I have to admit, I've enjoyed waking up early this morning and chronicling the number of people who appear to be losing their minds today in this country at the reality that an idiot is being sworn in as president. One out of every five or six social media posts are focused and well thought out, but the bulk majority of people are apparently experiencing a diarrhea of the keyboard meltdown. Believe me, its not my intention to make light of people who are experiencing severe anxiety about what is to come, but you cannot expect those of us who survive systemic racism and oppression every day of our lives to stop and drop everything we are doing because some of you can finally see what its like to feel as if you have no say so in your destiny.
For the bulk of these people, this weekend is probably scheduled to be heavily fueled by artificial stimulants and this includes those of the chemical variety as well as the physical. By physical, I mean all of the folks who are acting as if hitting the streets this weekend is an orgasm inducing activity. The big event is here! It reminds me of the game I had as a youth called Rock Em, Sock Em, Robots. I've noticed that the game has recently been revived so that some of you who believe the world was created 20 years ago may even know what I'm talking about. Its a game where a boxing ring consists of two plastic robots who are faced off against one another. One is red and the other is blue (ironically). Each side of the ring has two controls which control each hand of each robot. Pressing the right control extends the right fist, etc. The objective is to knock the block off the opposing robot. Since the robot's head operates on a crank, once its knocked off, or up, you simply press it back into place and continue the game. I used to play this game with my friends for hours. Each of us knocking each other's block off repeatedly with the winner finally winning by usual totals of 100 knock offs to 95, etc. At this rate, you would have thought the game would have had a short life span, but the game outlasted me and I remember being a teenager when I noticed, without any emotion, that my mom had found the game, intact, under my bed and thrown it into the dumpster outside that someone had set up for whatever land grabbing gentrification project they were engaged in around San Francisco at that time.
I recall this game because much of the adrenaline inspired activities of this weekend will function much like that Rock Em, Sock Em, Robot game. The state will place a shameful amount of much needed resources into police departments that are poorly trained and extremely dysfunctional. Like they always do. Racist and patriarchal ideology will be the guiding force for these police when they take to the streets dead set on defending the interests of the capitalist system because, well, because that's what their masters always tell them to do. Meanwhile, in contrast to the heavy preparation and organization that these gestapo forces will put into play, the civil disobedience forces will do what they always do, take to the streets with very little coordination, practically no planning, no training,and with no clear objective. Instead of being scientific and materially based, their actions will be most likely driven by individual personalities and ego. It has to be this because most of the people participating will not belong to any organizations with any programs. Instead, the model will be simply to show up and to stand up and confront the state for a day, in time to conclude early enough in advance to enjoy the rest of your weekend of course. Oh, and to keep that Face Book open for the next show up event, if you can make it.
The probable result will be many people will get worn down by the beast and hopefully, no one gets seriously hurt. The good thing will be that many people will realize that we will need a much higher level of organization if we are ever going to make an imprint against the state apparatuses and those people will start looking for those forces who are struggling to build that capacity. In the interim, we encourage people to be safe and use your heads. Don't place those who are not able bodied, elderly, children, etc., in unnecessary harm because you are on an adrenaline fueled ego trip to strike back at your mommy...er, the state. Maybe, you could even consider planning a meeting to talk about how you can take your protests up a notch. Instead of just showing up, do just a little planning. Just a little. How to shutdown the commerce in the city you exist in and how to do it with supply lines and shifts so that you can do it for a while. Long enough to shake up the capitalists a little and not just the working poor who are just using the streets and public transportation to get to their families after working their low paying jobs. Maybe you could plan how to use all your social media knowledge to capture the moment and the narrative in a collective and coordinated fashion above and beyond what you usually do on an individual level? If we can make it through this weekend and beyond with at least a small number of people picking up on the need to step up the game it will be a victory. And, if we can do that with minimal damage to people, than from a revolutionary perspective all the anxiety you are feeling today will be worth it in the long run. But, if we come out of this weekend doing the same old insane things, approaching the struggle like Rock Em, Sock Em, Robots, than you better get accustomed to that anxiety because its not going anywhere any time soon.
For the bulk of these people, this weekend is probably scheduled to be heavily fueled by artificial stimulants and this includes those of the chemical variety as well as the physical. By physical, I mean all of the folks who are acting as if hitting the streets this weekend is an orgasm inducing activity. The big event is here! It reminds me of the game I had as a youth called Rock Em, Sock Em, Robots. I've noticed that the game has recently been revived so that some of you who believe the world was created 20 years ago may even know what I'm talking about. Its a game where a boxing ring consists of two plastic robots who are faced off against one another. One is red and the other is blue (ironically). Each side of the ring has two controls which control each hand of each robot. Pressing the right control extends the right fist, etc. The objective is to knock the block off the opposing robot. Since the robot's head operates on a crank, once its knocked off, or up, you simply press it back into place and continue the game. I used to play this game with my friends for hours. Each of us knocking each other's block off repeatedly with the winner finally winning by usual totals of 100 knock offs to 95, etc. At this rate, you would have thought the game would have had a short life span, but the game outlasted me and I remember being a teenager when I noticed, without any emotion, that my mom had found the game, intact, under my bed and thrown it into the dumpster outside that someone had set up for whatever land grabbing gentrification project they were engaged in around San Francisco at that time.
I recall this game because much of the adrenaline inspired activities of this weekend will function much like that Rock Em, Sock Em, Robot game. The state will place a shameful amount of much needed resources into police departments that are poorly trained and extremely dysfunctional. Like they always do. Racist and patriarchal ideology will be the guiding force for these police when they take to the streets dead set on defending the interests of the capitalist system because, well, because that's what their masters always tell them to do. Meanwhile, in contrast to the heavy preparation and organization that these gestapo forces will put into play, the civil disobedience forces will do what they always do, take to the streets with very little coordination, practically no planning, no training,and with no clear objective. Instead of being scientific and materially based, their actions will be most likely driven by individual personalities and ego. It has to be this because most of the people participating will not belong to any organizations with any programs. Instead, the model will be simply to show up and to stand up and confront the state for a day, in time to conclude early enough in advance to enjoy the rest of your weekend of course. Oh, and to keep that Face Book open for the next show up event, if you can make it.
The probable result will be many people will get worn down by the beast and hopefully, no one gets seriously hurt. The good thing will be that many people will realize that we will need a much higher level of organization if we are ever going to make an imprint against the state apparatuses and those people will start looking for those forces who are struggling to build that capacity. In the interim, we encourage people to be safe and use your heads. Don't place those who are not able bodied, elderly, children, etc., in unnecessary harm because you are on an adrenaline fueled ego trip to strike back at your mommy...er, the state. Maybe, you could even consider planning a meeting to talk about how you can take your protests up a notch. Instead of just showing up, do just a little planning. Just a little. How to shutdown the commerce in the city you exist in and how to do it with supply lines and shifts so that you can do it for a while. Long enough to shake up the capitalists a little and not just the working poor who are just using the streets and public transportation to get to their families after working their low paying jobs. Maybe you could plan how to use all your social media knowledge to capture the moment and the narrative in a collective and coordinated fashion above and beyond what you usually do on an individual level? If we can make it through this weekend and beyond with at least a small number of people picking up on the need to step up the game it will be a victory. And, if we can do that with minimal damage to people, than from a revolutionary perspective all the anxiety you are feeling today will be worth it in the long run. But, if we come out of this weekend doing the same old insane things, approaching the struggle like Rock Em, Sock Em, Robots, than you better get accustomed to that anxiety because its not going anywhere any time soon.
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