It is. It really is, and I'm not just talking about liberals tut tutting about the black block and conservatives fear mongering about planes full of anteeeefas. I'm also talking about anarchists lionizing riots as a tactic and communists discounting the bravery of rioters because they're not organizing.
But: all. of. this. misses. the. point.
The riot is so prominent because it's the only tactic left.
The American left gets most of its tactics from the 60s. Riots, strikes, electoral challenges, and sit ins (now restyled as blockades).
But most of these are impossible now. The modern equivalent to a sit in would be... blocking a cop car? Felony. Mass resisting arrest? Felony. Prison strike? Gets you in lockup.
Strikes are (for most people) out of the question because Reagan decimated the labor movement, and we're still recovering.
Electoral challenges have always been a dead end.
So that leaves rioting. Easy to whip up, easy to get away with, and most of the time is a misdemeanor.
People riot because it's the last tactic we have in our cultural memory that's still accessible.
People are gunning up and making mutual aid networks. This is the birth of a new culture of activism, one that addresses life and death incredibly directly, but it's still nascent. While we build this new culture, riots are all that's left, so whatever you think of them, they're a reality to be navigated, not an action to be analyzed.
Looking forward to new "tactics" as you call them in 2020, I think insurance is a large player that largely didn't exist at the same degree back in the 60's.
Rather than large scale violence, I'd love to see more acts of intentional vandalism of corporate brands, IP, and capital. Coordinated for maximum effect. People these days have such a muffled view toward that kind of destruction because "oh well they have insurance, right?"
A refocus of eco defense tactics & monkey wrenching onto the capitalist behemoth
Eco defense has for sure been the most productive modern reinterpretation of the sit in. Although, I think a lot of modern eco blockades have become ritualized, symbolic and mired in the martyr mentality. Given the ZAD, Standing Rock, Wetsuweten blockade etc. We have to treat them seriously anyway.
In regards to what you're suggesting, Olympia and Oakland in the US have done some good bringing the ZAD model into the city during standing rock and occupy respectively.
Yea for sure, I've been at the oly one good people here.
I should've clarified, the idea of monkey wrenching and tactics described in eco defense can and should be readapted to stymie corporate interests outside the scope of ecological salvation, even though I hold that in high regard.
Utilizing individual & cell based actions that disrupt the corporate interests bottom line tangibly, for as you said larger event become.symbolic.
Like fucking facebook tagging yourself at standing rock, very cringe.
But individuals partaking in acts that maximize impact while minimizing exposure is a way by which the tactics of actual resistance can meet the modern threat.
Essentially guerilla warfare with corporate industry as the target.
I'm talking about minecraft it's a good game
Are you linking me to END:CIV?
Yeah, Jensen is a super mixed bag, but Sub.Media put it together really well so you only get his good side.
It's always bizarre to me how leftists in the US get disillusioned by the disordered nature of riots, while quoting you MLK at some point.
If someone has reached a level of consciousness but still wants to just go out and burn shit down, you could probably make them understand that their efforts would be better geared towards educating themselves more and anyone that's willing to listen, perhaps in the hope that somewhere down the line that education can be used to drive a more revolutionary force.
The conditions for an organized revolution are far different than they were decades and centuries ago. There's a certain reality to how capitalism has led us into a mental paralysis, where the consciousness of the general population hardly ever gets to a point where their movement is going to be collectively oriented towards concrete goals, especially as they relate to socialism. If you go out today and join one of these riots, the mass of people simply aren't going to have a level of consciousness past perhaps something like M4A. Most of them are just disillusioned with no ideological anchor. All they see is warped material priorities, and they act on that feeling.
Honestly, it's hard to even say where these riots will end up. Could be the start of something better, or could be the start of something more sinister. Either way, there's a certain stasis, individually, if you're looking at these riots from a more learned perspective. Best thing would be to amplify whatever you've learned to anyone that's willing to listen, and in this moment, that's probably a lot of people.
a very well formulated comment to a high quality effort post.
Just popping by to say this take is excellent and the time you took to share it is very much appreciated <3
Such it always has been. It's illegal because it works. A lot of activists have spent time in jail on stupid charges
I think we'll all have to harden up a little as this moment of crisis deepens.
Idk, they are probably about to make a 20+ year offense or something bizarre.
I'm saying that rather than saying "do riot" or "don't riot" or whatever, we need to treat riots as a fixed thing that we have to engage with as they are.
I think that is the big takeaway - if you find yourself getting mad with boneheaded people and their shit takes - it ultimately doesn't matter.
We live in the material world, shaped by material forces and conditions, not the liberal world of great men with their great ideas. If people find certain actions 'distasteful', 'problematic' or whatever else - reality doesn't give a shit; it's a simple computer: garbage living conditions + no viable avenues for progress = riots.
It's similar to the liberal reaction to Bernie - constantly wanting him to chastise and condemn his base, because they think ideas shape the universe. Again, unless something Bernie said fundamentally changed the nature of material conditions experienced by his voters, they were never going to change their minds or their attitudes.
That has literally never led to anything good. When the IRA did it, when the Weathermen did it etc. It makes normal people hate you even more and escalates police crackdown. The difference between riots and terrorism is that riots are spontaneous while terrorism is premeditated. If you're taking the time to plan something illegal, don't do something useless like terrorism.
I'm not entirely sold on the periodization of history into production and circulation. Like, take France where almost every single struggle has been waged on both the productive and circulatory fronts at the same time.
I think that his argument about global deindustrialization ushering in a period where chaotic circulatory struggles are the dominant form holds strong though, and agree with his prescription for the commune as a mode of struggle (pls dont tell the MLs I'm an immediatist)
