By Arun Gupta (January 24, 2017)
Last weekend saw the two poles of American protest. One side was the inspiring and historic Women’s Marches. But it was non-confrontational and the Democrats are working furiously to co-opt it and shunt it into electoral politics. If that happens, it will be a disaster like the “Wisconsin Uprising,” and the entrenchment of Scott Walker’s and Koch Brothers overseeing an experiment in Dickensian capitalism.
The other pole was the militant smashy-smashy Black Bloc’ers who are often undemocratic, anti-political, and anti-worker. But their militancy is needed. It has to be combined with mass movements that are well-organized, have a clear strategy, and transparent and accountable leadership.
Trump has dictatorial ambitions and is swiftly rolling back a century of progressive legislation and government functions. See the note below.
Only massive, disruptive popular force can topple dictators and uproot the system that nourished the despot.
I’m sharing this article I wrote about this. Please share because we need to advance the debate on how to move forward. This means building organization rapidly and intelligently, developing capacity, winning over the middle to a radical analysis and politics, and sharpening our collective praxis so it is far more effective, nuanced, and flexible than what exists now.
I firmly believe it will take a movement on the scale and with the militancy and courageousness of the Arab Spring to defeat Trump and his proto-fascist forces.
Libby Anker:
“We marched on Saturday, the largest march in US history. What happened next? In the last 24 hours Trump has:
1) Blocked ALL Grants to the EPA, and then threatened retribution for any EPA worker who reveals this to the press.
2) Secured the head of Exxon, one of the most violent companies ever, to lead US foreign diplomacy.
3) Denied abortion funding to poor women worldwide who rely on US aid.
4) Imposed a federal hiring freeze, which means people who care about public service will either be unemployed or pushed into the private sector, while government becomes dysfunctional.
5) Promised to cut 75% of all government regulation — that includes regulating for health, pollution, nondiscrimination, you name it.
6) Advanced the Dakota Access Pipeline project — and revived Keystone XL.
7) Told businesses they can defer any healthcare provision if it places an undue financial burden on them.
8) Threatened to defund government support for the arts and humanities, for public radio and public broadcasting.
Trump is rapaciously undoing what remains of public government, and trashing key provisions of our collective life.
Our March is not stopping Trump. We need to step it up. People need to start getting involved in more ways, ways that may be uncomfortable or hard, but we are going to lose this fight without all of us fighting back.”