They are rednecks and proud of it. Their background is rural/working class; they are armed and know how to use their weapons. They don't mind long bushy beards. They ride motorbikes, drink beer, and smoke. They, too, dislike liberals.
The upper-middle class, respectable, educated, leftish-liberals, of all races, wouldn't like them. That's okay.
They, too, are anti-capitalist, anti-racist, and anti-fascist and they have non-white, LGBT and Muslim members. Some even fly the old hammer-and-sickle red flag. They are Redneck Revolt.
The good and wise may not like them, but, boy, I'm neither good nor wise. What's there for an ageing Aussie commie of big city, wog, bogan/poor/working class background like me not to like?
True, they are more into anarchism, but nobody's perfect. All things considered, I think Joe Bageant, that old commie redneck, would have been proud of you, boys and girls. I know I am.
Just keep your cool, guys. Think before acting. Think more in terms of red bloc, than in terms of black bloc. Don't play into the hands of the liberals.
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LINKS:
"Today, the term redneck has taken on a demeaning connotation, primarily among upper class urban liberals who have gone out of their way to dehumanize white working class and poor people. Terms like ‘white trash' have come to signify the view among these same upper class liberals of poor and rural whites.
"To us, the term redneck is a term that signifies a pride in our class as well as a pride in resistance to bosses, politicians, and all those that protect domination and tyranny." (Libcom, Sep. 11, 2014)Redneck Revolt
"A New Wave of Left-Wing Militants Is Ready to Rumble in Portland—and Beyond" (Mother Jones, May/June 2017)
"Redneck Revolt: the Armed Leftwing Group That Wants to Stamp out Fascism" (The Guardian, Jul 17, 2017)
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For Australian readers: in the US it is legal to own and use those weapons. In some states you can even carry them in public. That's not the case Down Under. So far this has worked for us. Hopefully, things will stay that way.
That said, maybe we need some of that redneck fighting spirit, adapted to our own conditions.
rad. i like those guys 2.
ReplyDelete= the oo
Totally, dude :-)
DeleteThey look more sophisticated than Canadian trailer park boys. What about Australian Bogans - are they portrayed accurately?
ReplyDeleteThey look more sophisticated than Canadian trailer park boys. What about Australian Bogans - are they portrayed accurately?
DeleteThe kid on the right of the first photo and those on the second photo, right?
Check the Guardian photos, however. There's a photo there of a local arguing with two Redneck Revolt kids. You see the young man in the middle of the photo? He looks like me when I was young, he dresses like I do. He could be my son.
The photos of the red bloc were taken in Melbourne some 10 years ago. That's more or less how bogans look like: some look a bit more prosperous, some not so much.
Lately, it's become fashionable for men, particularly the young, to grow big beards, a la Marx or Engels.
I think they look more educated and less poverty-stricken than Canadians who are poor.
DeleteThe haircut of the young man on the right side of the Guardian photo is uncommon where I live. Big bushy beards are common with bikers and older men. Younger guys tend to wear their beards shorter.
The photo of the Australian Trotskyists is more in line with my perception of ordinary, working class Canadians. There's no 'dress code' per se.
Note that I come from a generation where tattoos were associated with criminal behavior. I realize the stigma has been reduced, but it still affects my perception. I try to be aware of it.
I was raised in the Laurentian mountains in Quebec. I've seen multi-million dollar mansions, tin-roofed shacks, and the people who call them home. I never considered our attitude to be 'redneck'. You're either poor or you're not.
Note that I come from a generation where tattoos were associated with criminal behavior. I realize the stigma has been reduced, but it still affects my perception. I try to be aware of it.
DeleteYou won't like the looks of the guys in the Mother Jones article, then :-)
How people look doesn't matter when you see what's in their heart.
Deletehttp://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/racism-against-calgary-woman-in-pinawa-1.4259853
Well, appearances did matter for that asshole. He didn't care much for what was in her heart.
DeleteHe is not alone.
In fact, there are all sorts of racisms, beyond white against non-white. Just one example: Asians aren't immune to racism. Their racism may be less known, and often less virulent than white racism against blacks, but it's there nonetheless.
The Imperial Japanese Army's behaviour towards Chinese and Koreans during WW2 wasn't much different to that of Germans towards Eastern Europeans. They weren't too fond of Indians, either (neither are Indians and Chinese in love with each other).
There are other forms of bigotry, beyond racism, too: elitism, homophobia, misogyny, xenophobia, religious intolerance.
Whether he was right or not, I can't say, but George Orwell (The Road to Wigan Pier) claimed that the English middle- and upper-classes felt more contempt for their white working class at home than they felt for their Indian subjects abroad: the workers were much closer.
Interestingly, Orwell presents as example the self-professed progressive English (Fabian socialists, labourites, and liberals) and their visceral disdain for British workers.
You see the same kind of attitude in others: that is part of the explanation for the hatred against Marxists. You've seen that yourself: Neil Wilson, Auburn Parks, "Lord Keynes" (both the real and the knockoff one). That's behind VSPaul Krugman and his obese UC Berkeley second-fiddle. Whatever their differences, all these people have something in common: each and every single one of them oozes a self-satisfied contempt for the idea that workers can actually have a say in their own lives. We need them, they think.
You want a graphical example? Check the illustration to this piece by Steve Roth:
http://evonomics.com/democracy-capitalism-socialism-choose-three/
Wouldn't you say that appearances do matter for Roth?
Incidentally, Bob, after you studied the illustration to Roth's article, pay attention to Roth's own photo (to the right of the screen).
DeleteYou see what I mean by oozing self-satisfied contempt, don't you?
That image depicts scruffy wannabe revolutionaries and an archetypal capitalist, who would just as well sell them the rope they would hang him with. But with t-shirts, I suppose the message is that there's no danger of the status quo changing.
DeleteI wouldn't be smug after writing an article like that. Some of the comments are less than flattering. The election of Trump would have been a signal that he and his colleagues need to get off their complacent asses.
His profile pic is symbolic of the view from the ivory tower. Father knows best. Academics know best.
Socialism is portrayed as the preserve of the young and foolish. The wisdom that comes with age is supposed to cure them of such notions.
I believe workers are capable of managing their own businesses, but those are tasks that come with ownership. Management requires some skills and no doubt some are better at it than others. Workers can always hire and fire their management if they detest having to do it themselves.
What you do for a living determines your social status. Doctors are higher up on the pecking order than janitors. Comparisons between professionals and labourers are socially conditioned, so that one group is encouraged to believe they are superior or inferior to the other group. To argue equality between professionals and labourers is usually lip service.
To genuinely question the natural order of things is to be branded a radical.
Workers also have prejudice. They resent the unemployed, who aren't seen as contributing to society. The inclination is to punch down, to blame the individual instead of questioning the system that creates those conditions.
Asians are certainly not immune from comparison-driven feelings of superiority. If you are from Fujian province and have that accent, your betters will consider you to be a lowly farmer. Don't even think about joining our circles. Are these widespread attitudes a result of the division of labour?
Lastly, nearly everyone fears and hates the poor - including the poor.
Sorry for rambling. These are topics that deserve a fuller analysis.
Sorry for rambling.
DeleteNo worries, mate. :-) We all ramble.
The haircut of the young man on the right side of the Guardian photo is uncommon where I live. Big bushy beards are common with bikers and older men. Younger guys tend to wear their beards shorter.
ReplyDeleteYou must be a very conservative people over there. Check this Google Image search for "bearded hipster photos":
https://www.google.com/search?q=hipster+beard+photos
And those guys you see are not necessarily poor, by any means. That's the currently fashionable look, even among young men in good jobs, dressed in expensive suits working for banks in the City.
Unusual haircuts, like the one the young guy in the Guardian photo shows, are not common among the young white people I know, but that's all the rage among Lebanese/Syrian youngsters.
I know people all covered in tattoos. A friend of mine is a tattoo artist. At first I was a bit wary, but he's an alright kind of guy.
You'll get used to all sorts of looks if you spend a year in Sydney.
Not many hipsters in rural Nova Scotia. I suppose they move to the city to be seen. If that makes us rural folk conservative, so be it! Demographically, this is a province that is old and white.
DeleteI find it strange to see professionals (e.g. lawyers, doctors and scientists) covered in tattoos. I keep thinking they must have turned their life around ;)
Back in high school I was shocked to learn that our gym teacher played chess. That's how prejudiced I am!