You have to build dual power to organize things like strikes and work stoppages. That’s what hurts capital. The protests come after that.
Yes, although protests can complement that process of building dual power, they don’t have to come afterwards. Like you’ve said, protests on their own accomplish nothing, yet they can still be an important way to gain awareness and introduce a broader range of people to these politics and groups involved.
I am speaking generally, I haven’t paid attention to these No Kings ones, but they’d surely be an avenue for fresh faces to meet socialist parties among all the spectacle.
Right, I agree with all that, my impression is that this particular form of protest is entirely performative though. They never seem to translate into actually building things like mutual aid networks, unions, or any other kind of permanent structures. It would be nice if people would start doing those things for a change.
Some are trying, but it’s a slow process going from toothless protests to a serious movement. It took decades for the civil rights movement to reach a point where people took it seriously. It took generations for union labour to gain legitimacy. We let the tools of community organizing and collective action rust away in complacency. It’s going to take time to reforge them.
I think it actively diffuses people’s political energy. Orgs like this weren’t effective back when they could organize strikes. Now there’s disunity between labor and activism, which are both riddled with opportunists, utter psychopaths if you’ve been in these movements Too much corruption, SSleazy informants everywhere ruining people’s lives in ways that are too odious to describe, deals with the ruling class aligning on foreign policy that eventually became their political goals. Now they’re just PR orgs that are financially dependent on a network beholden to the same entities as demokkkrats. In the alt media it is a bit more subtle but just as bad. Even when the messaging is good (it isn’t btw), they just tell you to sit around with your thumb in your ass about it.
Yes, although protests can complement that process of building dual power, they don’t have to come afterwards. Like you’ve said, protests on their own accomplish nothing, yet they can still be an important way to gain awareness and introduce a broader range of people to these politics and groups involved.
I am speaking generally, I haven’t paid attention to these No Kings ones, but they’d surely be an avenue for fresh faces to meet socialist parties among all the spectacle.
Right, I agree with all that, my impression is that this particular form of protest is entirely performative though. They never seem to translate into actually building things like mutual aid networks, unions, or any other kind of permanent structures. It would be nice if people would start doing those things for a change.
Some are trying, but it’s a slow process going from toothless protests to a serious movement. It took decades for the civil rights movement to reach a point where people took it seriously. It took generations for union labour to gain legitimacy. We let the tools of community organizing and collective action rust away in complacency. It’s going to take time to reforge them.
I think it actively diffuses people’s political energy. Orgs like this weren’t effective back when they could organize strikes. Now there’s disunity between labor and activism, which are both riddled with opportunists, utter psychopaths if you’ve been in these movements Too much corruption, SSleazy informants everywhere ruining people’s lives in ways that are too odious to describe, deals with the ruling class aligning on foreign policy that eventually became their political goals. Now they’re just PR orgs that are financially dependent on a network beholden to the same entities as demokkkrats. In the alt media it is a bit more subtle but just as bad. Even when the messaging is good (it isn’t btw), they just tell you to sit around with your thumb in your ass about it.