Back

Noteworthy excerpts

Story 1: The Americanization of Marxism

To understand this phenomenon, we must trace the evolution of Marxism in Europe and its arrival in America. This new Americanized version is fomenting and spreading from the US to the rest of the world, including, with devastating impact, India.

While most Americans have disdained Marxism throughout history, Marxist thought is, however, at the very core of American academic institutions, thinktanks, and powerful NGOs. It is not being called Marxism, as that has negative connotations; rather, it comes camouflaged within a powerful movement to dismantle systemic racism. At the heart of it, though, it is just old wine in a new bottle. In fact, America has become the global hub for developing and propagating this latest manifestation of Marxism.

The new paradigm known as Critical Race Theory began with good intentions – to fight against the injustices suffered by Black Americans at the hands of White Americans. But in its merger with Marxism and Postmodernism, Critical Race Theory is on a dangerous trajectory towards a similar destructive impact that Communism and other Marxist experiments caused worldwide. It shares many Marxist principles:

  • Critical Race Theory adopts the Marxist dialectic that society must be divided into oppressors and oppressed.
  • Because all the discourse was created by the bourgeoisie (European ruling elites, now substituted with White Americans), it has been a hegemonic narrative that serves the oppressor. Therefore, a new counter-hegemony must be developed to topple that.
  • The prevailing established order (thesis) must be attacked by launching a counter-movement (anti-thesis) with such intensity that both get destroyed. Unless and until the old structures are demolished, all social reforms merely perpetuate the old establishment. This clash must be violent and without compromise. Only then can a new social order emerge.
  • All friendly negotiations and attempts to reform the system are flawed because they end up being within the old hegemonic narrative and its rules of engagement. Therefore, open dialog is a bad idea. In fact, freedom to think and speak must be curtailed to create the counter-hegemony, i.e., a new biased discourse to respond to the old bias. This intolerance is reminiscent of the Soviet dictator, Stalin. It is present in Critical Race Theory in the form of Cancel Culture that has spread across American campuses and society.
  • The destruction of the established order can only be achieved by extreme intolerance, including the use of violence. ...

… Ironically, most traditional Leftist thinkers that define themselves in terms of some combination of Marxism, Postmodernism, and Liberalism, have not come to terms with the fact that Critical Race Theory contradicts their fundamental premises. In other words, there is a serious clash within the Leftist camp. The Old Left is being challenged by the New Left that has emerged out of CRT........

Critical Race Theory gained mainstream visibility in the aftermath of the recent Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement when longstanding police brutality against Blacks came to light in a manner that was no longer ignorable. These events catalyzed CRT into an important discourse in the media, in schools, and at the workplace.


We believe that while these goals are laudable and the problems confronted are real, some of the methods of redress are ultimately problematic and more destructive than constructive.

A major premise of Critical Race Theory is that rights must be fought, not by individuals for individuals, but by groups for their members. This is an important shift from classical Liberalism where rights are as individual citizens and not as group identities. But in CRT, the social position of a collective identity determines the privilege or oppression of all its members. This is not about any individual but the way one’s collective identity is categorized and operates in
society.

As an example, former US president, Barack Obama, was a classical Liberal who did not want to create conflict by dismantling the old institutional structures. He wanted to get justice for Blacks within the framework of modern institutions, and not by dismantling them. Obama did not want to play identity politics that would pit Blacks against Whites. He sought unity as the way forward and was against creating rupture.

In his public speeches, Obama frequently advocated for societal integration through the pursuit of color-blindness; he specifically refused to concede that American society and institutions were irrevocably and irredeemably racist. Of course, as the first Black president of the United States, he was perhaps constrained by his unique position in history and the need to bridge the gap between White and Black citizens. However, he consistently articulated a thoughtful, constructive, and inspiring vision on creating a more just and united country. His vision needs to be appreciated while understanding and analyzing Critical Race Theory’s contrasting position.

Obama’s position on color-blindness represents classical Liberalism. The Liberal ideal has been that opportunities must not prefer one race over another, and injustices must be eliminated irrespective of race, i.e., a color-blind policy. Critical Race Theory complains that color-blindness allows a status quo in which the injustices continue. To dismantle racism, one must bring what amounts to reverse-discrimination.

Another key difference is that Liberals espouse equal opportunities whereas Critical Race Theory demands equal outcomes. According to the former principle, every individual must get equal opportunities, and outcomes are then determined based on merit. This is in line with the American ideal of meritocracy, also espoused by Obama. But Critical Race Theory states that the equal opportunity system is rigged because it produces unequal outcomes. This view ignores the fact that many factors including individual competence and pure luck, play a part in unequal outcomes. Critical Race Theory’s goal is ‘equity’, which means equal out comes. This is being demanded in all areas including college admissions, corporate and government jobs, and even math exam results.

Meritocracy, on an objective basis, is rejected because it fails to produce equal outcomes. The diversity of experiences from different identities is considered more valuable. Traditional ideas of hard work and merit, and traditional systems of rewards are called into question by Critical Race Theory.


Critical Race Theory projects the Black American experience of racial discrimination as the universal lens applicable to racism and other prejudices in all the cultures of the world. We disagree. While in the US, the White/Black dichotomy is relevant to represent the oppressor/oppressed, the circumstances in other cultures can be more complex and multipolar.......

Excerpts