Check out the interview here
In this episode of the It’s Going Down podcast, we speak with Noel Ignatiev, long time organizer, author, and theorist. Ignatiev spent 20 years working in a steel factory while also being involved in the influential group, the Sojourner Truth Organization (STO). Building off the ideas of W.E.B. Du Bois and CLR James, STO built on a critique of white supremacy as a cross-class relationship that blindsided poor and working-class whites with “white skin privilege,” hindering the possibility of multi-racial working-class action.
In the 1990s, Ignatiev expanded these ideas in the journal Race Traitor and also the book, How the Irish Became White, which explores the process and forces at play which integrated migrant workers into whiteness in the United States.
Throughout the interview with discuss Ignatiev’s work with the STO, his theoretical development with Theodore Allen, who authored The Invention of the White Race, the concept of “abolishing whiteness,” and his view of current and contemporary struggles.
Finally listened to “It’s Going Down” podcast. Very impressive interview with Noel Ignatiev. It is fluid, it informs, and may even change mindsets… Ignatiev’s thought process and those who inform and affirm it (CLR James, Marx…), may have rightfully earned him the designation of “one of the most dangerous minds…” I would prefer to designate his among the most beautiful and yes, revolutionary. Nothing he has said or implied in this interview sounds dangerous to me, however. It just makes sense.
His innate sensibilities toward the downtrodden and working class, regardless of designation, brings to mind the parable of Lazarus, a story told by Jesus in the Gospel of Luke (Luke 16:19-31). It tells of an unnamed rich man, Dives (Latin for rich) and a poor beggar named Lazarus. Rich old Dives slighted the beggar Lazarus and got his desserts for doing so.
The Story has a great sense of fair play which is not much on evidence in today’s world. A perennial tale of haves and have nots, the dire consequences of greed and selfishness, to the extent 99% of the wealth. Yet, the majority population BEGS for a living wage, notwithstanding the fact federal minimum is <$8/hr. Absurd!
The Lyrics to one arrangement, Diverus a Lazarus, conclude:
"𝄆 If I were alive again,
In the space of one half hour, I would make my peace secure, And take the devil's power. 𝄇
My initial prediction in these economic climate was that rural whites would ultimately loose footing and return to urban centers where their true identity would better approximate the harsh reality of urban life, enough so to dash their fears and unite themselves in the struggle. Instead, no longer able to afford their homes, they have taken a detour, an escape route in trailers, guided by Amazon jobs while on the road. I don't presume the trailers will hold up nor will $15/hr be sufficient to continue the trend…😎