One cannot help but notice just how poorly constructed missives from the House of Race are. The often absurdist content issued by racebots is camouflaged, to the degree possible, by literary misconstructions ranging from the inefficient to the grammatically incorrect. This, I believe, is intentional. Consider this quote from Black Marxism, by Cedric Robinson:
"Historically, the civilization emerging from the western extremities of the Asian/European continent, and whose first signification is a medieval Europe passed with few disjunctions from feudalism as a dominant mode of production to capitalism as the dominant mode of production. And from its very beginnings, this European civilization, containing racial, tribal, linguistic, and regional particularities, was constructed on antagonistic differences."
I read this book decades ago, and I don't know whether Robinson is to blame for this "assault on language and meaning," to use Arundhati Roy's phrase, or whether Lentin mangled the original. In either case, somebody should be embarrassed. "Historically" is redundant; "western extremities of the Asian/Euro' continent" can for the sake of brevity and flow can be charitably reduced to "western Europe"; the word "and" is at best unnecessary; S/he intends to set off the "signification" clause by commas but omits the second; the phrase "from feudalism as a dominant mode of production to capitalism as the dominant mode of production" is painfully redundant and can be mercifully stated as "from feudalism as a dominant mode of production to the capitalist." The "and" which begins the next sentence may not be a blunder necessarily, nevertheless, it serves no analytical purpose; the phrase "containing racial, tribal, linguistic, and regional particularities" would be more appropriately set off by hyphens.
In better English, the quote might read:
"The civilization emerging from western Europe, whose first signification is a medieval Europe, passed with few disjunctions from feudalism as a dominant mode of production to the capitalist. From its very beginnings, this European civilization--containing racial, tribal, linguistic, and regional particularities--was constructed on antagonistic differences."
Now rendered clearly, we can fully see how delusional it is.
Medieval Europe isn't the first signification of the civilization which emerged in w. Europe. In no interpretation of the word "signification" is Robinson's claim true.
Of considerably greater importance, Europe did not pass "with few disjunctions" from feudalism to capitalism. This is absurd. In fact, the greatest disjunction, the most profound disruptions and transformations in the history of our species--with the possible exception of those occasioned by the plow--occurred as a result of this transition. We are all living with the consequences of these apocalyptic disjunctions. To suggest otherwise is a grotesque distortion, and is discrediting irrespective of motive. One has to be a fool's fool or the greatest of all liars to assert such an absurdity. The French Revolution is the largest societal convulsion our species has ever known. In 1789, France threw off its top layer, its ruling class. That had never happened before. Since that moment, the two classes which banished the feudal order in France, have everywhere been at war. Today, intra- and international disputes, with few exceptions, involve struggles between labor and capital. The point of race fetishism, of books like Robinson's, of post-modernism, critical race theory and the like is to obscure this fact. From 1905 to 1975, there were 70 armed attempts at revolution carried out in the name of socialism, and despite the best efforts of the House of Race and its agents, these clashes continue. The disjunctions caused by the emergence of capitalism are the greatest we have ever known. Karl Marx said that capitalism comes to us dripping with blood. He is correct and it is Robinson who suffers from disjunction.
He states that "this European civilization--containing racial, tribal, linguistic, and regional particularities--was constructed on antagonistic differences." All civilizations in their beginnings have racial, tribal, linguistic, and regional particularities, and all are based on antagonistic differences. Hence, this is of no analytical value. It's just empty racemongery.
Lentin's video contains a clip from Robin D. G. Kelley, dutiful assistant curator of the House of Race, in which he mockingly dismisses the idea that capitalists conspire to divide workers. This is noteworthy as before his lucrative lurch to the right, he authored a book entitled Hammer and Hoe in which he states the opposite. Kelley also says that race begins in Europe, which is the premise of Robinson's book, and it too is false.
