One of my friends is very proud to have been arrested during a BLM riot. Flash bangs, tear gas, all that. Now he brings it up as some sort of arguing point: "YEA WELL WHERE WERE YOU?"
So they all got arrested and had to stay outside all night while being held. Today im talking to him and he claims they changed alot. He brought up "all those convictions" but only one cop was convicted last year while over 200 were killed. Then he mentioned Aubery who was murdered in Alabama, but they were private citizens not cops, and there was literally video of the murder. Naturally he didn't seem to take that fact well.
Defunding didnt happen much either. Is this just a liberal brain trying to convince themselves theyve done something useful? Because nothing really changed after they dragged Bernie away either.
if it helps, they also think only red fascism has existed and theres never been a successful communist country.
struggles are always on-going with an ebb and a flow. the victories those protests made were rolled back but that's not really the whole story. first, those protests were an expression of class rage and they found outlet and support through a network of tiny protest organizations around the country - medics, de-escalators, marshals, caregivers, etc.; these orgs exist in every city. those orgs got an influx of new members and much needed cash. that's not a small permanent gain. it means that the next time things heat up, our organizations are better suited to being a vehicle for the expression of that rage. a lot of the failures of the movement in '20 came down to the fact that the vast majority of the people on the streets had literally just joined the left and consequently lacked all political education. now anarchist & MLM orgs are each talking about how to do political education, so the influx of new people doesn't cause the same collapse in energy we saw last time.
so no, I don't think just being there and getting arrested is worth pride. but there's a lot of good work and sorely needed fresh blood that came out of 2020.
That's a great way to put it. I'm too doomer and see the negative in everything.