Chris Roberts, American Renaissance, January 7, 2016

When I wrote “The Anti-Anti-White Left,” I did not think much would come of it. To my surprise, it took off almost immediately, with a comments thread so fiery I felt compelled to write a reply. Now a few weeks have passed and it has been read by quite a few leftists, who are now using it as ammunition to accuse each other of racism.

On January 4th, Viewpoint magazine published an essay, “The Safety Pin and the Swastika” that, among other things, pooh-poohed my prediction that some anti-anti-white leftists could become white advocates. The author, Shuja Haider, claims that I am wrong because anti-anti-white leftists view the world in a more or less colorblind way, making them invulnerable to appeals to racial identity. Mr. Haider goes on to claim that it is the race-obsessed social justice warriors (SJWs) who are most like us, saying that the alt-right is just the other side of the same identitarian coin. She implied that SJWs are fueling the alt-right.

Like other leftists, Mr. Haider favors class identity over race in order to build a multi-racial unified base that will defeat the corporations, the military-industrial complex, evangelical false consciousness, etc. She thinks that if that happened, white advocacy would disappear because it would lose its biggest enemies: racial figures such as Al Sharpton and Peggy McIntosh. If it doesn’t happen, Mr. Haider implies, SJWs will fuel further white resentment, which will cause whites to leave the left en masse, which will lead to defeat after defeat for the left.

Viewpoint is an obscure, Marxian publication. Mr. Haider’s article was immediately picked up by the much better known Marxian site, Jacobin.

The very next day, Think Progress published a very different essay, “The center has fallen, and white nationalism is filling the vacuum.” The author, Ned Resnikoff, quoted my anti-anti-white left article, but unlike Mr. Haider, he agreed with it: Socialist anti-anti-whites are potential white advocates. His point was, to paraphrase, “Look, even the racists have a soft spot for socialists who read Jacobin. This shows they and many Bernie Sanders supporters really are racists.”

Unlike Jacobin, which is independently funded, Think Progress is very much part of the progressive “establishment.” It is a project of the Center for American Progress, a think tank founded by John Podesta that is an important arm of the Clinton Empire. Many Sanders supporters think that Mrs. Clinton’s loss proves that their man should have gotten the nomination. They blame the Clinton wing of the party for the Democrat’s defeat, because they claim (quite plausibly) that Sen. Sanders would have held onto the Rust Belt and become president. This Think Progress essay is an indirect rebuttal of this view that says, in effect, “Get lost, you racist Bernie Bros. Clintonism is the way forward.”

So in the span of 48 hours, two different popular leftist websites quoted American Renaissance in order to attack each other. Leftwing Twitter went nuts, as the Clintonitess and Bernie Bros lashed out at one another. The SJWs called the Marxians racist, the Marxians called the SJWs corporate tools who know nothing of poverty. Some contributed to the debate by claiming that the debate itself is pointless. Here are some highlights:

You won’t be liberated by reading Jacobin, considering they aren’t welling to give black People a seat at the table. — Michael (@mroberholt) January 6, 2017

finally read the @jacobinmag safety pin piece…it’s internecine bicker trash preoccupied with online beef instead of organizing strategy — video has no sound (@Liamjsm) January 6, 2017

I swear Jacobin are the provocateurs – the breitbart of the left – nonsense. — Michael (@mroberholt) January 5, 2017

@jacobinmag Dismissing identity politics as ‘liberal’ is popular with white leftists who view class struggle in a white or American context. — Samiyah Amatullah (@rainhasdrops) January 5, 2017

@smoothkobra my dislike of jacobin gets closer to how much I dislike breitbart daily — los raiders 12 y 4 (@zayumbk) January 5, 2017

The white nationalists who said Jacobin white socialists could be converted to their side as “race realists” were right those kids are trash https://t.co/21VpDVKigU — Marcus H. Johnson (@smoothkobra) January 5, 2017

In fact it’s ingenuous how the piece finds a way to blame poc for nazis. Much like certain Jacobin editors do. (Yes I know it’s by a woc) — C. Rose (@ceerosewater) January 5, 2017



[“poc” means “people of color,” “woc” means “woman of color”]

@jacobinmag Liberals are annoying, but jesus fucking Christ, the people you’re comparing us to are fucking literal nazis — Mantaur Fan (@MantaurFan) January 5, 2017

Someone spent 4,000+ words arguing “black people are the real racists” and Jacobin published it lmao https://t.co/9Mx9L0yxth — Sam Pritchard ? (@thucydiplease) January 5, 2017

[“lmao” means “laughing my ass off”]

Love the way liberal critiques of white racism, like this by @resnikoff, depend on/reinforce a racist worldview. https://t.co/puY2cquIzy pic.twitter.com/uG2U2uC4Wb — Doug Henwood (@DougHenwood) January 5, 2017

@Trillburne Mook and Podesta are already strategizing on how to pick up the AmRen crossover vote for the Bloomberg/Manchin 2020 campaign — Dan Helton (@ch1kpee) January 5, 2017

“There wouldn’t be racists if minorities weren’t obsessed with race” is that rare take you can find at Jacobin, NYT, *and* National Review. — Osita Nwanevu (@OsitaNwanevu) January 5, 2017

My turn of phrase may have even caught on because of all this:

@micahuetricht @jacobinmag I believe the name for it is “anti-anti-white”. You acknowledge social injustice but prefer to focus on economics — Jung Hegelian (@JUANBANE) January 6, 2017

Jamelle Bouie, a black Slate writer and one of the most anti-white writers in the country, loved the Think Progress piece:

Erudite and provocative essay from @resnikoff on the rise (or rise again) of white populism in American politics. https://t.co/vnHUsDWcQv — Jamelle Bouie (@jbouie) January 5, 2017

“[T]he truth is American politics no longer has a center. Politicians either side with white populism or they don’t.” https://t.co/MveywYOyQm — Jamelle Bouie (@jbouie) January 5, 2017

Safety Pins & Swastikas??? This @jacobinmag piece is a fucking mess. Intellectual dishonesty is so disappointing, but predictable — ford Boldemort (@DecolonialBoy) January 5, 2017

takes a great mind to use the resurgence of far-right populism as an excuse to punch left https://t.co/vBTg9rt1oQ — Sarah Jones (@onesarahjones) January 5, 2017

Only kind of economic violence Ned can imagine is a rate hike & not unemployment, losing healthcare, eviction etc pic.twitter.com/mZTHn7Xvj3 — Connor Kilpatrick❄️ (@ckilpatrick) January 6, 2017

Some folks noted the pathetic disunity of it all:

Read pieces in Jacobin and ThinkProgress equating center libs and leftists respectively w/ the alt right, glad Trump brought us all together — Steven Moore (@stevenm92) January 5, 2017