Today’s new-generation progressive political stars, such Ocasio-Cortez and fellow Democratic House freshman Ilhan Omar, are democratic socialists who are also perfectly fluent in intersectionalese. Angela Davis, a pioneering intersectional feminist and an actual Communist, is also having a moment in the spotlight.
The “white supremacist capitalist [hetero]patriarchy” is the buzz-phrase du jour, and left-wing publications such as Boston Review now effortlessly integrate identitarian “social justice” and anti-capitalism. About a year ago, in a New York Timesop-ed defending the enduring relevance of Marx on his 200th birthday, philosophy professor Jason Barker argued that the Marxist analysis of class, power, and exploitation is now finding new life as a critique of race and gender oppression. Lucky us.
The New York essay asking “When Did Everyone Become a Socialist?” confirms this merger. At Democratic Socialists of America meetings, “non-men and people of color” are being prioritized as speakers. (At least in theory: The author, Simon van Zuylen-Wood, wryly notes that a white male DSA member held the floor for quite a while explaining this policy.)
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