We Should Call Brocialism What It Is — White Populism

[Sancho]

Last week, Bernie Sanders officially lost the Democratic Party’s nomination. He lost by every measure — the popular vote, the pledged delegates count, and the superdelegate count. Bernie Sanders was soundly and prominently rejected by the core constituencies of the Democratic Party, namely minority groups. While Sanders tied or won whites everywhere, he lost Blacks 75–25 overall, and lost Latinos 65–35 overall. It is telling that as diverse populations grow, they have increased say over who Democrats choose as President. It is even more telling that there have been many “leftists” this cycle who have attempted to silence these diverse voices and recenter the Democratic Party’s agenda on the white working class.

Brocialist theory purports that once the class struggle is complete, issues with race and gender will simply melt away. But it is important to remember that socialism is an economic system, nothing more. It is not a cultural system. Racism (and sexism) can still thrive in socialist countries. There are plenty of societies far more “socialist” than the United States that suffer from problems with race. Here is a passage from the Council on Hemispheric Affairs piece Revolutionary Racism in Cuba noting that communism didn’t solve racism in Cuba:

Of course, brocialists don’t mention the problems democratic socialist countries in Europe have with race. That’s because they don’t see those racial issues as a big deal as class issues. Even Sanders himself has gotten caught in this line of thinking. Here’s a quote from Sanders in a 2014 interview with NPR’s Steve Inskeep about why minorities need to put class over race:

Read the whole article:

https://medium.com/marcushjohnson/we-should-call-brocialism-what-it-is-white-populism-ad257608ed52#.ktmx15erg

[obamanut2012]

1. I read this earlier -- and, to quote my best friend

"It's like he was in my mind."

[upaloopa]

2. I think this is one good reason we should not have open primaries. The minority vote gets diluted

in open primaries and caucuses.
I like to remind people that even in a democratic socialist state, racial and social injustice and xenophobia can thrive.

[Armstead]

5. Yes, racism can thrive in an economically just society...But that's a distraction

There are HUMAN PRFOBLEMS in any society.

So does that mean we shold not work to create a more just economic society simply because racism exists?

Who the hell says we can't tackle more than one issue at once?This artificial separation is nothing but enabling the Elites and allowing them to rob everyone, while we ignore it.

I

am

so
'
tired
of
these
deliberate
divisions
and
false
choices

[upaloopa]

7. The point is the Bernie's supporters didn't care about social justice until they started to lose in

the South. Even Bernie said the South didn't matter.

That denial of social justice ended Bernie's chances early on.

So there can be no economic justice until you get the social justice issues into your plan.

[Armstead]

9. God that's shallow

Most people were attracted to Bernie because they care deeply about social and economic justice together.

I am sick of these misleading deliberately divisive and memes.

The idea that social and economic justice have to be separated is an inverted form of GOP thinking....Divide and conquer, so that the middle and lower classes will all accept being ripped off and exploited and abused by an Elitist System for the Rich and Powerful.

[upaloopa]

12. Wrong! Bernie people were schooled on social justice by minorities in the primary.

Being shallow is thinking your revolution is the end all and be all for all people.

I hope in the future Bernie looks back and learns some lessons from the primary but like his followers I am afraid his ego and narcissism won't let that happen. Even now he is making demands as if he won!.

[Maru Kitteh]

47. "thinking your revolution is the end all and be all for all people" = Definition of entitlement

[DebDoo]

56. Just because the media and Clinton says it over and over doesn't make it true.

[MaeScott]

14. Talking to establishment gets you nowhere. On to to the GE.

[ozone_man]

36. That's why he walked with MLK

while Hillary was a Goldwater girl. Social justice in intertwined with economic justice. They are inseparable.

[MrMickeysMom]

3. Ah-ha... I get it with the little words there...

Taking the root of one pejorative and combining it with another root that is supposed to demean every Bernie Sanders supporter...

Adding your own opinion, which is meant to supplant what came out of your mind to cover over actual events of this campaign, which is going all the way to the convention.

I can only imagine what your interpretation of Sanders supporters will be tomorrow.

[Armstead]

6. It is amazingly depressing how the Democratic Economic Conservatives are using race

Because Problem A exists means we can not work to solve that and Problem B at the same time.

It's ridiculous.

[m-lekktor]

10. yep. taking economics out of the mix and pitting one group against the other

is an old strategy to divert attention from who the real enemy is. it's sad so many are falling for it, even INTELLECTUALIZING it in THINK pieces.

[Armstead]

11. More like an UNthink piece

[MaeScott]

15. And they give lip service to party unity...shades of "They Live"

[Miles Archer]

16. Tommorow, the effing "bro" crap ENDS.

What will these folks do with all of that free time on their hands?

So "BernieBros" and "BoB" meets a welcome demise on the 16th. Thank you.

Yes, disrespectful nicknames are not permitted.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10136548#post21

[Armstead]

4. Talking Apples and Oranges It's BroCorporatism

This line of thinking is truly myopic.

No one is saying that if we have economic justice racism will disappear.

It is doing the bidding of the Corporate Masters to say that we cannot simultaneously deal with the issues of racism while also working for greater economic equality and justice at the same time.,

This is nothing but an inverted form of GOP thinking.

[Demsrule86]

17. It always seemed to me

That Bernie was obsessed with one set of issues ...that were important but no the only important issues.

[Armstead]

20. Because those issues have been totally ignored by politics since 1980

[bettyellen]

33. People here absolutely prioritized their financial well being over our human rights. I recall being

Told that I could at least be able to afford to take a plane to go have an abortion- and black men could afford better lawyers. No Sanders fan jumped in to say how ridiculous that was. SJW became a periods give here as it is on RW sites. It was ugly and I'm glad it's over.

[whistler162]

8. Anither Trumpite heard from!

[Demsrule86]

13. Great article

I totally agree with it. I told my husband early on that I did not like Bernie because he was a one trick pony and cared nothing for anything but banks...he called abortion a distraction. He always seemed condescending to People of color and women. And of course, the attacks on women by his supporters were unrelenting.

[MaeScott]

18. Lord the Brockettes keep tapping....lol

[obamanut2012]

22. Get it out of your system -- less than 24 hours

[Jon Ace]

19. 24 hours...

[Scuba]

21. Still smearing Bernie's supporters. Pathetic.

[Snarkoleptic]

24. Not good for unity, but to be expected from corporatists.

This is the same wheelhouse as Rahm calling progressives "fucking retarded".

Jimmy Dore nails it here-
Hillary Camp Using Insults & Name-Calling To Win Over Bernie Supporters.

[think]

26. It's vile. No facts. Complete conjecture designed to insult and denigrate....

[Cobalt Violet]

23. pfft.

One more for my ignore list. It's been not nice knowing you.

[LWolf]

25. This has to be the most disgusting

of the identity politics attacks I've seen here all season; and that's saying something.

It sure as hell isn't creating any "unity" behind her, or with supposedly fellow "Democrats."

[colsohlibgal]

27. Socialism By Itself Works For All

The thought behind it is that a rising tide lifts all boats. White/Black/LGBT/ everyone, all of us.

[Sancho]

30. In theory lots of governments would work in ideal circumstances....

right now, our system has rejected a move to economic socialism except for some limited programs. There appears to be a HUGH focus on MONEY in Bernie's platform - and not enough on social justice.

To me, money is not the answer. I think that a large number of Democrats agree.

[gollygee]

43. I'll paste this here too

The thing is that economic changes intended to erase inequity have historically usually left people of color out. The New Deal, the GI Bill, etc. So some people of color are skeptical when they hear about these kinds of plans without hearing prominently and explicitly that anti-racism is needed as well to make sure everyone benefits from the economic changes. The idea of "a rising tide lifts all boats" doesn't speak to people who have seen, or heard their parents and grandparents talk about, previous risen tides where their boats were definitely not lifted. I think younger African Americans were more likely than previous generations to vote for Bernie, and that makes sense to me as they're more removed from the time period of those various economic policies that helped white people a great deal but were kept out of the reach of people of color.

[okasha]

54. Thhat theory is otherwise known as "trickle down" Reaganomics.

Been there.

Done that.

Doesn't work.

[Number23]

59. freshwest coined that kind of thinking as "trickle down justice"

the idea that once middle to lower class white males get what they need, that things will magically begin to work out for everyone else.

She called it "trickle down justice" and it was easily one of the truest and most brilliant things I've ever seen here.

[okasha]

60. She's spot on about 112% of the time.

I just got the "identity politics" dog-whistle from a supporter of that theory. The white-'splainers seem totally oblivious to what they're saying, which is a big, honking clue that the rest of us should ignore what they say, too.

[Starry Messenger]

28. Whomp:

The Goal of Brocialism is To Recenter The White Working Class

Brocialists clearly see racism and sexism as simply distractions to the class struggle. Intersectionality, diversity and identity politics have been demonized by the brocialist movement as taking away from what they believe should be a solely economic focus. When you believe that diversity is a bad goal, that leads to attempts at silencing the voices of minorities. It leads to attempts to silence women.

[think]

29. Bill Clinton was friends with Trump while he was spouting his birther racist crap

There's your white privilege...

A BRIEF HISTORY OF DONALD TRUMP AND BILL CLINTON’S FRIENDSHIP

BY MICHELE GORMAN ON 5/27/16 AT 1:39 PM

Despite recent rhetoric regarding the former U.S. president, years before he secured the Republican nomination in the 2016 presidential election—a feat acknowledged Thursday—Donald Trump and Bill Clinton were longtime friends.

~Snip~

Nine months ago, The Washington Post reported that on a private, casual phone call last spring, Bill Clinton encouraged Trump to play a larger role in the Republican Party. That conversation reportedly took place in May 2015, a month after Hillary Clinton declared her 2016 presidential bid and just weeks before Trump announced his.

~Snip~

“I like him. And I love playing golf with him,” Clinton said in a May 2012 interview with CNN, according to transcripts. He spoke highly of Trump, despite the real estate tycoon’s prominent role in the so-called “birther” movement, wherein he spent months publicly questioning President Barack Obama’s original birth certificate. Trump, speaking to Fox News earlier that same year, said he thought Clinton was “a really good guy.”

Read more:
http://www.newsweek.com/history-donald-trump-bill-clinton-friendship-464360

[Tarc]

31. I love this

+1,000

[apcalc]

32. Imo

Sanders ran a campaign with a limited focus-basically on economic issues. That is important. There is so much else.

POC, women, LGBT have a full agenda , as the Orlando shootings prove. Hillary spoke to us.

[ismnotwasm]

34. K&R

[winter is coming]

35. I'll call that article what it is: sexist, racist bullshit. n/t

[gollygee]

37. I voted for Bernie, but I recognize this as his Achilles heel.

If he had understood and made explicit the fact that we have to combat racism both together with, and separate from, economic issues, I think he'd have won.

If he had included people of color as high level advisors from the start, and if he'd listened to them and given them to the power to have influence, he would have won.

I am a huge fan of his economic goals. I wish he'd been able to do those things that would have led to a win.

No one will ever win a national election again without a high level of support from people of color.

[Orsino]

38. We call it revolution.

Not everyone's on board yet, but anyone can be--to include our presumptive nominee, as soon as she dares.

[sheshe2]

39. K&R!

[TheFarseer]

40. I love how

Fighting Corruption and income inequality is anti-black or at least of no interest to blacks because it does not specifically mention black people. Don't understand this at all. Does the media and dem party elites assume black people only care about black specific issues and have no ability to care about issues that the population at large cares about like climate change, outsourcing, citizens united? To me, this is racism. But ive been told repeatedly that I don't get it!

[gollygee]

42. The thing

Is that economic changes intended to erase inequity have historically usually left people of color out. The New Deal, the GI Bill, etc. So some people of color are skeptical when they hear about these kinds of plans without hearing prominently and explicitly that anti-racism is needed as well to make sure everyone benefits from the economic changes. The idea of "a rising tide lifts all boats" doesn't speak to people who have seen, or heard their parents and grandparents talk about, previous risen tides where their boats were definitely not lifted. I think younger African Americans were more likely than previous generations to vote for Bernie, and that makes sense to me as they're more removed from the time period of those various economic policies that helped white people a great deal but were kept out of the reach of people of color.

[Blue_Tires]

41. Glad to see that author call out some of the

most notorious Dudebro hot take artists on Twitter... I've butted heads with them, too...

[AgingAmerican]

44. Another mindless strawman

[eastwestdem]

45. Exactly!! nt

[Vattel]

46. more lies

Who the fuck believes that "once the class struggle is complete, issues with race and gender will simply melt away." This author is attacking a windmill.

[Karmadillo]

48. This guy is one deep thinker: The Left is our enemy and the One Percent is our ally.

http://weekendpolitics.com/index.php/2016/02/29/the-good-side-of-big-money-in-politics-what-if-the-will-of-the-people-is-racist/

The Flip Side of Big Money in Politics: What if the Will of the People is Racist?
Marcus H. Johnson
March 3, 2016

<edit>

That sounds exactly like what Donald Trump is pushing today! He’s talking about a fear of minorities and the need to fight back against Hispanics “taking over white culture.” Buchanan’s ideology obviously had public support in the 1990s, as Trump’s does now. But what stopped him from grabbing the Republican nomination? Corporations loathed backing an open white nationalist. He could never raise the funds to seriously contend. The will of corporations stopped the racist will of the public.

With Donald Trump, money isn’t an object. He can self fund his campaign and run it however the hell he wants. And absent corporate influence, he is giving the people what they crave. Maybe Bernie Sanders was wrong after all. Perhaps it is time to stop viewing the 1 percent as the villains. Perhaps, corporate interests are holding back something far more sinister: the will of the American people.

[Red Mountain]

52. Right......the corporations are people, too.

People who care about YOU.

Or maybe they prefer a slow burn of racial intolerance to an all out Pat-style blowout.

As long as they and the 1% can continue to play us off against one another and avoid a resolution of the issues either for better or worse.......they win.

All they care about is a stable business environment.

[AgingAmerican]

49. "issues with race and gender will simply melt away"

Show me where Sanders or any of his surrogates said this.

Thanks in advance.

[Cali_Democrat]

50. K&R

[Loudestlib]

51. This primary really brought out the bigots.

(I'm not talking about Sanders supporters.)

[PowerToThePeople]

55. Truth.

[Juicy_Bellows]

53. What?

[jack_krass]

57. Oh goody, this meme has a name. Funny I'd never heard of this before Hillary

Decided her best chance to win was carving up the party into factions, then getting the factions to hate each other through "not good enough, Bernie" and simmilar filth.

[Number23]

58. K&R Perfectly said and 100% true. I am loving all of these diverse voices in the political arena

now. Makes it that much harder for the Bros to drown them out.

Brocialists believe that fighting for diversity in government and business is simply a distraction to the class struggle.

...There are so many other stories of online harassment coming from brocialists that it would be impossible to list them all here. But nearly all of the attacks carry the same thesis — women and people of color are being “selfish” by concentrating on issues such as reproductive justice, diversity, and equal pay instead of solely focusing on the class struggle.

And their days of shouting down and intimidating everyone into accepting their privileged, moronic point of view is completely OVER.

[tallahasseedem]

61. Thank you for posting this!

A perfect summation of what is going on...