There's a tendency on some parts of the left:
Instead of reaching out, saying, "I think you may be wrong, here's why", people like this denounce you as an irredeemable traitor.
I don't get everything right. I'm always prepared to listen. But this attitude is really offputting.
Instead of reaching out, saying, "I think you may be wrong, here's why", people like this denounce you as an irredeemable traitor.
I don't get everything right. I'm always prepared to listen. But this attitude is really offputting.
For what it's worth, I'm not voting for any Labour leadership candidate. I'm not a member of any political party. I'm not completely sure who I would vote for if I was. I kept out of it, until I was put on the spot on a TV programme. I have respect for all 3.
But the wider point is this: there's truth in the saying "the right looks for converts, the left looks for traitors."
On the left, we constantly talk about unity and solidarity.
What this should mean is paying more attention to what brings us together than to what sets us apart.
On the left, we constantly talk about unity and solidarity.
What this should mean is paying more attention to what brings us together than to what sets us apart.
Do we build solidarity on the left by dismissing and denouncing anyone whose views differ fractionally from our own?
Or do we do it by listening and talking, engaging and persuading?
I think we all know the answer, so why do we keep making the same mistake?
Or do we do it by listening and talking, engaging and persuading?
I think we all know the answer, so why do we keep making the same mistake?
Nobody wins the Purity Olympics. We rip each other to pieces, while the right romps home.
So let's drop the absolutism, drop the denunciations, drop the exclusionary tendencies, and find common ground wherever it exists.
Otherwise we're stuffed.
So let's drop the absolutism, drop the denunciations, drop the exclusionary tendencies, and find common ground wherever it exists.
Otherwise we're stuffed.
