College of Political Knowledge
Subject: Political Philosophy/Activism/
The original title of this post was to be “Academics vs Activist”…….there is a wide divide in the political field between academics (intellectuals) and activists….and this is my attempt to rectify that divide (wish me luck)…….
Years ago when I was much younger I was asked to participate in a scholars conference on the campus of the Univ. of Louisville….I was asked because I had lectured on the shortcomings in the theory of non-violent action….I was not a big hit because most of the academics that were there were big admirers of Gandhi, King, et al….and thought that they had changed the world…my point was that these people set stuff into motion but it was the people that actually made their goals happen…I take nothing away from those that I criticized…… very brave and influential people…..anyway I was asked simply because even though I was educated I worked at blue collar jobs and the panel wanted a different perspective and I was introduced as a “blue collar intellectual”…at first I was uneasy with that title but as the conference moved along I became rather fond of it……I really got a hateful reception when I accused my fellow panel members of neglect…..I said that NO change will come from the bottom up because the academics and intellectuals talk to each other and not the people….they spend their time writing and talking with colleagues, using terminology that the average person has No idea what they are talking about….and because of that disconnect the average person basically ignores them as much as possible…..and that most people do not walking around with a Thesaurus in their pockets……..as you can see….I was not that popular of a speaker (but I got over it)……and after years and years of research and activism….not much has changed….the people still do not understand much of what the so-called intellectuals have to say…..Intellectuals and academics seem to lack passion, they have plenty to say in their writings, but they lack the fire of passion for what they say or write….and there is the major disconnect they have with the people they try to influence……
This can be changed if we go to a tool used in the past to communicate ideas and techniques…..it was called “Republic Of Letters”…..I know….huh?
The “Republic of Letters” (Respublica Literarum), a term apparently coined by the humanist Francesco Barbaro in 1417, was first intended to designate the community of early modern scholars who restored the ancient “Orators, Poets, Historians, Astronomers, and Grammarians” who would otherwise have been lost forever; but the term later encompassed other writers in the emergent public sphere of early modern Europe. Also connected to the term was the international network of the European university, which was a basically ecclesiastical foundation, but which, through the faculties of arts and law, contributed also to a large secular intelligentsia.
Since academics have NO idea how to talk to activists…..and activist think the intellectuals are overpaid wind bags…..how does the theory get down to the public? The average person is the only way a theory comes to reality and if academics cannot accurately convey the idea….how will it become reality?
This is where the “Republic of Letters” comes into play, with some minor adjustments……..academics and activists come together through correspondence to talk about theories and ways to make them work……actually we have that….the problem is that it is used to rate records or gossip or other mundane issues…….in today’s world it is called…..”blogging”…….
Political bloggers are doing their part to make political theory work…..whether I agree with their premise or not……it is a free exchange of ideas and issues……and that free exchange can bridge the gap between academia and activism…..but to make it work all need to agree that all logical avenues are acceptable and need to be talked about, worked on and finally implemented……
I have always supported the exchanges between the intellectuals and the activists…..sadly to say….not all my fellow politics feel the same way…….and that divide will prevent any and all rational discourse to succeed….we need to work together in a new “Republic of Letters”.
