Because they will always be used against you in the end to get back to an even more brutal version of the previous system. Learn the history of the French Revolution.
There probably will never be a demonstration with perfectly aligned opinions, but I think you would definitely find your crowd or more likely your crowd would find you with such a rallying point.
I don’t live in the US so my assessment might be completely off here, but with protests like this you shouldn’t hope for the more radical positions. If you’re more radical yourself this can be annoying or feel like it serves no purpose and I get that. It still provides opportunities for us.
There’s two main reasons I advocate for showing up at things like this:
Treat it like a networking event. Go talk to people, hand out flyers, wave your flags, bring funny signs, hand out vegan cookies… As an anarchist I’m very much aware that most people never think about anarchists, and when they it’s rarely in a positive way. Protests like are an opportunity to get people to see, however briefly, that anarchists can be nice people with free cookies.
If or when things go poorly, like if the police or the far-right decides to escalate, I’d want people with experience there to provide assistance. Whether that’s taking up the front to defend others, yelling: “Walk! Don’t run!” while people are trying to get out of tear gas, handing out water so people can rinse out pepper spray (and telling people not to use milk), explaining how to handle a kettle, etc.
If you think 8 million people hanging out noticing that nonviolence isn’t enough and sharing that dissatisfaction with each other doesn’t help progress things towards more effective means of resistance, I don’t know what to tell you. It’s like complaining that grade school doesn’t teach children algebra.
Wake me when the guillotines come out.
Fuck that. Start building them yourself
I can build them, but if the crowd doesn’t support it, it’s painting a target on my own back for nothing.
By the time the guillotines are usable, you’ve already won. They’ll just be turned against you. Build community if you want to win.
Por que no los dos?
Because they will always be used against you in the end to get back to an even more brutal version of the previous system. Learn the history of the French Revolution.
Do you seriously think getting rid of billionares would be so bad? That it would be worse after? That the US would do the same thing?
Your lack of imagination of profoundly disturbing.
Go learn the actual history. They just come back, but worse. They also murder the entire left.
So do more than deploy guillotines? I don’t understand why this is such a difficult concept…
Notice, again, how I never said that these rallies are completely ineffective. They just won’t change the momentum of the current equation.
There probably will never be a demonstration with perfectly aligned opinions, but I think you would definitely find your crowd or more likely your crowd would find you with such a rallying point.
The crowd aren’t the ones who would be painting the target.
I don’t live in the US so my assessment might be completely off here, but with protests like this you shouldn’t hope for the more radical positions. If you’re more radical yourself this can be annoying or feel like it serves no purpose and I get that. It still provides opportunities for us.
There’s two main reasons I advocate for showing up at things like this:
Treat it like a networking event. Go talk to people, hand out flyers, wave your flags, bring funny signs, hand out vegan cookies… As an anarchist I’m very much aware that most people never think about anarchists, and when they it’s rarely in a positive way. Protests like are an opportunity to get people to see, however briefly, that anarchists can be nice people with free cookies.
If or when things go poorly, like if the police or the far-right decides to escalate, I’d want people with experience there to provide assistance. Whether that’s taking up the front to defend others, yelling: “Walk! Don’t run!” while people are trying to get out of tear gas, handing out water so people can rinse out pepper spray (and telling people not to use milk), explaining how to handle a kettle, etc.
These should be called rallies, not protests.
Sure, but that doesn’t change my points in any way.
You yourself called them protests, even in your points. So… It kinda’ does.
Acting like networking events are valid, effective protests is inoculative behavior and counterproductive.
So when all the hard work is done you want to take credit?
Who said I’d take credit? Furthermore, if you think these rallies are going to stop the police state from cracking down, you are beyond delusional.
All it does is give them a head start on identifying whos rights to violate first when the gulags open for all citizens.
If you think 8 million people hanging out noticing that nonviolence isn’t enough and sharing that dissatisfaction with each other doesn’t help progress things towards more effective means of resistance, I don’t know what to tell you. It’s like complaining that grade school doesn’t teach children algebra.
Where did I say it did nothing? I said it won’t stop the police state from cracking down.