Weaving Together A Tapestry of Generative Themes: Popular Altematives for the 1990s

Abstract

Excerpt

Often, in situations of confusion, debate, and yes, even of collapse it is very convenient to think that we can start anew and just sweep into the so-called "dustbin of history" those things that we believe to be politically inutile. But real life and realpolitik is not a Mills and Boon novel. The popular movement has its own traditions, roots, and currents. Tradition, more than anything else, has a big part in shaping the way we think today. It is the thread that links us to past praxis and theorizing efforts. It influences how we contemporarily conceptualize and do politics. Some of these threads are emotional and affect the level of trust or suspicion that we have on "comrades" whom we debate with; or even influence the kind of alliances and configurations that are created. Other threads are more cerebral and somehow shape the contours of paradigms that we use to frame political and ideological arguments.

But the political and emotional threads remain just threads, disparate until they are woven together into a political and ideological tapestry. Developing a political and ideological alternative is like weaving together a tapestry.