A Free Left Blog

This article follows a long Twitter discussion initiated by Sandy Starr, relating Kenan Malik’s review  of Eric Kaufmann’s fascinating new book Whiteshift to the debate we had on my book  at the Battle of Ideas in London on 13 th October. 'The real problem, however, is not that the notion of white identity is racist but that it is meaningless.' @kenanmalik responds to @epkaufm 's #Whiteshift in @ObserverUK . Relevant to recent #BattleOfIdeas debate between @bencobley / @cricri42 / @_HelenDale . https://t.co/xs5ND6W3aF — Sandy Starr (@sandystarr0) 21 October 2018 In this thread, Kenan linked to another article of his, entitled ‘Not all Politics is Identity Politics’ a beautifully-written piece in which he presents his critique of identity politics and through which I could see some avenues to explore the differences with mine. Firstly, it’s probably worth explaining where we agree. Kenan is a critic of identity politics, and from the left. As he sa...

When we hear activists talk about how we or they or some particular people have 'a right' to something, it can sound a little perplexing. On one hand, it sounds nice that people have a right to the good things of life, like security, freedom, material reward and the rest. But on the other the word, 'right', serves rather like a hammer, nailing down something, making it secure, which means taking away elements of doubt, of contest - of politics in other words. After all, a right is an entitlement . It moves the situation from one where the good things of life are up for grabs based on such things as hard work, ethical behaviour, greed, ambition and political power - and secures those goods from such contingencies. Political power is entrenched in a right. Any hard work can be considered done, ethical behaviour is put to one side and the human, all too human qualities of greed and ambition no longer need to be considered. In other words a human right accords a legal...