A brief essay calling into question the class character of Jesse Jackson's political activity
Jesse Jackson's political activity over the past few years, appears, in the view of this author, to have deteriorated, as Jackson becomes richer, better connected with the Democratic Party elite, and less focused on issues of general concern to most real people.
[I use the phrase "real people", rather than ordinary people, or working class people, because as one ascends in the socio-economic hierarchy, one's thoughts become less "real", less connected with the daily realities of most human beings. ]
Jesse Jackson's recent activity in regards to boosting the fortunes of "African American Entrepreneurs" is a troubling trend to many. Although no one doubts that African Americans have been subject to discrimination of the most extreme sort, and that they all deserve a part of the "American Dream", the focus on increasing the wealth of the black entrepreneurial class contributes very little, if anything to social progress, in the eyes of many black workers. Jackson has performed admirably in the past when he sponsored the "Choke on Coke" boycott of Coca Cola to force that company to hire blacks into the upper ranks of management. Nevertheless, Jackson becomes less and less willing to criticize capitalism itself, as time goes on, and more dedicated to simply assuring that a relatively small group of blacks free themselves from oppressive structures of capitalism by becoming oppressors themselves, exploiters of wage slaves. The real task for the progressive activist and thinker should be advance the cause of worker's democracy, people's democratic ownership of the nation's land, economic resources, and financial assets.
Libertarian Socialists, Anarcho-syndicalists, left and anarcho-communists, democratic socialists, Greens, and many other groups are rallying together to stop the corruption of our civil life by a plutocratic social structure. Meanwhile, the Jesse Jackson appears to be spending an inordinate amount of time, engaging in the politics of racial division, enriching a small group of people (it does not matter whether they are white or black), while ignoring the great inequity that exists in the system itself. Jackson should be applauded for his support to the Mumia campaign, which seeks a retrial for a man who is obviously a political prisoner, and an eloquent one at that. Those who are unaware of Mumia's radical critique of the US system should visit www.freespeech. org, and listen to selected speeches.