The reasons are similarly bleak, unfortunately. Cops killed an indigineous climate protector. There is a lot of information in that thread.
The reasons are similarly bleak, unfortunately. Cops killed an indigineous climate protector. There is a lot of information in that thread.
No?
Everything in 2020 fizzled out, more or less, having made minor gains. What policy wins were had have either been rolled back or are in the process of being rolled back, with no resistance with any chance of succeeding.
Liberals recuperated the 2020 protests in real time and everyone basically just watched it happen.
It's an indictment on disorganized direct action and not having a coherent political program or organization.
Yeah but they could only do that as the opposition, they can't do that this time
:bloomer:
Liberals were in power in basically every city, which is where the largest protests and actions were. They already did exactly this recuperation when they weren't opposition. Liberals in power were the ones making speeches and showing up to rallies and promising to defund, then hoping everyone would forget those promises and sitting on their hands and even increasing police budgets. They faced no consequences because there was no organization or momentum. The 2020 protests were more like riots than coordinated actions, a free-for-all built on expressions of pain launched at what was proximal. Whoever had a bullhorn dictated what actions were taken. It was often liberals trying to collaborate with cops, even include cops in the marches lol.
Liberals were opposition at the national level, but there's very little at the national level that is even relevant given our collective disorganization. The feds can do a lot of material harm, but our capacity to challenge them is almost non-existent and would have to begin at the local level, where we are also disorganized. Biden ran on pro-cop policies, won, and implemented those policies without needing to deal with any opposition.
Maybe you're right and I'm just getting high on my own supply of optimism from having just beat covid, I shouldn't get overconfident
Oh no I'm not saying to not be optimistic. Knowing our position is the only way to be optimistic, imo.
The failures of 2020 spell out our opportunities. The public is less mollified than we might have thought. A critical mass can be mobilized. It just needs organization and direction, which is exactly what we, as socialists, are usually good at. We don't know when the impetus for a riot will strike, but we can be prepared with a network of people ready to mobilize, ready to take coordinated actions to put maximum pressure, ready to sustain a campaign that may last 2-4 years, ready to use organized labor. That's what we should be building towards and it all starts with building inclusive, politically educated parties/orgs.