Out of all the buzzwords online and in the culture wars, I understand “identity politics” the least. I know it has a basis in theory but it seems like every individual person has their own definition of what it means. Chuds use it basically interchangeably with “woke”, libs use it as a cudgel against marginalized groups who call them out on their moderate-fascist bullshit, and for a while I was under the impression that it was a nonsense term only used by our enemies.
But I see leftists here and in the wild using the term and I lack a theoretical understanding of its meaning and what phenomenon exactly it’s describing.
To me, identity politics is intersectionality without material analysis. It often manifests as someone uses identity as a shield against criticism. Israelis use Judaism this way. Non-white liberals use it as a way to reject anti-capitalism, and non-white radlibs use it as an excuse to be “anti-authoritarian.” I see this a lot with queer rad/liberals as well. White, cis leftists tend to overcorrect and reject intersectional analysis and live up to ancestral crackerdom, but it doesn’t excuse the use of one’s identity as a way to reject accountability.
This is now my favorite way of putting this lmao