Tag: World War II

Black Box East: The role of “the East” in the West’s radical imagination

Ms. Cat

Black Box East: The role of “the East” in the West’s radical imagination

Now, the third itinerary is one of romanticism. When the cultural revolution took place in China, European Marxists who felt that the Soviet Union was too boring or gray began to fantasize. You get all these books exaggerating what’s happening in China based on a very little understanding. There is a story from the late 1960s that Ho Chi Minh met an Italian Communist Party delegation. They’re sitting in his secret house, a very modest place; he’s sitting there, characteristically, with a cigarette in his hand and the Italians ask him how they can help Vietnam, a very honest and sincere question as there are American planes above bombing the crap out of Vietnam. But Ho Chi Minh doesn’t say: send us this or that; he says “go home and make a revolution.” He’s saying: sure, we need solidarity, we need tons of it, but we don’t need romanticism. We are making our revolution. We are going to die and sacrifice and yes, we need you out there fighting against the lies that they tell about us. But go home make your revolution. What’s the point of fantasizing about Cuba? Cuba of course needs solidarity today more than ever. Venezuela needs solidarity today more than ever. But go home and make your revolution.

Randi Weingarten: You can’t keep us from teaching students honest history

Ms. Cat

Despite this furor, most Americans have not been exposed to actual critical race theory nor do they understand what it is. Critical race theory is the examination, principally in law school but also elsewhere at the undergraduate and graduate level in college, of whether systemic racism exists and whether it affects law and public policy — it asks, for example, whether policies that prohibited Black Americans from owning homes have contributed to the stark disparities in wealth between Black and white Americans.Culture warriors are suddenly labeling any discussion of race, racism, discrimination or struggle as critical race theory in an attempt to drive a wedge between Americans and prevent the full and accurate teaching of the American Experiment. They are seeking to ban critical race theory where it is not taught — in K-12 schools — and to discredit it where it is — in law schools and some colleges.

Randi Weingarten: You can’t keep us from teaching students honest history