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I'm reading a book about how the Catholic Church fought back against the secular internationalist movements of the early 20th Century, such as liberal democracy and communism, and I find myself thinking,
Whatever happened to internationalism on the Left? I don't see much of it in the Democratic Party platform, and not enough of it in the Green Party platform. How is it we were more internationalist 100 years ago than we are now? When we have so much more trade and communication and travel, and the Internet, and Google Translate -- amidst globalizing capitalism it feels like the Left has gone parochial.
What passes for international issues on the Left these days are mostly about trade deals and military alliances -- the EU and NATO, NAFTA and "humanitarian interventions". Not everybody on the left is in favor of these things, but when they aren't it's because they're isolationist instead. There's not a lot of Left alternative internationalism in the 21st Century. We may oppose transnational pipelines, we may oppose international trade agreements, we may oppose the expansion of NATO, we may view the EU as too capitalist and the Euro as a fiscal straightjacket,
Probably the main exception to isolationism on the Left is the environmental movement, but even there the best we can do is watch as the world draws up completely voluntary and unenforceable "targets". That's it. And these targets aren't even working. Where's our shadow Green United Nations with delegates from every Green Party passing resolutions on global matters? We could be modeling the World Parliament we'd need to actually fix our global problems.
I miss 20th Century internationalism. It's one of the reasons why I'm attracted to the Green Party, because it feels like a global movement, at least a little bit. A global movement that isn't about free trade or arms merchants. I'd love to see more coordination between Green Parties from different countries. There is a Global Greens Congress ... that ... meets ... every five or six years ...
the last time in 2017 ...
Well, Bug, it's the sort of thing that ain't gonna happen if you don't do it yourself. You'd have to start by attending your first local Green Party meeting and then work your way up. At the local county Green Party website nothing has been updated in months. The Baltimore Greens are at least updating their website, perhaps I could hang out with them at their next monthly meeting (via Zoom) in April. And then they could put me in touch with whomever exists in MoCo. I'll have to review my Hatch Act stuff to make sure I stay on the legal side of the line as a fed. Maybe I could take over the MoCo website and keep it updated and put interesting stuff on it ...
Whatever happened to internationalism on the Left? I don't see much of it in the Democratic Party platform, and not enough of it in the Green Party platform. How is it we were more internationalist 100 years ago than we are now? When we have so much more trade and communication and travel, and the Internet, and Google Translate -- amidst globalizing capitalism it feels like the Left has gone parochial.
What passes for international issues on the Left these days are mostly about trade deals and military alliances -- the EU and NATO, NAFTA and "humanitarian interventions". Not everybody on the left is in favor of these things, but when they aren't it's because they're isolationist instead. There's not a lot of Left alternative internationalism in the 21st Century. We may oppose transnational pipelines, we may oppose international trade agreements, we may oppose the expansion of NATO, we may view the EU as too capitalist and the Euro as a fiscal straightjacket,
Probably the main exception to isolationism on the Left is the environmental movement, but even there the best we can do is watch as the world draws up completely voluntary and unenforceable "targets". That's it. And these targets aren't even working. Where's our shadow Green United Nations with delegates from every Green Party passing resolutions on global matters? We could be modeling the World Parliament we'd need to actually fix our global problems.
I miss 20th Century internationalism. It's one of the reasons why I'm attracted to the Green Party, because it feels like a global movement, at least a little bit. A global movement that isn't about free trade or arms merchants. I'd love to see more coordination between Green Parties from different countries. There is a Global Greens Congress ... that ... meets ... every five or six years ...
the last time in 2017 ...
Well, Bug, it's the sort of thing that ain't gonna happen if you don't do it yourself. You'd have to start by attending your first local Green Party meeting and then work your way up. At the local county Green Party website nothing has been updated in months. The Baltimore Greens are at least updating their website, perhaps I could hang out with them at their next monthly meeting (via Zoom) in April. And then they could put me in touch with whomever exists in MoCo. I'll have to review my Hatch Act stuff to make sure I stay on the legal side of the line as a fed. Maybe I could take over the MoCo website and keep it updated and put interesting stuff on it ...
