Ash Sarkar is right to point out that the left’s sanctimony has alienated sections of the working class (The left keeps getting identity politics wrong – and the right is benefiting from that, 3 March). The young adults I teach include white working- and middle-class boys, and also girls, who struggle to find purpose, place and pride in their identity.
In this increasingly atomised society, many of us have lost our allegiances to broad groups and seek to define our identities in ever-shrinking niches. And in unsafe times, belonging becomes so high-stakes that to be cast from the group for some perceived infringement is terrifying. The need we all have to feel a sense of belonging battles with the desire to be seen for “who you really are”. But the truth is that knowing “who you really are” is your life’s work, and to solidify that in your young adult phase is restrictive and damaging.
We have lost the broad and safe spaces in which we can explore, listen, grow, play with ideas and change our minds. Now, with the well-meant support of our peers and carers, we declare our team, nail our colours to the mast and unfortunately paint ourselves into corners. When a question can lead to expulsion from the group, we lose our own viewpoints. The only way to counter disagreement is to ridicule and shut down others.
How do we form broad, inclusive and safe alliances to replicate those we have lost? We need alliances where we share values but can tolerate a range of views that we may sometimes find uncomfortable, where we can explore challenging ideas and develop true resilience, rather than groups that exclude, cancel, reduce and alienate – ironically and tragically in the name of inclusion.
Deborah O’Connor
London
• Thank you, Ash Sarkar, for such a timely analysis. Focusing on identity politics only benefits the right, as all it does is set us against each other. Rather than help us discover our shared interests and concerns, it atomises us into competing groups. Identity politics is a trap set by the right, and the left walked straight into it. It’s time to focus on what we have in common and forge a new class politics.
Francis Hanly
London
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