The word progressive has an interesting and storied history, and according to this article, in Obama’s victory, the word and its meaning have been snatched back by the left, from the right – who had “stolen” it from them.
For France’s Liberation, Laurent Joffrin writes in part:
“The election of Barack Obama has another meaning just as decisive to our fate. Since the 1980s, the progressives of the planet have been on the defensive. The forces of individualism and money confiscated the very idea of progress. Business and finance, combined with technology and free trade, were the engines of a revolution that shook the planet, changed work habits and transformed the relationships between people. The exuberance of the markets and the energy of individual selfishness have pushed humanity forward without it knowing where it was going. Capitalism, according to Marx’ theory, revolutionized life. Suddenly, the words changed and reform, innovation, audacity and creativity moved to the right. Although the term doesn’t have the same meaning in the United States, and even if Barack Obama, somewhat like the Kennedys, is also a proven politician, centrist in many ways, a tough competitor and able to maneuver, these words have now come back to the left. By a huge margin, without question, Americans wanted to say that this society is too hard on people, that inequality is not the ideal for citizens of globalization, that the Earth is not infinite and indestructible, and that the rich must lose at least some of their arrogance. Progressives had the idea of progress stolen from them. Now they have taken it back.”
By Laurent Joffrin
Translated By Kate Davis
November 6, 2008
France – Liberation – Original Article (French)
The future has changed sides. For over 20 years, the conservatives had a corner on it. They just lost it. We have celebrated the victory of a man who represents the pariahs of American history, the emergence of a messenger of the new century which is mixed, globalized and where the West will no longer be the center of the world.
We had a hundred reasons to feel right. The tears of the Reverend Jesse Jackson, who saw the dream of his mentor Martin Luther King materialize before his brimming eyes, will remain in the memory of all marginalized people. A land of discrimination and relegation, the United States has taken a major step toward redemption.
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