twilight of Common Dreams" will recognize his views on the destructiveness of identity politics, summarized here in an observation of his that identity politics inevitably point to the past, while politics, at least progressive politics should always point to the future. Those who have read his "Media Unlimited" will find familiar his references to the failure of the media as originating in reporters and editors who have become too focused on the bottom-line dicta of their new megacorporate owners, as well as in their unwillingness (in the name of fairness or professionalism) to draw the most basic kinds of connections between, (for instance, the explosion of criminal activity on Wall Street and the pro-business policies of successive neo-liberal governments). Here these arguments are made with admirable brevity.

Pithy as well as passionate, Gitlin's an excellent writer in addition to being an activist. His hard-earned knowledge and long, pragmatic view of political radicalism and agitation offer not just young activists, but neophyte activists of all ages, lessons in courage, in creativity, and in hope. Here's a particularly insightful passage on how the Right has become "mainstream," even though as Gitlin points out, the American public is actually moderate Left in most of its political beliefs, especially with respect to the preservation of the environment and the social welfare system:

"So how did it happen that after the sixties, the Right overcame its weaknesses, entrenched itself and proceeded to dominate American politics? There's no single answer; I'll mention only a few of the more important. Since the late sixties, when Kevin Philips tutored Nixon on 'the emerging Republic majority,' the Right has mastered wedge issues, driving apart elements of the New Deal Democratic coalition by deftly using that wrecking ball of wrecking balls, race. The Left's major institutional base--labor--crumbled, number (at this writing) barely more than one-eighth of the workforce. IN the eyes of the more prosperous, the Right has been able to equate liberty with property; in the eyes of the less prosperous, all politics is equally corrupt or "irrelevant," so they do not mobilize. The Right has disproportionate access to the airwaves. Republicans dominate the small states, which the Constitution grants disproportionate voting strength in the Senate. The American population has gravitated southward and westward, away from New Deal solidarities. For its part, the academic Left, whose numbers were not trivial, spent an inordinate amount of its time and energy marching on the English department while the Right descended on Washington. The cultural Left in and around the academy, convinced that deconstructing the work of other intellectuals is the most important work in the world (without any irony about how self-serving this assumption is), was and remains preoccupied with rhetorical power--namely the question of whether Democrats or Republicans take the White House or Congress--seems largely irrelevant."

In a rather long passsage, Gitlin argues that the Green Party is unserious. That it fails to recognize in its idealistic purity that there are only Democrats and Republicans in the U.S., that there will be no change to a parlimentary system. Thus he argues the Greens only play at politics but that they are actively sabotaging those on the Left who are attempting to make real changes. This may be a bit harsh, but Gitlin has a point: you've got to be in it to win it. And that means discipline and real exertion, and that really, according to Gitlin is what determines whether the Left will ever get itself up off the floor and get back in the fight with anything like a chance to win back the opportunity to set a progressive agenda. This may not win him any fans with younger activists, but, in his explanation of how the New Left foolishly opposed Humphrey because he was not to their (radical) taste, he shows how these idealists opened the door to the Reagan and his minions. Consequences, he argues, are often unforeseen -- all the more reason to listen to history and the lessons it has to teach, and so, to clear-eyed activists like Mr. Gitlin.

Rating:
Summary: How Lessons of the 1960s Still Apply Today
Review: One of the values of this book is that it looks back on the 1960s without glossing over the problems, some of the misdirected idealism, etc. It does serve as a testament to social action as a high calling, and in that regard, attempts to encourage activism in today's culture. I thoroughly enjoyed it because I was a teenager in the 1960s, but I also recently sent the book to my 28-year-old son because it presents thoughtful arguments without getting into trite analysis. I totally disagreed with the review by Publishers Weekly. It's well worth reading.

Rating:
Summary: How Lessons of the 1960s Still Apply Today
Review: One of the values of this book is that it looks back on the 1960s without glossing over the problems, some of the misdirected idealism, etc. It does serve as a testament to social action as a high calling, and in that regard, attempts to encourage activism in today's culture. I thoroughly enjoyed it because I was a teenager in the 1960s, but I also recently sent the book to my 28-year-old son because it presents thoughtful arguments without getting into trite analysis. I totally disagreed with the review by Publishers Weekly. It's well worth reading.

Rating:
Summary: A Good Read!
Review: This is politics with attitude, presented by a former sixties activist who has plenty of sincerity and passion, though he has a somewhat convoluted writing style. Todd Gitlin - the former president of Students for a Democratic Society, the SDS - has a great deal to say, much of it worthwhile, though couched in nostalgic reminiscence of his youthful activism. Given that, former sixties protestors may find more here than current rightist young idealists. His observations on the faults of the Left and the strength of the Right are, if not original, stimulating. He does draw potentially useful lessons from the sixties, as seen through his prism of leftist activism and leadership. We recommend this fast, historic and forward-looking read. In these turbulent times, Gitlin encourages participation, discourages violence and believes the individual can still make a difference. Who could quarrel with that?