Ideology is malleable. People aren’t nearly as “axiomatically opposed” to anything as you think they are.
If your organization is already taking direct action (protests, strikes, sit ins, peaceful civil disobedience) then your tactics will naturally escalate as the government becomes more authoritarian. If you pitch extreme tactics now, though, the only people who will join will be the craziest.
You can only make them while they’re vulnerable
They won’t abolish elections all at once. Their strategy for the midterms - or at least what it seems to be - is voter suppression and gerrymandering. Those are powerful tools, don’t get me wrong, but not so powerful that they’re invincible.
Obviously it would have been better to already be organized, but failing that, the best time to organize is now.
People aren’t nearly as “axiomatically opposed” to anything as you think they are.
As history shows, quite a few people will hold onto their flawed worldviews even as everything around them falls apart. It’s entirely plausible for an organization to fail to adapt to changing circumstances and fail miserably at its purpose; it happens all the time.
If your organization is already taking direct action (protests, strikes, sit ins, peaceful civil disobedience) then your tactics will naturally escalate as the government becomes more authoritarian.
Sure, that’s fair, but that only holds if we’re talking about direct action. Direct action and electoral politics are fundamentally different courses, and there’s no guarantee that the latter will escalate into the former. My point is: If you’ll organize, you have to organize around direct action, not elections. Also just in case, protests only count as direct action when they meaningfully obstruct power; otherwise they’re just parades.
Those are powerful tools, don’t get me wrong, but not so powerful that they’re invincible.
True, but what I’m getting at is: What will happen if/when they lose their majority in either house in the midterms? Will they just turn over power? And risk being held accountable for their crimes? Will Trump allow himself to lose his only shot at becoming a fascist dictator? No, they’ll launch a coup and worry about the details later. I think we’ve seen too many Sieg Heils for “it can’t happen here” to still hold water. They’ll launch their coup and there’s frankly very little in America that can stop them right now. Hence, it’ll be up to popular grassroots resistance to do something about it, and the work to make sure such resistance exists starts now, not after the coup is already a done deal. Also, you know, ICE is still kidnapping people off the street and someone also needs to do something about that.
direct action and electoral politics are fundamentally different
I disagree. Are there plenty of people who vote who don’t understand direct action? Sure. But I can’t imagine anyone who really understands direct action isn’t bothering to vote when given a chance to.
I don’t know why this gives leftists so much trouble when the fucking fascists seem to understand it intuitively. Does anyone think the Proud Boys don’t vote? Politics and activism are all pretty seamless to conservatives, don’t see why we can’t seem to grasp it.
What will happen if/when they lose their majority in the midterms? …they’ll launch their coup
Case in point. You have no problems imagining a world in which Republicans are running for office on Tuesday and then planning a coup on Wednesday. Why is it so implausible that we embrace a diversity of tactics to achieve our goals?
the work to make sure such resistance exists starts now
Absolutely. And you can go to the firing range on Monday and then to the ballot box on Tuesday and then plant a community garden Wednesday. Resistance is 90% organization anyways, so if you’re getting to know your neighbors and building a network of people you trust then you’re already most of the way there. If you’re already emphasizing a diversity of tactics then there really is no contradiction in supporting an electoral candidate with one hand and creating an armed resistance with the other.
Ideology is malleable. People aren’t nearly as “axiomatically opposed” to anything as you think they are.
If your organization is already taking direct action (protests, strikes, sit ins, peaceful civil disobedience) then your tactics will naturally escalate as the government becomes more authoritarian. If you pitch extreme tactics now, though, the only people who will join will be the craziest.
They won’t abolish elections all at once. Their strategy for the midterms - or at least what it seems to be - is voter suppression and gerrymandering. Those are powerful tools, don’t get me wrong, but not so powerful that they’re invincible.
Obviously it would have been better to already be organized, but failing that, the best time to organize is now.
As history shows, quite a few people will hold onto their flawed worldviews even as everything around them falls apart. It’s entirely plausible for an organization to fail to adapt to changing circumstances and fail miserably at its purpose; it happens all the time.
Sure, that’s fair, but that only holds if we’re talking about direct action. Direct action and electoral politics are fundamentally different courses, and there’s no guarantee that the latter will escalate into the former. My point is: If you’ll organize, you have to organize around direct action, not elections. Also just in case, protests only count as direct action when they meaningfully obstruct power; otherwise they’re just parades.
True, but what I’m getting at is: What will happen if/when they lose their majority in either house in the midterms? Will they just turn over power? And risk being held accountable for their crimes? Will Trump allow himself to lose his only shot at becoming a fascist dictator? No, they’ll launch a coup and worry about the details later. I think we’ve seen too many Sieg Heils for “it can’t happen here” to still hold water. They’ll launch their coup and there’s frankly very little in America that can stop them right now. Hence, it’ll be up to popular grassroots resistance to do something about it, and the work to make sure such resistance exists starts now, not after the coup is already a done deal. Also, you know, ICE is still kidnapping people off the street and someone also needs to do something about that.
I disagree. Are there plenty of people who vote who don’t understand direct action? Sure. But I can’t imagine anyone who really understands direct action isn’t bothering to vote when given a chance to.
I don’t know why this gives leftists so much trouble when the fucking fascists seem to understand it intuitively. Does anyone think the Proud Boys don’t vote? Politics and activism are all pretty seamless to conservatives, don’t see why we can’t seem to grasp it.
Case in point. You have no problems imagining a world in which Republicans are running for office on Tuesday and then planning a coup on Wednesday. Why is it so implausible that we embrace a diversity of tactics to achieve our goals?
Absolutely. And you can go to the firing range on Monday and then to the ballot box on Tuesday and then plant a community garden Wednesday. Resistance is 90% organization anyways, so if you’re getting to know your neighbors and building a network of people you trust then you’re already most of the way there. If you’re already emphasizing a diversity of tactics then there really is no contradiction in supporting an electoral candidate with one hand and creating an armed resistance with the other.