Responding to: Resist the urge to throw people or values under the bus

The number one tool of capital (right wing fascists) is to use divide and conquer and group think. The pressure is working on some. Don’t let it. Whether it’s immigrants, Palestine, Trans people, EDI/DEI, resist the urge to “fit in.” Resist the urge to allow capital to control or lead our movement. Remember they want us to fail. Dividing us works time and time again.

I think the issue with this approach is that it creates a checklist of issues on which we must all be in lockstep, otherwise we are ‘throwing people under the but’ or ‘letting capital dictate our values’. I can’t think of any other way to read a statement like “Whether it’s immigrants, Palestine, Trans people, EDI/DEI, resist the urge to ‘fit in’…”

The problem is – who decides what the ‘correct’ side is in these cases, and on what basis? Or do we defer to a manifesto? And what are the consequences for disagreement along one of these issues – isolation? Expulsion?

The thing is, it is not a checklist of alignment across a whole range of issues that unites us, it’s agreement on some underlying or fundamental values, with the understanding that these might be interpreted differently in different contexts.

What are those underlying values? One think I like about Mark Carney (and no, I’m not a Liberal) is that he articulates this clearly. He cites seven essential values and beliefs: dynamism, resilience, sustainability, fairness, responsibility, solidarity and humility. What does the NDP believe in? Do we even have an answer to this? I can’t imagine that our best response is “we believe in immigrants, Palestine, Trans people, EDI/DEI…”

I had hoped the leadership election would begin to address this question, but it never did. Now I hope Avi Lewis and his team can come up with something more substantial than a listicle. The future of the party probably hangs in the balance.