Socialism from below and indigenous resurgence

[blindpig]

Much has been written in the pages of this magazine and elsewhere to expose the critical weaknesses of the Left during that period in addressing the experiences and aspirations of people who are oppressed because of their gender, sexuality, or race. But we have not adequately accounted the specific intersection of indigenous struggles with socialist theories of revolutionary change. The new Wasáse movement has begun to address the contradictions of a traditionalism that is linked to official aboriginal organisations sanctioned and funded by the Canadian state. Wasáse activists are critically reconstructing the radical anti-capitalist ethics underlying many indigenous traditions. The challenge now for socialists is to build strong bonds of solidarity with this movement which is now at the cutting edge of radical organising in Canada. This requires that we critically reconstruct our own traditions of socialism from below, whose heart and soul is the belief that a revolutionary and democratic transformation of society can only be achieved by the self-organized mass struggles of workers and oppressed peoples. In our work with indigenous peoples, we bear responsibility for demolishing in theory and practice the corruption of socialist ideas that followed the defeat of the Russian revolution by Stalinism.

http://newsocialist.org/newsite/index.php?id=1012