• kilternkafuffle [any]
    ·
    4 years ago

    She literally did talk about “defund the police” though

    Maybe I missed it? If you can quote her, please do so. I was listening for offensive quotes because it was shared with me as "can you believe what they said, omg, chapo is canceled" and the bit about White-supremacy/working-class/abolition (thanks for the reminder on that one) were the only ones that seemed remotely close to the accusation.

    And yeah it is urban, so?

    Urban AND an epicenter of BLM. I'm just saying don't celebrate prematurely because it might not be representative. If DTP works in Minneapolis and can force through change anywhere at all (like the bunch of places that did cut police budgets this year) - awesome. But historically the leftism/liberalism of cities hasn't done jack for reforming the police.

    The problem I see is that skepticism about some radical slogans is taken to be tantamount to liberalism. It's a judgment call about a tactic, not a fundamental principle - nobody knows what will work. The attacks on clearly committed and intelligent leftists who speak their minds are wrong. Disagree with them if you interpret the facts differently, don't write them off forever over a difference of judgment.

    And then there's the further problem where certain establishment Dems can embrace radical slogans because they have zero chance of being enacted in many places. So it's a way for them to play-pretend at radicalism while opposing actually feasible reform as being insufficiently woke/intersectional. The whole, "Oh, you want M4A, but haven't called for reparations? You White privileged piece of shit brocialist!"

    • Pezevenk [he/him]
      ·
      4 years ago

      The problem I see is that skepticism about some radical slogans is taken to be tantamount to liberalism

      I agree with that part. And I even agree that "abolish the police" is kind of a dumb thing to get behind. It is just that she did actually talk about how defunding the police is unpopular and it's not a good solution etc. I can't find it right now because I am on mobile but in the recent struggle sesh thread someone posted a link to a reddit thread with all the quotes etc. It was something about how people in affected communities with a lot of crime want more police, not less, etc.

      Urban AND an epicenter of BLM. I’m just saying don’t celebrate prematurely because it might not be representative

      Even if it isn't, and in other cities it is just half that, this is still great.

      • kilternkafuffle [any]
        ·
        4 years ago

        Kk we're on the same page, I'm just willing to give them a greater benefit of the doubt.

        • Pezevenk [he/him]
          ·
          4 years ago

          Yeah I can actually somewhat understand partly where this is coming from, because I have faced it a lot. Some people think that if you don't embrace their slogans or actions it just means you are not radical enough and it gets kinda stupid, because losing support and getting domed because you don't pay attention to what is going on in society isn't radical, it's just silly. Like, if I was CIA that's exactly what I'd do, it's probably a lot more effective than whatever they are currently doing. Ultraleftism is a big issue with the left in the US as far as I can see. But on the other hand I think it is really dumb to talk about BLM and the demands to defund the police like it's some sort of marginal thing, when it clearly isn't and it's one of the best things the left in the US has done in recent years. Stripping down the police is extremely important for any leftist project.