Archive of Asad Haider

Asad Haider and Rafael Khachaturian discuss emancipation and marxism, from the Sanders campaign to a new autonomous movement against state racism and repression. 

The debates that arise from discussions of “cancel culture” recall the classical arguments in political thought over freedom of expression, despite the fact that the substance of these arguments is almost never examined. We should look at them more closely, however, because they raise fundamental questions about how we should act politically and what constitutes a good society.

This critique of identity is absolutely and emphatically not a proposal that race should be put second or waved away. It is an insistence on recognizing the material reality of race as a social relation, and forming a more adequate theoretical understanding of it that can be useful for struggles against racism.

The experiences of 1968 show us that it is possible to organize against racism as part of the structure of American capitalism — and to join together projects of street protest, popular education, workplace struggle, and political organization.

Today we must remember Heather Heyer and all those who left their homes in the morning to fight for justice, knowing that they might not come back. These people are never angels or saints. They are ordinary people, like you and me. Their refusal could not be silenced.