You are the Makers of History!
  • Home
  • More Historic Pictures!
  • Books
  • Hit Us Up
  • Blog
  • Coming Events
  • Videos
  • Donations

Critically Assessing these anti-Trump Protests

11/11/2016

3 Comments

 
Picture
Tuesday's election did much to effectively rip the facade away.  For many people, the U.S. capitalist system is being exposed for what it always has been since its inception; a racist, patriarchal, oppressive empire.  The realities of how the electoral college is a system built to insure pathways to victory that circumvent popular voting along with the shock some people are experiencing at coming face to face with the naked racism of their European (White) family members, has a lot of folks reeling right now.  As a result, many people are deciding to not take all of this sitting down.  Folks are hitting the streets in cities across the country, across the world.  Of course, it goes without saying that any protest against the capitalist system, whether a street protest, kneeling against the national anthem, or just calling in sick to work when you really aren't sick, is a good protest.  And (at least in the case of Portland, Oregon where I live), people breaking the property owned by capitalist entities, or even just businesses symbolic of the capitalist system - even if they are small businesses - isn't the deplorable thing some people are labeling it today.  Malcolm X spoke clearly about the property damage issue 52 years ago when he said the people attack the man's property because they cannot get to him.  Those businesses - all of them - will have insurance claims filed and checks cut to them to address whatever damage occurred before this probably even gets posted.  So, provided no people were hurt, you won't hear any concerns expressed here about the damaged property of anyone representing this backward system.

There is a desperate need for critical assessment of these protests.  Acting out and expressing anger cannot be enough.  People have to ask critical questions.  Why be in the streets?  What's the objective?  Is it to remove Trump as president?  If so, the only way you will have any semblance of a chance to make that happen is by getting millions of people organized to engage in sustained actions against this system that bring the system to a screeching halt, for an extended period of time.  I'm talking about protests that cause commerce to stop, not for a few hours or days, but for months.  That's the only thing that will push the power structure to the point where it becomes forced to make serious concessions.  And, if people were organized and committed enough to raise the stakes this way, this could and would happen.  The problem of course is we all know people don't have that level of commitment in these protests.  Not even close.  Most people involved in these protests don't even belong to organizations which means they are not engaged in any regular work to fight for justice.  If they aren't engaged in any consistent work, then at best, they are just reacting in anger.  History teaches us that this approach is never sustainable.  As time moves on, the majority of these people acting out on emotion will grow tired and will lose that anger.  Within a period of time, most of these folks will go back to business as usual.  I can assure you, the capitalist system is built and primed to wait those people out.  While many of these angry people just got angry one, two, or three years ago, the capitalist system has been doing what it does for hundreds of years. Its not the least bit impressed with you breaking some windows.  It has the previously mentioned insurance sham monopoly to address that.  It has its police troops to address you.  It has its prison system to filter you out of society.  It has its media arm to shape the narrative about you so tightly that your own family members will believe it if they don't already.  It has all of these things because it is organized and that's why it wins all the time and the people engaged in spontaneous protest and reaction never seem to make any progress beyond one or two nights of letting off steam.

The other part of the question that the protesters have to raise is if you are out there because you are upset that Trump was elected, are you saying that had Clinton won you wouldn't be out there?  Or, if Trump is "not your president" then who is?  Would Clinton have been your president?  Sanders?  Was Obama your president?  Bush?  Bill Clinton?  Because if its just a question for you of who won the capitalist election then we are really dealing with a problem of illusion.  Whoever wins the U.S. presidency will have to carry out the agenda of capitalism and imperialism.  The chief appendages of those oppressive systems are white supremacy and patriarchy.  Whoever wins, none of this changes.  In fact, there is a strong argument that its better to know where your enemy is coming from than to be lulled to sleep by a charmer like Obama.  Its the same capitalist system, yet in two days, Trump has gotten more of you in the streets than Obama ever did.  So, who is your president?  Who would it take to make you submit to this capitalist system?

Finally, there is a quite a bit of interest on the left to paying attention to security, learning self defense, firearms training, etc.  People are concerned about right wing supporters, white supremacists, etc., being emboldened and people want to be prepared.  This makes sense.  The concerns here are certainly legitimate.  You can never protect yourself against these threats on an individual level though.  So, the question here is are people really wanting to create community defense spaces or are people just looking for a way to make themselves feel better about a situation that is spiraling crazily out of control?  You cannot confuse your fears and desires to feel safe, on a personal level, to being ready to build capacity for communities to fight to overturn this backward system.

So, we don't condemn any protests, but we do say that spontaneous, disorganized protests, which these protests are, place many people in danger.  It may be a night of anger expression for you, but to the state, its a time for them to do what they are organized to do, repress you.  And, to continue this way means its only a matter of time before you get hurt or killed.  Or worse, you get someone else hurt or killed. Of course, we know that death is unfortunately a part of struggle, but if we are to die, shouldn't we die on the pathway to victory and not just because we were angry and out expressing that anger in disorganized and unprincipled ways?  In ways that disregard the safety of those around us?  In ways that don't build capacity because we are keeping people from getting to their families?  To the jobs they desperately need to feed those families?  In ways that are doing more to disrupt the lives of people we should be reaching out to than the system we are fighting against?  I can say with confidence that many of the white so-called anarchist people who are active in Portland here are just as racist and reactionary as the police.  Just watch them in action at these marches.  They behave with the same white arrogance against people that the police demonstrate.  That makes it a coin toss between them and the police as to who would be more brutal if in power.  No thanks.  What we propose instead is that you acknowledge your anger.  Acknowledge your fear and frustration.  Acknowledge your desire to learn how to defend yourselves.  Acknowledge your sense of powerlessness.  And then start to seriously recognize that none of those things are going to change until you are ready to step up your game.  The people you are going up against are ready for you.  So, if you are going to win, you will need to get ready for them.  That means getting prepared - yes - organized.  For starters, you have to be in an organization to be organized.  That's two or more people with the same objectives.  That's all.  Its not about the structure, its about the mission.  For those in organizations, its about getting focused.  Not just paying attention 50% of the time, but taking ownership of your organization to hold pieces of it to help build its capacity.  Taking pressure off of those in the organization that you expect to do all the critical work.  In other words, if you are already in an organization, but you have no specific responsibilities and/or assignments besides the basic aspect of showing up, you are not much different than the person who is not in an organization.  Do you give more to the cause than you receive?  Or, are you an energy suck?  These are the questions of organization that have to be resolved if we want to win.  If you aren't interested in resolving those questions, or our true objective is to just find a place where we can feel better about our suffering, than at least find a way to recognize that so you are not draining the energy of those who truly want to win.  Finally, everyone who is angry has to grapple with this question.  What do you want?  Where do you wish to see things go?  Your participation has to evolve beyond just what you are angry about.  You have to be thinking about how to build community because community building is the only way you are going to win.  You won't win as an individual and if you acting as an individual when you protest that is evidence for you that you are not doing anything to advance the struggle.  You are just doing things to satisfy your ego.  I'm not trying to make you change if you don't want to change.  I have better things to do.  I'm just trying to help people see through you so they can make their own decisions about how to contribute effectively to real forward progress.
  So, we will start to build momentum and gain speed towards victory.  I don't know about you, but that's much better than just letting off steam.








3 Comments
Lauren
11/12/2016 06:50:29 am

Thank you so much for writing this piece. I used to be more involved in activism and organizing. I've taken a break for a few years and started teaching. This election has propelled me to join organizations again, and your article helped me to clarify the commitment that I want to make to myself and my communities to work for justice. Even though I often feel like I give all of myself to my job, it's important that I carve out more space for consistent activism and organizing. Thank you again!

Reply
Suzanne
11/12/2016 12:42:07 pm

Beautiful piece.

Reply
adam sherburne
11/13/2016 10:59:21 am

thanks always for the courage, inspiration, and sober/accurate analysis! and thanks for the 24/7 365 commitment to redirecting people's attention away from the drivers and back to the struggle to stop the car, and for demonstrating how to get out of the car and start ridin! hasta siempre!

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    Author

    I don't see disagreement as a negative because I understand that Frederick Douglass was correct when he said "there is no progress without struggle."  Our brains are muscles.  Just like any other muscle in our body if we don't stress it and push it, the brain will not improve.  Or, as a bumper sticker I saw once put it, "If you can't change your mind, how do you know it's there?"

    Archives

    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    June 2022
    March 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.