Thanks to BlogHer's Crafts editor Deb Roby, I heard about a recent kerfuffle in the seemingly utopian world of Etsy, the place to buy and sell all things handmade.
See, once upon a time a group of Etsy seller created a Team called
Craftivism. Etsy Teams are self-formed and can be formed around all sorts of commonalities. In this case Craftivism wrote this mission:
The Etsy Craftivism Team is a team of progressive Etsyans who believe that craft and art can change the world. Some of us use our work to carry messages of protest and political activism. Others believe that the act of making craft can be an act of resistance. Still others see that by buying and selling directly from the maker we are challenging the all pervasive corporate culture that promotes profit over people.
The question is: What does that all mean...politically?
You may ask: Crafts? Political? What?
Well, yes. Crafts. Political. And the politics of it had some repercussions. Julie from Crafting a Green World
describes the controversy when the Team organizers casually mentioned that the Team was politically liberal. Turns out, not so much. Some of the team members were not liberal, and felt compelled to quit the team subsequent to discovering they'd been lured into a liberal hotbed. Julie's post is also worth reviewing because one of those team organizers comments and tells her side of the story.
And Treehugger weighs in
here.
I have to say that I can understand that the mission statement above and the day to day activities of the Team may not have been overtly, explicitly, politically liberal, but check that mission statement again, please.
"Progressive"
"Protest"
"Resistance"
"Pervasive Corporate Culture"
These are not politically neutral words. They are typically identified with leftist principles.
Look, I actually think it's a good idea to really be a big tent. BlogHer, for example is non-partisan (or, we like to say, omni-partisan) and while many think that there is something inherently liberal about what we do, we do believe
the mission to create opportunities for women, including for economic empowerment, is a mission that can serve all women bloggers, regardless of political affiliation. We can share a lot of similar values and work for similar change, even if we don't agree politically all the time.
Right?
So, given the Craftivism kerfuffle, let's ask the same question about the Green movement. Is it politically liberal? Can one be a conservative environmentalist? When you meet someone into the eco-movement, do you assume you know their politics?
I kinda do, I confess. Even though I know
Nixon gets some props for his environmental actions. What about you?
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