The universal part is powerful

Raphaël Glucksmann's "Lettre à la génération qui va tout changer" is a very exciting read. It made me feel very connected to younger generations and the possibility of change. It also highlights how much of a losing proposition identity politics is, with its ultimate reduction of the Republic to individuals and their identities. Effective action --- and indeed the pleasure of being in a Republic, a city --- lies in the universal, not in the individual aspects of citizens. Unity is Powerful.

"'To restore the republic everywhere' is to restore every citizen to the command post in each of us. We are more than men and women, more than rich and poor, more than believers or atheists, more than Christians or Muslims, more than black or white, more than heterosexual or homosexual, more than individual persons: we are citizens. There is a universal part of us that fades away when we don't cultivate it, when we don't regularly make the effort to get out of ourselves".

The Style Council - Walls Come Tumbling Down (Live Aid)