The vast majority of people are not militant, acts of terror will never win the hearts and minds of the public. At best they would galvanize public opinion and most likely undermine the movement. There have been arms shipments blocked from other countries to Israel, and as I can recall, only by unions. A form of solidarity I've rarely seen promoted, from either labor power or social justice. As people become more conscious, I would stress the importance of the intersection between labor power and social justice. To the extent that our tax dollars have paid for genocide, that is far less of a factor than our labor input. I do not think there will ever be a sudden mass movement or a general worker strike organized socially, it will be one union at a time that refuses to enable the regime to commit acts of violence. Only after unions have shown their power to organize for social justice multiple times would a general worker strike be possible.
It’s honestly been really frustrating to see this kind of dismissive infighting amongst the left. Just like with what you were talking about with the Bernie and AOC rallies invoking that energy and spirit within working people, movements have to start somewhere and skipping steps just ends up being counterproductive and ultimately, like you were saying, counterrevolutionary. I really liked your point about us not cannibalizing each other — that just plays right into the ruling class’s hand and is exactly what they hope to achieve with the division they perpetually sew amongst the masses.
Protests provide everyday working people the opportunity to begin their individual journeys of tapping into their revolutionary spirit. If anything, we should be empowering those efforts even further, not casting them aside as being “useless” or “ineffective”. Brick by brick, the movement is built, and a large part of that is providing the path for people to get involved and find their revolutionary voice and self.
It’ll take a monumental effort to establish true class consciousness amongst working people here, but it’s possible if we allow ourselves to take those steps and make way for that consciousness to grow and progress.
Another fantastic read as always Scarlet and thank you for always being a positive voice for the moments we collectively face.
Found this when you linked it on your more recent note on showing up to No Kings. Not only as you mention that the people who show up to a protest have only demonstrated that they are willing to show up to a protest, but for those questioning why one is often walking by empty buildings, those able to show up to a protest after work have not necessarily demonstrated that they will show up in the middle of the day.
One idea I have had while organizing is trying to set up a conveyor belt that meets people where they are at and then gives people further opportunities to grow their revolutionary spirit and skills. Rallies are not the only thing you can have at the start of the conveyor belt, nor are they my favorite of the options, but anything you put there is going to feel useless (bc it has to be small enough that you can ask a non-radicalized stranger to do) but is in reality still extremely necessary.
It can be frustrating not knowing if the start of the conveyor belt you are engaging with leads very far, wanting to extend the conveyor belt further, and build up revolutionary habits so that way you are prepared to sieze opportunites that come. But even building the conveyor belt out, you are building with the materials and opportunities you have on hand
Counterpoint: Publicly naming specific revolutionary groups and their plans might not be the most helpful thing to do when the state has begun disappearing people.
Well, I think anyone organizing in secret would certainly know who they themselves are. That said, you're absolutely right that there needs to be public-facing education. Me personally, I'm in the middle of reading Capital right now and I plan to talk about it as publicly as possible afterward.
The vast majority of people are not militant, acts of terror will never win the hearts and minds of the public. At best they would galvanize public opinion and most likely undermine the movement. There have been arms shipments blocked from other countries to Israel, and as I can recall, only by unions. A form of solidarity I've rarely seen promoted, from either labor power or social justice. As people become more conscious, I would stress the importance of the intersection between labor power and social justice. To the extent that our tax dollars have paid for genocide, that is far less of a factor than our labor input. I do not think there will ever be a sudden mass movement or a general worker strike organized socially, it will be one union at a time that refuses to enable the regime to commit acts of violence. Only after unions have shown their power to organize for social justice multiple times would a general worker strike be possible.
It’s honestly been really frustrating to see this kind of dismissive infighting amongst the left. Just like with what you were talking about with the Bernie and AOC rallies invoking that energy and spirit within working people, movements have to start somewhere and skipping steps just ends up being counterproductive and ultimately, like you were saying, counterrevolutionary. I really liked your point about us not cannibalizing each other — that just plays right into the ruling class’s hand and is exactly what they hope to achieve with the division they perpetually sew amongst the masses.
Protests provide everyday working people the opportunity to begin their individual journeys of tapping into their revolutionary spirit. If anything, we should be empowering those efforts even further, not casting them aside as being “useless” or “ineffective”. Brick by brick, the movement is built, and a large part of that is providing the path for people to get involved and find their revolutionary voice and self.
It’ll take a monumental effort to establish true class consciousness amongst working people here, but it’s possible if we allow ourselves to take those steps and make way for that consciousness to grow and progress.
Another fantastic read as always Scarlet and thank you for always being a positive voice for the moments we collectively face.
Found this when you linked it on your more recent note on showing up to No Kings. Not only as you mention that the people who show up to a protest have only demonstrated that they are willing to show up to a protest, but for those questioning why one is often walking by empty buildings, those able to show up to a protest after work have not necessarily demonstrated that they will show up in the middle of the day.
One idea I have had while organizing is trying to set up a conveyor belt that meets people where they are at and then gives people further opportunities to grow their revolutionary spirit and skills. Rallies are not the only thing you can have at the start of the conveyor belt, nor are they my favorite of the options, but anything you put there is going to feel useless (bc it has to be small enough that you can ask a non-radicalized stranger to do) but is in reality still extremely necessary.
It can be frustrating not knowing if the start of the conveyor belt you are engaging with leads very far, wanting to extend the conveyor belt further, and build up revolutionary habits so that way you are prepared to sieze opportunites that come. But even building the conveyor belt out, you are building with the materials and opportunities you have on hand
Well said!
Counterpoint: Publicly naming specific revolutionary groups and their plans might not be the most helpful thing to do when the state has begun disappearing people.
Well, I think anyone organizing in secret would certainly know who they themselves are. That said, you're absolutely right that there needs to be public-facing education. Me personally, I'm in the middle of reading Capital right now and I plan to talk about it as publicly as possible afterward.