Some thoughts on united fronts. > On Nov 7, 2024, at 10:19 AM, Marv Gandall via groups.io > <[email protected]> wrote: > > Trump’s victory is more likely to have a demoralizing rather than energizing > effect on DSA’ers and others on the DP left.
1. The Democrats will wake up activists with well-funded activities like the "The Resistance Movement" of 2017-18, "The Indivisible Guide," the Women's March of January 2017, #NoBanNoWall Protests, etc. The Dems have deep pockets and will buy activism. Some mobilizations will be started by the DP; others may be like the Women's March where the DP piles on with their politicians, staffers, and promotion machinery, make it much bigger, and try to coop it. There will be fake united fronts, such as coalitions that are owned and controlled by Democrats for the purposes of gaining in the midterms and winning the 2028 presidential election - if we can keep it. 2. I think there might be a split in the US ruling class. But billionaires did not become billionaires by following their egalitarian principles, even those who passionately favor "democracy" over autocratic rule. We will have to see how long it takes for large for-profit media enterprises to cave in to Trump and who follows those corporations. A split will amplify activism, but a small splinter might condemn us to face a united front of big-capital groups who beat down people who defend US residents without papers, or those who protest US munitions in Gaza and US settlers in the West Bank. 3. Another factor are the ~1000 people convicted of January 6th federal crimes. They likely will be pardoned on day 1, including the almost ~500 people who are in prison or on parole for those cries. Martyrs like Enrique Tarrio will return from the tomb and could very well attract armies of paramilitaries for a MAGA Freikorps. Trump may use them against his opponents and for public, physical assaults on activists, leaving us to grapple with the problem of physical self-defense. There is little that can be done to defend from the real military and police as opposed to the Proud Boys led by Tarrio or the Three Percenters led by that guy who shot his own eye out. 4. Trump says he will deploy the US military against protesters to end the movement through state violence. I think there are two types of united fronts to consider here. The first is to provide legal aid and information to US troops about their right not to be deployed against their own people. US soldiers have some extraordinary rights in the military such as the right to petition Congress, free speech with limitations, and free assembly with limitations. The second type of united front is from the playbook of the US Communists in the 1920s (original ones) by assembling a diverse set of citizens, civil liberties defenders, labor unions, and many others for international defense activities, such as freeing incarcerated activists and paying for their legal defenses. These united fronts are mostly defensive, some controlled by Democratic Party money (I advocate to work with the Democrats but not for them). The first offensive actions that the US left is obliged to take is to stop arming, funding, buying and selling with Israel, at least during the genocide and West Bank colonization. The second is to protect people with and without papers to be in the US. Mark -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#33402): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/33402 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/109441085/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/13617172/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
