Word: gitlin
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...Over the years, I’ve stored up ruminations, what you could call principles, about how best to be an activist,” Gitlin told The Crimson. “They aren’t things that could be considered political theories or manifestos...
...Gitlin acknowledges that the 1960s, through media, music and the lore of the vocal Boomer generation, has been suspended in time as a glittering era of idealism, collaboration and carnival-like counterculture. The fashion and music of the ’60s remain as ubiquitous now as then. The concrete victories of the Civil Rights Movement and the sexual revolution are, in many ways, routinized into our culture, he says...
According to Gitlin, this movement was characterized by “collectivity and animation,” — qualities that members of social justice movements today should aspire to. Today’s activists “don’t clump” like they used to and are instead divided by varied issues and by identity politics, he says. He warns against the “balkanization of the Left” by too narrow self or group definitions...
...Gitlin, while recognizing the need for racial, ethnic, gender and class groups to work towards greater social equality, maintains his original emphasis on unity. The best way to achieve social equality is “as a citizen, not as one of the persecuted...
...Gitlin also hopes that today’s activists, challenging the status-quo on globalization, protesting war, fighting for living wages and against sweatshops, can find joy and originality in their work. He says he remembers when Jerry Rubin and Abbie Hoffman rained dollar bills down on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange just to see what havoc ensued: “They were not embarrassed by a surfeit...