Identity politics has become a phrase of common currency in recent years, yet it is often painfully, and badly, used. Generally, it is wheeled out in a negative context. Take UK environment minister Michael Gove and Tim Farron , former leader of the Liberal Democrats, for example. Both sought to distance themselves from such thinking in two separate speeches given on the same day earlier this year. Gove said "identitarians" undermine liberal politics, while Farron condemned identity politics as a "poison". In fact, it seems the term is used almost entirely negatively, by people who wish to argue against the concept. However, they rarely stop long enough to adequately, or meaningfully, define the term to a point of usefulness. We should recall George Orwell's remark on the word "fascism" in his essay Politics and the English Language ; that it has come to mean little more than "something not desirable". In this sense, "identity politics" has become the new fascism – or indeed the new centrism, neo-liberalism, Blairism or populism. It is simply shorthand for a concept or idea that you dislike. But underlying each of these terms is something worth clearly identifying and discussing. After all, there is such… Read full this story
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Here’s a better way to think about identity politics have 342 words, post on www.independent.co.uk at June 28, 2018. This is cached page on wBlogs. If you want remove this page, please contact us.