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 someone tells you: “I am right, and you are wrong,” what are they talking about? Do they mean that they are speaking truth while you are saying things that are not true? Or are they claiming they are doing the right thing while you are doing something wrong? On one hand we have right and wrong as truth and untruth, for example: ‘Barack Obama is President of the United States’, or ‘The Labour Party forms the Government of the United Kingdom’. On the other hand we have right and wrong as judgement. Whether moralistic or practical, this makes claims over what is good and bad; for example: ‘Immigration benefits Britain’ or ‘Gay marriage is wrong’. Sometimes these two meanings overlap, but for the most part they are two completely different conceptions. However we tend to use them interchangeably, mixing them up and confusing them in the process. Gay marriage and immigration are interesting topics on many levels, not least for the way that strongly-held views...