If the White House gets taken over and burned down, can we safely call this a full blown revolution? I mean, DC is already burning...At the slightest opportunity, that shits getting swamped by protestors.We are living within arm’s length of the unimaginable.— Revolutionary Left Radio (@RevLeftRadio) June 1, 2020
Agreed, the protests are still confused and the liberal identity politics narrative still dominates.
Class consciousness seems to not have developed sufficiently and many of the protests are being lead by liberal activists. Maybe many will develop class consciousness after the protests fail to get any changes
It is also still possible for the USA to stabilize itself with expanding welfare spending, such as if Sleepy Joe actually implements a diluted version of Crazy Bernie’s programs, as he occasionally hints in a no-promises way
? I think you seem to be confused here. What is meant here by liberal IDpol narrative? The protests from the get-go were never about socialist revolution, but rather black lives. You seem to be insinuating that this was somehow about demanding socialism at the start and then people started making it about black lives. At best, it’s anti-capitalist and not pro-socialist.
Now, this is not to say that the protests aren’t targeting capitalism. They are but not in the way you seem to think since you brought up welfare spending for some odd reason about protests that have very little to do with the economic crisis on its face. There doesn’t seem to be a 1%/99% nominally class-based rhetoric going on in these protests.
OK, so one thing I’ve seen pop up frequently on Twitter is abolition of the police so that they can’t threaten black lives. Now, for us sly folks on a communist forum who know the function of the state, we also happen to know what this means ultimately: breaking one of the arms that uphold capitalist relations, that is, breaking the ability to enforce property claims at the heart of the system. This is the really exciting demand and yes, the liberals are already trying to distort the meaning of the word ‘abolition’ since they know, whether consciously or not, of the implicit threat to property rights.
Of course, all that I’ve written so far is premised on the accuracy of what I see on left twitter. I’m not on the ground at any of these protests. If you are, maybe you can correct me.
Other capitalist nations increased welfare spending and most people have been happy to stay at home due to the pandemic. It makes it easier to isolate the protests
In a few months more people will run out of money and the USA will risk falling into deeper crisis. Many corporations likely going bankrupt etc etc. so it would be wise of them to increase welfare payments
Also, they wont abolish the police. As you said - property rights. They have “abolished” the Minneapolis PD, which means the area will be taken care of by another PD.
At most, there will be some commitment to “ethical” policing
3: Remember Week 1 of protests - much property damage and looting of shops, with some expressions of disillusionment with economic system
Identity politics as a containment strategy: Identity politics reimagines racism and sexism without its economic and societal context. Discrimination is seen as due to individual choices. The system can be fixed by getting more minority representation in the leadership.
After the first few days, liberal identity politics activists (Democrats and other associates) gained control over the protests and directed them toward making limited demands, such as prosecution of the police officers, commitment to ethical policing, increased minority representation in government and blaming Dotard for everything. These demands do not threaten the ruling classes in any way.
As a result, when these limited demands are met, and Dotard is voted out and possibly imprisoned, protesters will feel like they have won, when in fact they have gained very little.
Agreed, the protests are still confused and the liberal identity politics narrative still dominates.
Class consciousness seems to not have developed sufficiently and many of the protests are being lead by liberal activists. Maybe many will develop class consciousness after the protests fail to get any changes
It is also still possible for the USA to stabilize itself with expanding welfare spending, such as if Sleepy Joe actually implements a diluted version of Crazy Bernie’s programs, as he occasionally hints in a no-promises way
? I think you seem to be confused here. What is meant here by liberal IDpol narrative? The protests from the get-go were never about socialist revolution, but rather black lives. You seem to be insinuating that this was somehow about demanding socialism at the start and then people started making it about black lives. At best, it’s anti-capitalist and not pro-socialist.
Now, this is not to say that the protests aren’t targeting capitalism. They are but not in the way you seem to think since you brought up welfare spending for some odd reason about protests that have very little to do with the economic crisis on its face. There doesn’t seem to be a 1%/99% nominally class-based rhetoric going on in these protests.
OK, so one thing I’ve seen pop up frequently on Twitter is abolition of the police so that they can’t threaten black lives. Now, for us sly folks on a communist forum who know the function of the state, we also happen to know what this means ultimately: breaking one of the arms that uphold capitalist relations, that is, breaking the ability to enforce property claims at the heart of the system. This is the really exciting demand and yes, the liberals are already trying to distort the meaning of the word ‘abolition’ since they know, whether consciously or not, of the implicit threat to property rights.
Of course, all that I’ve written so far is premised on the accuracy of what I see on left twitter. I’m not on the ground at any of these protests. If you are, maybe you can correct me.
Other capitalist nations increased welfare spending and most people have been happy to stay at home due to the pandemic. It makes it easier to isolate the protests
In a few months more people will run out of money and the USA will risk falling into deeper crisis. Many corporations likely going bankrupt etc etc. so it would be wise of them to increase welfare payments
Also, they wont abolish the police. As you said - property rights. They have “abolished” the Minneapolis PD, which means the area will be taken care of by another PD.
At most, there will be some commitment to “ethical” policing
3: Remember Week 1 of protests - much property damage and looting of shops, with some expressions of disillusionment with economic system
Identity politics as a containment strategy: Identity politics reimagines racism and sexism without its economic and societal context. Discrimination is seen as due to individual choices. The system can be fixed by getting more minority representation in the leadership.
After the first few days, liberal identity politics activists (Democrats and other associates) gained control over the protests and directed them toward making limited demands, such as prosecution of the police officers, commitment to ethical policing, increased minority representation in government and blaming Dotard for everything. These demands do not threaten the ruling classes in any way.
As a result, when these limited demands are met, and Dotard is voted out and possibly imprisoned, protesters will feel like they have won, when in fact they have gained very little.