NEW YORK — A new essay by the liberal activist Cornel West has a new chapter in the left’s history book, but it’s not the one we expected.
It’s the first time the essay has appeared on the liberal magazine, The Nation, since it was published in July.
In it, West argues that it’s time for the left to embrace the idea that there is a new generation of radicals that has “made it clear they will fight to the death for democracy.”
He then goes on to explain that the left needs to confront the notion that a generation of leftists is “just a bunch of crybabies.”
In a recent essay for The Nation West argued that the American left has lost the battles it once won, and that the new left must “exploit the same power of a generational divide that the right used to exploit.”
In the essay, West argued:The new generation, West writes, is “more diverse, less ideological, less concerned with class and race, and far more focused on their immediate and long-term goals of destroying white supremacy and defending the dignity of women and other marginalized groups.
It is far less ideological than the old left, and it is far more pragmatic.”
West goes on, explaining:The left needs a new strategy that will work in the real world, rather than a “political utopia” in which it can “explode and destroy everything it touches and everyone it has ever harmed.”
West’s argument that the “new generation” is far younger and more diverse than the left has a lot to do with the leftward shift in American politics that has occurred over the last decade.
The rise of the so-called “alt-right” movement has led to the rise of new ideological movements, such as the alt-right, the white nationalist movement, and the “alt” right.
These groups, which have often advocated a white ethno-state, a white identity and supremacy, and have been criticized by liberals, conservatives, and other members of the left, have been able to attract a new base of voters.
West argues that the alt right is a product of the alt left, who he says “have become the voice of the disenfranchised, alienated, and marginalized” in America.
This new generation is also much younger and has less ideological commitment than the older generation, he said.
The alt right, he writes, “is a symptom of a broader crisis of the American political left, which is no longer the voice for the marginalized and disenfranchised.”
He adds:The alt-left, he argues, is now more interested in promoting a “culture of white supremacy” and “white supremacy culture” and has become the “voice of the privileged and the politically correct.”
It is not clear whether the essay West is writing is an actual manifesto or an opinion piece.
The Nation has not responded to a request for comment.
West, who was a prominent voice in the civil rights movement, argues that if the left doesn’t make the right decisions and “do the right thing” it will “never go back.”
He has also suggested that the US should focus on immigration reform instead of immigration policy.
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