This piece did a wondeful job of not only beginning to give the reader an informed and analytically insightful survey of the alternative politics scene post-9/11, that this Part I in the series covers, but also connecting that survery to the author's ideological journey over that period.
That gives us a nice taste of where he's been, how he got here, and what we might be in for in future pieces. So it also functions as a very cool way of simultaneously 'getting to know the author'
Not to mention, the writing is stylistically clear, concise, and compelling.
Very happy this substack exists and am looking forward to reading Part II of this series!
Thankyou. You nailed my intent here. This is part autobiography, part analysis. I figured the reader may need to be familiarized with my background.
My political journey has been wild and my position has radically shifted over the years, as I traveled out of the conventional libertarian movement and into social anarchism, and then familiarized myself with currents of Marxist thought. Part of why I identify this as being an "independent left" perspective is also because I am not wedded to a camp exactly.
I also like to emphasize that I can critique libertarianism from an insider perspective, which is something that liberal and social dem critics lack. While many of their criticisms may be agreeable enough, a lot of it can be pretty standard talking points, and they frequently aren't privy to the different factions and the devil of the details of the concepts.
This piece did a wondeful job of not only beginning to give the reader an informed and analytically insightful survey of the alternative politics scene post-9/11, that this Part I in the series covers, but also connecting that survery to the author's ideological journey over that period.
That gives us a nice taste of where he's been, how he got here, and what we might be in for in future pieces. So it also functions as a very cool way of simultaneously 'getting to know the author'
Not to mention, the writing is stylistically clear, concise, and compelling.
Very happy this substack exists and am looking forward to reading Part II of this series!
Thank you for your labor Alex Strekal
Thankyou. You nailed my intent here. This is part autobiography, part analysis. I figured the reader may need to be familiarized with my background.
My political journey has been wild and my position has radically shifted over the years, as I traveled out of the conventional libertarian movement and into social anarchism, and then familiarized myself with currents of Marxist thought. Part of why I identify this as being an "independent left" perspective is also because I am not wedded to a camp exactly.
I also like to emphasize that I can critique libertarianism from an insider perspective, which is something that liberal and social dem critics lack. While many of their criticisms may be agreeable enough, a lot of it can be pretty standard talking points, and they frequently aren't privy to the different factions and the devil of the details of the concepts.