The Sucker Punch of Right/Left Coalitions
A sucker punch is when an opponent hits you when you least expect
it after being lulled into letting your defenses down. There are times
when political reality creates temporary tactical alliances that cross
right/left boundaries. Defending civil liberties as part of a coalition
focused on legislation is one example. This is different, however,
from urging strategic anti-government, anti-corporate coalitions linking
the right and the left against political elites, elected officials,
and trans-national corporations. There are many reasons why these types
of strategic coalitions are a bad idea, not the least of which is that
they were historically proposed by pre-WWII fascist social movements.
These movements used right-wing populist rhetoric to call overturning
corrupt and repressive regimes.
Once they seized state power, these fascist movements liquidated their
leftist partners and instituted even more repressive and authoritarian
regimes. While this is an unlikely outcome in the U.S., there are other
dangers, especially when progressive activists challenging corporate
globalization or government repression urge coalitions with right-wing
populists who have considerable baggage around issues of oppression
including racism, sexism, heterosexism, and antisemitism. Right-wing
populists also tend to use a conspiracist analysis instead of a progressive
institutional analysis that examines systems and structures of power. The
conspiracist worldview utilizes demonization and scapegoating; and
frequently invokes historic antisemitic stereotypes. The links below
explain this problem in detail.
The Repressive Side of Right Wing Populism and Anti-Elite Conspiracism
- Right-Left - A
Dangerous Flirt - Pressebüro Savanne - This page has an
extensive collection of articles and links. It serves as the international
clearinghouse for this discussion.
- Militia
Fever - The Fallacy of "Neither Left nor Right" - Janet Biehl
- Right Woos Left - Chip Berlet
- Political Research Associates (Very long study)
The Sucker Punch Series
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