Millions across the US rallied against Trump's authoritarian agenda in nationwide No Kings protests, featuring speeches, performances, and massive crowds.
They are echo chamber parades. Protests have clearly defined goals, demands, potential threat to the system. Protests dont have a scheduled start and end date/time.
They claim to be protesting Trump as if he’s not a cog in the machine, a cog, if replaced, would not change how the machine operates. They should be protesting the entire system that created people like Trump, Biden/Harris, Obama, Pelosi, etc.
It will be the same for their May 1 ‘general strike.’ A 1 day, couple of hours event of no consumption, which will result in nothing.
I agree. But, please, as a rule of thumb, when you make comments like this please end them to direct people for MORE action not less. I think we spend too much time criticizing without directing to action. The criticism is correct. But is useless without a direction to actually enact change.
Something as small as placing leftist literature in your local bookshare dropoff, to organizing a tenants/workplace union, working with mutual aids, learning your neighbors names, joining DSA or PSL for meetings to get your foot in the door, etc.
We can’t critize liberals for going outside without directing them where else to go. It’s just doomerism at that point.
One thing I did was ask my friends to join ONE other protest or organization with me between the last “No Kings” and today’s. Only had one actually join me. But they’ve been more active since.
Use these events as opportunities to EXPAND organizing. Don’t just offer criticism that essentially is just telling them what they are doing is useless and they should stay home. That’s not how we get more people organizing.
We don’t go from what we have now to an armed vanguard pushing ICE out of our cities in a single leap. We do lots of stupid “performative” shit to spread leftist agit-prop. These protest are an opportunity to do that.
The biggest failure of these no Kings protest is not on the liberals. It’s on our complete inability to radicalize them. WE as Marxist are failing THEM. It’s our job to educate them.
We can’t educate them until they drop the ego that they have it all figured out and real activists with the experience are all wrong. They can’t even lay out simple demands and will insist we need to support the same people that created this mess in order to get out of it.
That’s part of educating them. I’m not saying I have the answer on how best to reach them. But I know sitting back and saying “they can’t even understand that <X>” is not working.
We may need real material decline or militant attacks from the state to radicalize them. But, as that continues to happen, we can’t have leadership in the “performative” groups just filled with liberals.
We need to have influence in these far reaching groups like DSA or whatever wine mom groups organize to join “No Kings”. They don’t need criticism that tells them what they are doing is “not enough”. That just leads to inaction. They are not ready to risk their job and treats to do that. They need direction when they lose their jobs. They need direction when they lose their treats.
Yes, it’s fucking pathetic that these stupid liberals are doing nothing as people are hurt. You don’t have to like them. You can be mad at how useless they are. But its our job to literally put ourselves in these organizations to lead them (and we are not). Yelling at them will not change them.
It’s great if you’re in your local Marxist organization or PSL or whatever. But we don’t build these groups by hoping liberals “see the light” and come to us. It’s our job to go to where the masses are. And whether that results in Marxist organizations growing and people leaving the Democrats or DSA for more radical organizations. Or, if those organizations themselves become more radicalized because of our presence in them. Both are progress. And we are NOT doing that enough.
Sometimes you have to wait until liberals are asking the right questions for them to be ready to accept the answers. And that likely means their material conditions declining. But we need to be in positions of leadership to be able to give those answers. We can’t just scream at them from our tiny groups that they have never heard of.
They are echo chamber parades. Protests have clearly defined goals, demands, potential threat to the system. Protests dont have a scheduled start and end date/time.
They claim to be protesting Trump as if he’s not a cog in the machine, a cog, if replaced, would not change how the machine operates. They should be protesting the entire system that created people like Trump, Biden/Harris, Obama, Pelosi, etc.
It will be the same for their May 1 ‘general strike.’ A 1 day, couple of hours event of no consumption, which will result in nothing.
I agree. But, please, as a rule of thumb, when you make comments like this please end them to direct people for MORE action not less. I think we spend too much time criticizing without directing to action. The criticism is correct. But is useless without a direction to actually enact change.
Something as small as placing leftist literature in your local bookshare dropoff, to organizing a tenants/workplace union, working with mutual aids, learning your neighbors names, joining DSA or PSL for meetings to get your foot in the door, etc.
We can’t critize liberals for going outside without directing them where else to go. It’s just doomerism at that point.
One thing I did was ask my friends to join ONE other protest or organization with me between the last “No Kings” and today’s. Only had one actually join me. But they’ve been more active since.
Use these events as opportunities to EXPAND organizing. Don’t just offer criticism that essentially is just telling them what they are doing is useless and they should stay home. That’s not how we get more people organizing.
We don’t go from what we have now to an armed vanguard pushing ICE out of our cities in a single leap. We do lots of stupid “performative” shit to spread leftist agit-prop. These protest are an opportunity to do that.
The biggest failure of these no Kings protest is not on the liberals. It’s on our complete inability to radicalize them. WE as Marxist are failing THEM. It’s our job to educate them.
We can’t educate them until they drop the ego that they have it all figured out and real activists with the experience are all wrong. They can’t even lay out simple demands and will insist we need to support the same people that created this mess in order to get out of it.
That’s part of educating them. I’m not saying I have the answer on how best to reach them. But I know sitting back and saying “they can’t even understand that <X>” is not working.
We may need real material decline or militant attacks from the state to radicalize them. But, as that continues to happen, we can’t have leadership in the “performative” groups just filled with liberals.
We need to have influence in these far reaching groups like DSA or whatever wine mom groups organize to join “No Kings”. They don’t need criticism that tells them what they are doing is “not enough”. That just leads to inaction. They are not ready to risk their job and treats to do that. They need direction when they lose their jobs. They need direction when they lose their treats.
Yes, it’s fucking pathetic that these stupid liberals are doing nothing as people are hurt. You don’t have to like them. You can be mad at how useless they are. But its our job to literally put ourselves in these organizations to lead them (and we are not). Yelling at them will not change them.
It’s great if you’re in your local Marxist organization or PSL or whatever. But we don’t build these groups by hoping liberals “see the light” and come to us. It’s our job to go to where the masses are. And whether that results in Marxist organizations growing and people leaving the Democrats or DSA for more radical organizations. Or, if those organizations themselves become more radicalized because of our presence in them. Both are progress. And we are NOT doing that enough.
Sometimes you have to wait until liberals are asking the right questions for them to be ready to accept the answers. And that likely means their material conditions declining. But we need to be in positions of leadership to be able to give those answers. We can’t just scream at them from our tiny groups that they have never heard of.