Robbins interrogates claims of privileged and unprivileged statuses, exposing the wealth of the critics of privilege, noting that the working class in a wealthy country can globally be an elite. In the end, he wants money, wherever it came from, put to good causes. I agree. All money should be redirected to good work, if it's done without strings attached. And the good work of protesting injustice should be rewarded. More protesters should be "paid protesters," and we should recognize with Robbins that the notion of an unpaid intellectual was a notion based on hoarded wealth, as the Olympic notion of the unpaid athlete was a notion based on excluding those who needed to be paid if they were going to play at sports all day.
Robbins celebrates student protesters of war. I agree. But I'm less sure of his references to the "responsibility of intellectuals" -- the responsibility of those capable of recognizing a genocide to protest it. Millions of people who've never set foot on a college campus but have access to social media have recognized a genocide. We should be deeply grateful to those who apply their scholarship to their work for peace, but I wouldn't sell anyone short or let anyone off the hook.
RootsAction Education Fund will be holding an online book club on April 1 at 5 p.m. PT / 8 p.m. ET with Bruce Robbins, author of Who's Allowed to Protest? The event is free, but it's up to you to buy the book or borrow it from a friend or library, then show up and ask questions!
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