This Is Hell! STAFF PICKS: Asad Haider / Beyond identity politics.
May 2, 2022
Asad Haider, a writer and founding editor of Viewpoint Magazine, delves into the complexities of identity politics. He explains how modern identity politics simplifies oppression and detracts from broader coalitional efforts, tracing its fragmentation back to neoliberalism. Haider critiques how political movements like Black Lives Matter have been co-opted, focusing on elite diversity instead of structural change. He advocates for a return to the radical roots of identity politics, emphasizing the need to unify race and class struggles for genuine liberation.
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Original Identity Politics Was Coalitional
- The Combahee River Collective framed identity politics as asserting excluded groups' agency to build broader coalitions.
- Asad Haider argues modern usage has narrowed this into identity-as-essence that fragments movements and blocks mass coalition building.
Neoliberal Decline Turned Identity Into Petitions
- Neoliberal era defeats and fragmented movements removed mass organizing as a training ground for coalition practice.
- Haider says that without mass movements, identity claims become petitions for state recognition rather than collective struggle.
Elite Representation Isn't Structural Change
- Individual political identity does not guarantee structural change; elite representation can coexist with continued oppression.
- Haider uses the Obama presidency to show identity-based representation can mask the need for movements from below.
