I will preface this by saying I understand that I am more radical, revolutionary, and extreme of a leftist than most. Despite that, I still ask that you actually engage with this as I’m asking in good faith.
When is enough enough? We have elected a fascist into the highest office and handed the keys to him and his friends. Is now not the time to actually get organized, involved, and armed? In my opinion, the time for peaceful, democratic means of avoiding fascism was before the election. But we have failed to do so, and as such there will soon be a tyrant in power. Are we going to wait until troops are rolling down the street to stage any form of resistance, because by then it’s far too late. Now I want to be clear that I am not advocating for random acts of violence or an insurrection like January 6th. But is this not a point of radicalization? Is this not where we start organizing within our communities and getting involved in mutual aid and resistance? How much more do we need before people are actually ready to stand, fight, and maybe even die to avoid continuing down the path that we are on? Fascism is not on the horizon, it is here. Are we really to do nothing about it as a society except lay down and accept our fate? Because that doesn’t jive with me. That makes absolutely no sense to me.
ETA: To the people responding, I will admit that I was heated and frustrated when writing this post. Having had time to cool off, reflect, and get some differing viewpoints my stance has changed to focus more on what needs to happen first and what’s practical. You may have seen that in my responses. That being said, I don’t disagree with what I said here, and I’m still frustrated we’re at this point at all. I’ve linked a comment though that elaborates upon what I actually want to see done though, which is a lot more reasonable and is still inline with this post.
Australian here. I see in America a similar pattern than what happens here, one party (conservative) receives a functioning government and proceeds to fuck things up with absurd policies while at the same time immediately claiming credit for the state of the country as soon as they get into power. Takes years to change the momentum of a country and by the time a new party is elected the country is almost bottoming out at which point the new (left leaning) party spends most of their first term fixing things up only to get blamed at the next election for being in power when things turned to shit. The electorate will never understand that a new government needs years to undo the fuck ups of the likes of the GOP. This time the Dems haven’t had enough time to fix up all the stupid shit the GOP did last time so I expect these next 4 years the country to hit rock bottom while the GOP is still in power and it will sadly be a moment of “Americans got what they voted for”
That has been happening here (US) for decades. The real problem is the escalation of stupid shit that Republicans do is on an exponential growth trajectory.
It was going to take decades to recover from how badly Trump fucked up the government last time he was in power, and the economy was only just starting to recover. With another term, its unlikely we’ll be able to recover within my lifetime, my children will be left worse off than me.
Seems like you’re advocating:
- “Get organized/involved” - What’s that mean in more practical terms? Start attending social gatherings put on/hosted by radical leftist organizations? And maybe start ones if they don’t exist in your area?
- “Get armed” - So, acquire firearms. To use in some particular way? (You mentioned you’re not advocating for “acts of violence or an insurrection like January 6th”, so not that, apparently.) Or just to have for when “something” happens? If so, what specifically?
- “Don’t wait until troops are rolling down the street to stage a resistance” - 'K. Not really helpful until I understand more specifically what you’re advocating for people to do.
- “Start organizing” - Same as that first bullet?
- “Get involved in mutual aid” - Yeah, ok. I’ve read Eisenstein. I know his book Sacred Economics has some tips for how to get involved with existing mutual aid organizations. I definitely need to re-read that bit and read other sources about that. But at least I have an idea where to start with some of that, I guess. I’d still like more specifics on what in particular you mean by this, though.
- “Get involved with resistance” - So, let’s say you’re a respected voice in a mutual aid radical anarchist collective with guns and enthusiasm. What do you suggest they do?
- “Stand, fight, and maybe even die” - How? Not January 6th, but… how then?
- “Don’t do nothing”/“Don’t lay down and accept our fate” - Not really helpful on its own if we don’t know what you’re suggesting we do instead of “doing nothing” or “laying down and accepting our fate.”
I don’t really know if this is a “I can’t really say what I’m advocating for because I’ll be banned, so I’m dancing around the issue and hoping you’ll stochastically pick up on what I’m not saying” thing either.
Without knowing more concretely what you suggest we do, I don’t really have a take on whether I agree or not.
Are you expecting someone to provide you with all the answers?
Organize literally anything; a labor union, tenant union, alternatives to capital, a community garden, etc. Getting involved means doing whatever you have the capacity to do. Sometimes organizing is long and challenging, sometimes it’s short and sweet. The thing is, there’s different recommendations for different types of organizing. A post like this really can’t get any more specific, because organizing is actually that broad of a topic.
Arm yourself to defend yourself and others from random acts of political violence. Use the arms to defend drag time story hour. Use the arms to protect the people you care about. Use the arms to watch cops. Get a gun, learn how to use it, and then only use it in emergency self defense. Having a substantial presence of guns at a protest against capital is already self defense, because cops know they can’t push the crowd too much. That’s why you shouldn’t wait for tanks to be rolling through before you arm yourself.
Mutual aid is part of organizing, and will become incredibly important over the next few years. If you want more insight then I recommend reading Kropotkin’s book on the matter.
If you’re looking for someone to follow, I recommend following yourself and your ideals. It’s very obvious that the point of the post is to take action, not to follow OP.
Are you expecting someone to provide you with all the answers?
Only to explain the answers that they’re already bringing up.
And, honestly, your answer and OP’s answer are exactly the sort of answers I needed. Thank you.
I guess the short restatement is something like “work with others to create an alternative to depending on the capitalist/fascist system for crumbs and then protect that alternative system on a self-defense basis with firearms. (And be ready to before you actually have to.)”
“Get organized/involved” - What’s that mean in more practical terms? Start attending social gatherings put on/hosted by radical leftist organizations? And maybe start ones if they don’t exist in your area?
“Start organizing” - Same as that first bullet?
“Get involved in mutual aid” - Yeah, ok. I’ve read Eisenstein. I know his book Sacred Economics has some tips for how to get involved with existing mutual aid organizations. I definitely need to re-read that bit and read other sources about that. But at least I have an idea where to start with some of that, I guess. I’d still like more specifics on what in particular you mean by this, though.
Get involved with local organizations, preferably radically left (because otherwise your options are more centrist or conservative, which imo is how we ended up here), that will help you set up mutual aid networks for basic resources and protection. Organize your communities so people have a support structure that isn’t dependent on our broken and corrupt system so that they feel comfortable protesting and resisting tyranny. Build it up so that within the networks you have access to secure communications, free access to information, basic necessities and resources (i.e. food, water, healthcare, medicine, etc.), and planning for resistance and direct action.
“Get armed” - So, acquire firearms. To use in some particular way? (You mentioned you’re not advocating for “acts of violence or an insurrection like January 6th”, so not that, apparently.) Or just to have for when “something” happens? If so, what specifically?
“Don’t wait until troops are rolling down the street to stage a resistance” - 'K. Not really helpful until I understand more specifically what you’re advocating for people to do.
“Get involved with resistance” - So, let’s say you’re a respected voice in a mutual aid radical anarchist collective with guns and enthusiasm. What do you suggest they do?
“Stand, fight, and maybe even die” - How? Not January 6th, but… how then?
“Don’t do nothing”/“Don’t lay down and accept our fate” - Not really helpful on its own if we don’t know what you’re suggesting we do instead of “doing nothing” or “laying down and accepting our fate.”
Get armed, trained, and be prepared to fight so that you can protect those mutual aid networks when the fascists come to dismantle them. Be prepared to fight and lay down your life for those in your community who are bigger targets (i.e. women, people of color, queer and gender non-conforming people, immigrants, etc.) just as you would want them to do for you. As much as possible, become a unified force against the tyranny.
I’m not advocating for random acts of violence or Jan 6th like action because yes that would get me banned, but that also will not be an effective form of resistance. Effective resistance will need to be directed, organized, and focused with specific goals. At some point that may look like fighting a revolutionary war or a coup, but the American people need to crawl before they start walking, let alone run. We need to build strong communities, whether virtual or physical, where we can support each other and try to minimize the harm being done.
Yeah, good answers. Thank you.
No problemo, i welcome the feedback and criticism. Thank you for engaging in a good discussion
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I’d say over half. I and many others in my circle are already executing on our escape. If we even can…
America is done.
For those that can’t leave, find a community, build a commune, and support each other. Strength in numbers.
First of all, I’m not from the USA so take this with a grain of salt, but are you suggesting the election was rigged or fraudulent? Because if not you’re the one trying to impose an authoritative regime. Like it or not he was elected democratically, and this time you can’t even use the excuse that your voting system is weird because he also got the majority of votes. So the majority of people in your country think that he’s the correct person for the job, or in any case don’t oppose him.
So what you’re talking about is for a minority to raise arms against the democratically elected government. You are the one who’s being anti-democratic. Even if you were to win the revolution you would need to put a tyrant in power because calling a new election would result in the same outcome.
Like it or not the majority of the people in your country are stupid enough to either want that or not caring. That’s one of the dangers of democracy, but starting a revolution to remove a democratically elected president in the name of democracy is just as dumb.
but are you suggesting the election was rigged or fraudulent?
no.
Because if not you’re the one trying to impose an authoritative regime.
also no, I’m advocating for community organizing against a very obviously fascist regime. im advocating for mutual aid and self reliance. y’know, the things people who are typically targeted by fascists need.
So what you’re talking about is for a minority to raise arms against the democratically elected government.
again, not what I’m saying.
Even if you were to win the revolution you would need to put a tyrant in power because calling a new election would result in the same outcome.
not necessarily?
That’s one of the dangers of democracy, but starting a revolution to remove a democratically elected president in the name of democracy is just as dumb.
nowhere did i say i was fighting in the name of democracy. I do think democracy is generally good, although i do not view the US as a democratic country. but that’s not what im advocating for at all in this. I’m advocating for genuine survival under an oppressive regime and solidarity amongst the people against tyranny. if shit gets real bad, do i think it’s just to fight against it and resist? absolutely. but as I’ve said in other comments, the American people aren’t close to that yet. we need to organize first.
Late 2015.
Right now. I’m done with this shit.
This whole thing reads like a Honeypot.
Yeah that’s fair, i know i glow like a rod of uranium
Bold of you to assume I have my shit together enough to do any of this. Sounds nice though, and I wish you all the best.
When it becomes a direct mild inconvenience, people will be fed up, maybe.
Couple of things:
- Revolution sounds good until it actually happens, and then it sucks. It unleashes all the crazies and the outcome is uncertain. And it tanks the economy.
- If you look at exit polls, people told you why they voted for Trump. Rightly or wrongly, they don’t believe he is a fascist, or at least that the US system won’t allow him to indulge his fascist tendencies. Again, I don’t know if they are correct, but that’s what most people believe.
- The majority believe that the wokism and identity politics of the left is a greater threat to democracy than Trump.
So, the answer to your question is that you won’t find much support IRL because most people don’t actually think they are supporting fascism. Time will tell if Trump is an actual fascist or just a blowhard. I wish we didn’t have to wonder, but there you have it.
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I understand that. I’m not advocating for an immediate revolution but organizing and building mutual aid networks to protect those that are gonna be hit hardest. I also personally don’t care about the economy; i think caring about the economy more than people is how we got here.
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I understand. It’s really fucked up but that’s why we need to organize first. Whether or not a revolution happens, it’s never bad to organize.
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The majority also elected a fascist; see point 2.
So, the answer to your question is that you won’t find much support IRL because most people don’t actually think they are supporting fascism.
Half the country doesn’t think hes a fascist, but the other half does. Especially around the area that I am, I’m not worried about garnering support.
Time will tell if Trump is an actual fascist or just a blowhard.
Those who lie in bed with fascists are fascists imo.
OK, so what does this mutual aid look like? Are you talking about organizing armed resistance for when the Gestapo come for you? Or more like food-sharing for when the revolution comes and destroys the economy you don’t care about? I don’t have a sense of what you are getting at.
I answered a lot more in depth in the comment I’m linking below. I will say i was very frustrated and emotional when writing this post, and having had time to cool off, think about it, and discuss it with some other people my stance has softened (which you might’ve seen in my responses, the one linked included). But I don’t disagree with what I said, just changed my focus onto what needs to happen first.
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We have to do both things. we have to get everyone we possibly can paying attention and work on peaceful ways to move ideas forward. i’m gonna keep saying make unions the base of* the dems. and point to minnesota who still has the democratic farmer labor party and pulles off some neat* shit.
there simply are not enough people available to do it quickly. it always ends with the people we claim to want to help being hurt. and we end up piled on top of them by some authoritarian we made a deal with.
now if you want to discuss disruptive actions that could need to be taken over the next few years. especially while throwing out the word arming. i’d like to kindly remind you we are in an armed police state on a Public. Fucking. Server. and point out that molitivcocktail hour does not announce itself and is never the option WE choose.
My dude, I’ve had a few friends abs roommates who are refugees. All I will say is that war is hell, and to invite it is madness.
Meh, I did my part. 51% of America wants a criminal facist dictator supported by his MAGA cronies in all levels of government.
I’m just going to put my head down, make money and keep my family safe.
Yep, at the end of the day, it is the will of the people. To me it sounds like we just need to divide up the country. The two sides are hopelessly far from compromise, or even tolerance of each other.
If I smelled burning flesh near a prison I’d have to kill myself right then.
I’m armed, and competent with arms.
