Also, whatever you think of this action (I happen to be against it because it's illegal.), acknowledge that mobilizing this many people is the result of invisible forms of organizing, not neccesarily legible to the "left" whose traditions cross-polinate with the professionalized activism of ngos, labor unions and political parties.

It's just a shame that it was expressed this way. We need major social democratic reforms and avenues for disenfranchised people to exercise political power so these kinds of desperate actions don't disrupt our lives.

The provocative title is a way to call attention to the ways that overseas reporting and domestic reporting on social conflict differ. A detournament of imperialist propaganda if you will.

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[–] 420blazeit69@hexbear.net 0 points 2 years ago (4 children)

acknowledge that mobilizing this many people is the result of invisible forms of organizing

This is unfalsifiable even in the best possible light. I think there's a strong possibility this is more spontaneous than organized, and more opportunistic than political.

[–] Nagarjuna@hexbear.net 0 points 2 years ago (3 children)

I think there's a thin line between the opportunistic and and the political in working class politics. The goal of looting is to improve the lives of working class people. The goal of striking is to improve the lives of working class people. They both do it by taking from the profits of buisnesses and by disrupting norms like working-for-a-wage and purchasing-commodities.

When anarchists organize looting as political protest, they're pointing out just how thin that line is.

[–] 420blazeit69@hexbear.net 0 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Is there any evidence that anarchists (or other leftists) organized this? I've seen nothing along those lines.

Say there is, and say, for the sake of argument, all the 2020 protests (as well as the violence started by police) were planned by the left. Maybe one major city (Minneapolis?) slightly reduced its police budget in response to the protests and the modest demand to defund the police? It wasn't effective. If we don't evaluate what works and what doesn't we're just libs riffing off ideology.

[–] Nagarjuna@hexbear.net 1 points 2 years ago

I don't care if anarchists organized this or local teens organized it. Either way it's working class self activity. We aren't some special group floating above the working class and directing it, we're workers fighting for our own interests.

This kind of thinking about the left as separate from the class comes from the professionalization of politics and while it's sometimes neccesary to pay staff, we should not do it uncritically.

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