The protests changed me in a lot of ways. One way was, I was by no means a class reductionist before. But the protests really woke me up to the real struggles of oppressed communities in the US and importantly, the revolutionary potential in those communities. I remember listening to Rev Left in my car and had to pull over for a minute to absorb it when Breht said something to the effect of "what did white socialists in America ever give us?! Bernie Sanders!? Fuck that! The real revolutionary potential is with oppressed communities."
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I was pretty disappointed with the way things played out in my town. I showed up to protest and was ready for tear gas, rubber bullets, etc, and while I was thankful that none of those tactics were deployed, I was frustrated that we never gave the pigs the slightest reason. To be absolutely clear, I'm not advocating for adventurism or needlessly endangering your comrades - I just think that a protest without agitation is more performance than politics. And of course, nothing changed as a result.
With that said, I'm extremely proud of some of our comrades around the country!