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Title: People Get Ready Author: Arthur Pye Date: November 2, 2020 Language: en Topics: Black Rose Anarchist Federation, popular power, preparation, crisis Source: Retrieved on 2nd November 2020 from https://blackrosefed.org/people-get-ready-popular-power-in-the-coming-crisis/
As the November election rapidly approaches, a larger battle is raging
over the future of this country. While the fate of the Presidency will
be consequential to say the least, its wider implications will be shaped
by forces far beyond the ballot box. To understand the full weight of
this moment, we have to look beyond the election itself, at the broader
context of a nation mired in crisis and rebellion.
It is the strength of popular movements, more than anything else, which
will determine the fate of the United States, for better or worse. As
Trump threatens to trigger a constitutional crisis over the election
results, organized mass resistance is the best weapon we have, not only
to stop an attempted coup, but to fight for a just and livable world. We
are living in an age of crisis, and with or without Trump, popular power
is our only hope.
We are living through a time of unparalleled and compounding crises. The
almighty US empire, with its promise of safety, stability and
prosperity, is in a state of sharp decline. Its veil of legitimacy is
lifting. Under the backdrop of a deadly global pandemic and rapidly
accelerating climate change, American society is being ravaged by
systemic racism, state violence, unemployment, housing insecurity,
gender violence, declining mental health, escalating political violence,
and a looming election crisis.
Like most crises, this moment has been accompanied by widespread
polarization and radicalization. As faith in the legitimacy of existing
institutions plummets across the board, people come to their own
conclusions and increasingly take matters into their own hands. The
center simply cannot hold. On the left, we’ve seen this in the wildcat
strikes of the pandemic as well as the militant tactics and abolitionist
demands of the George Floyd Rebellion. On the right, we see it in the
armed protests against State COVID restrictions, conspiracy theories
like Qanon, white supremacist violence and the growing militia movement.
As the ranks of radicals swell on both sides, conflict between them
intensifies. The 2020 Presidential Election (and its mainstream media
frenzy) has only served to amplify this polarization as a deepening
culture war.
What we are seeing is a fundamental instability of the neoliberal
establishment, as its basic institutions increasingly cease to function.
Its demise is far from inevitable, but as it weakens, cracks are
beginning to open, presenting opportunities for both left popular
movements and the far right to push for alternatives. Whether our
current system is ultimately reconstituted or transformed into something
else will depend on the outcome of these struggles in the coming period.
Rather than quietly submitting to fear and disillusionment, the people
of this country have met crisis with outrage and direct action on a mass
scale. The first wave came in response to the pandemic. When bosses and
politicians condemned thousands of people to death in order to safeguard
their own profits and political control, workers and community members
fought back with a wave of wildcat strikes and grassroots mutual aid
networks.
The second wave came in response to the relentless racist terror of
American policing. We are still in the midst of an unprecedented
national uprising against state violence and white supremacy. Since May,
tens of millions of people have flooded into the streets of America,
demanding systemic change through sustained mass protest and bold
disruptive action. In doing so, the George Floyd Rebellion has exercised
real transformative power, capturing public consciousness and uniting
diverse social movements around a radical vision of racial justice,
abolition and self-determination.
This movement has transformed the cultural and political landscape with
remarkable speed. Less than a week after George Floyd’s murder, a
majority of Americans said the burning of a Minneapolis Police precinct
was “justified.” Calls to defund and disband the police spread like
wildfire, winning broad support across the country. As the streets
swelled, protestors held their ground, often laying siege to local
police departments night after night, forcing some to retreat from their
stations altogether. Through the act of collective struggle, people have
begun to uncover a dangerous secret – that the police are not
invincible, and sustained mass action can quickly bring the powerful to
their knees.
This rebellion has posed a direct threat to State power, provoking panic
and reaction across the spectrum of the ruling class. The liberal
establishment has attempted to neutralize the rebellion through
co-optation, pacification and division. On the other side of the
spectrum, Trump’s GOP and its far-Right base have tried to crush it by
force, through vigilante violence and direct state repression. This
conflict has not only given voice to communities terrorized by centuries
of systemic oppression, it has also exposed the violent racism which
still permeates the very foundations of state power and much of the
American psyche.
Nothing illustrates the volatility of our current moment more clearly
than the uncertainty surrounding the upcoming election. Amidst a deadly
pandemic, a collapsing economy and escalating political unrest, the
sitting US President is openly threatening to throw the country into a
full-blown constitutional crisis if he is not re-elected. This is
unprecedented in modern US history, and even top officials are unsure
whether existing legal structures can withstand the challenge.
There has been much speculation about possible scenarios and how they
may unfold in the period following election day. But suffice it to say,
the stage is set for a full-blown meltdown. Unless Biden wins such a
staggering victory across the board that Trump and the Republicans
miraculously give up and set aside all their sinister plans, the results
will be contested. Trump has made it crystal clear that unless he wins
outright (which is looking increasingly unlikely), he and his party will
sound the alarm, claiming widespread voter fraud and denying the
legitimacy of the election. From there, we could quickly enter uncharted
territory, from which there’s no turning back. An ensuing battle will
rage, not only in federal courts and the halls of congress, but in the
streets of America.
In the weeks and months that follow, this conflict could dramatically
transform the social and political landscape of the country in
unpredictable ways, regardless of who eventually takes office. If Trump
makes a clear effort to steal the election, we will almost certainly see
a dramatic and widespread upsurge in political activity on the left,
including mass direct action on a scale possibly beyond even the George
Floyd Rebellion. The right will likely respond with aggressive actions
from “Patriot” militias and other loyalist groups, easily leading to an
escalating cycle of political violence which could edge the nation
closer and closer towards the brink of low-grade civil war.
In this election, two broad forces are coalescing around the respective
parties, presenting popular movements with a choice between two enemies:
the neoliberal establishment and an insurgent right-wing
authoritarianism. The neoliberals, represented by the Biden-Harris
Democratic Party, are committed to maintaining the stability of the
current system by co-opting, pacifying and dividing today’s progressve
movements. Trump’s GOP and its far-Right base represent a fascistic
alternative, committed to crushing progressive movements by force,
enforcing a racist and nationalist agenda, dismantling the existing
regulatory state, and consolidating their own power beyond the official
bounds of representative democracy. That both these forces are hostile
to our movement should be clear. The question is which will wield the
full powers of the State for the next four years.
Not all enemies are created equal. They don’t all wield power in the
same way. They don’t have the same interests and vulnerabilities. Under
equal pressure from social movements, they don’t yield the same results.
While Biden and the Democrats undeniably represent the same rotten
system our movement is fighting to dismantle, the blatant
authoritarianism and white supremacy of Trump’s GOP represents a unique
threat, not only to the left and to communities of color, but to the
very notion of democracy itself (whether we believe our current system
is actually democratic or not).
If reelected to a second term, Trump will almost certainly move to
consolidate his power and expand his most reactionary policies. If
emboldened through a successful power-grab, there’s no telling how far
he will go. The difference between these two enemies controlling the
State is therefore enormously consequential. It could mean the
difference between our movement playing offense or defense – between
fighting for a Green New Deal, police abolition and universal health
care, or fighting just to keep our communities safe and our comrades out
of prison in Trump’s America 2.0. For some, it will mean the difference
between life and death.
None of this is to suggest we can simply vote our way out of this
crisis. If anything, Trump’s attempt to override the election results
should be proof enough that voting is a woefully insufficient strategy.
Regardless of which party holds the presidency, our movement must
continue fighting a war on two fronts – advancing struggles for social
and environmental justice in the face of both neoliberalism and Trump’s
insurgent right-wing authoritarianism.
In the days following November 3^(rd), the action (or inaction) of
popular movements will prove decisive in determining Trump’s chances of
staying in power. Immediately following election day, as votes are being
counted, the left has to mobilize an enormous show of force, making it
clear that he will have a national uprising on his hands if he so much
as whispers about overriding the results.
As soon as Trump makes the slightest attempt to steal the election, we
have to respond immediately with massive direct actions across the
country. Dozens of major cities and large sectors of the economy should
be effectively brought to a standstill until Trump concedes. We have to
make it abundantly clear not only to Trump, but to his entire party and
its powerful corporate backers, that the country will become
ungovernable until he steps down. Rapid escalation is critical here. The
Republicans cannot be given any time or wiggle room to exploit the legal
system, spread disinformation, or intimidate people into inaction.
Security forces loyal to the President must be quickly overwhelmed by
the sheer scale of collective action.
There will surely be widespread calls for public protest, supported by
the Democratic Party. But to exert the power necessary to make Trump’s
bid untenable, popular movements have to push these mobilizations beyond
protest, into a full scale national uprising. The Democrats will likely
discourage anything beyond symbolic protest, urging us to stand on the
sidelines and trust the legal system to work itself out. They will be
mistaken. It will be crucial at this point for popular movements to push
back and insist on bold disruptive action.
Shutting the country down is no small feat. While we’re likely to see a
massive surge of energy in the streets, energy alone is not enough. It
will take organization and resolve to effectively sustain that level of
action. Here, the George Floyd Rebellion has provided us with invaluable
lessons. We know from recent experience that success will require mass
participation, strategic alliances among diverse groups, a commitment to
direct action, and organized support networks to sustain momentum and
keep people safe. Our power lies in our numbers and our ability to
directly disrupt the routine political and economic functioning of the
country. That means organizing mass blockades and occupations of major
infrastructure such as transportation corridors, ports, railways,
federal courthouses and capitol buildings.
Strikes are another crucial tactic. Organized workers hold a tremendous
amount of power, especially in key industries and government agencies.
The threat of a possible coup attempt has already provoked many unions
to consider post-election walkouts. These efforts should be
enthusiastically bolstered and supported. The collective action of
organized workers could prove pivotal to the success of the uprising,
broadening its reach and dramatically expanding its disruptive power.
This power would reach its ultimate potential in the form of a general
strike, where workers across a range of industries, throughout an entire
region (or the whole country) strike simultaneously with the same
demand.
Whatever form the uprising takes, it will not go unchallenged. Trump
will almost certainly unleash the full extent of his loyal forces in an
attempt to crush the uprising and galvanize his supporters. Based on his
reaction to recent #BlackLivesMatter protests, we can expect these
forces to include the police, DHS, the National Guard, and various
far-Right militias. We could easily see a further escalation this time
around, depending on how the situation develops. If Trump feels
threatened enough, he could order the DHS to round up activists and
detain them as suspected “antifa terrorists.” He could also attempt to
deploy the US Military again, this time invoking the Insurrection Act.
If that fails, he could openly call on loyalist “patriot” militias to
deploy into American streets. It’s impossible to predict, but we should
consider all these courses of action to be within the realm of
possibility.
The most important thing to remember is that our best self-defense from
any of these threats is to build a movement that is simply too big to
crush. Many of us think of the police and other state forces as
invincible but if the uprising this summer taught us anything it’s that
they are not. Trump only has so many forces at his disposal, and
(crucially) the military does not appear to be one of them. That means a
straight-forward military coup is out of the question. If everyday
people are able to effectively shut down dozens of major cities and
entire sectors of the economy for a prolonged period of time through a
massive and sustained popular uprising and widespread labor strikes,
there are simply not enough cops and soldiers to bring that kind of
situation under control. Many of them would eventually become
demoralized, and some would refuse orders. Even Trump’s most loyal
ruling class backers would have to rethink their position. The sheer
scale and force of disruption by popular movements would instill a fear
of institutional instability which outweighs whatever potential benefits
Trump promises them. Eventually the president would have no choice but
to step down.
An attempted power-grab by Trump should be seen not only as a major
threat to the left, but also as an enormous opportunity to build the
power of our movements. If mass popular resistance forces the President
to step down, our movement will hold an enormous amount of leverage –
the power to bring the U.S. government to its knees. In such a moment,
we will face a critical decision: do we surrender this power to the
Democrats, or continue to wield it in the interests of our own
transformational goals. Will our energy be turned towards a Biden
Administration, or deflated by it?
Those who fail to realize the power they hold will be easily convinced
to “go home” as soon as Trump concedes. This would be a grave mistake.
The moment we demobilize, we will not only weaken our prospects for
progressive change, we will also be opening up space for the inevitable
backlash of the far-Right. Our ability to avoid this pitfall will be
shaped over the course of the uprising itself. It will depend on our
ability to fight on our own terms.
Just because an uprising is sparked by election-tampering, doesn’t mean
our demands should be limited to the terms of the election itself. Are
we fighting for Joe Biden, or for liberation? Are we fighting for the
status quo, or for the full realization of our movement’s vision? The
limits of our power will be shaped by the way we define victory itself.
If we define it as defense of the status quo, then the most we can hope
for is what we already have. If we define it as liberatory
transformation, then our resistance to Trump can become resistance to
the entire ruling establishment itself.
This opens up a world of possibility for transformation from below. With
this revolutionary spirit, we can build lasting structures of popular
power over the course of the uprising. Local assemblies, action
councils, militant unions, community defense groups and mutual aid
networks could sustain mass momentum beyond the uprising and lay the
groundwork for a revolutionary movement. Only then can we begin to
emancipate ourselves from the system that gave rise to Trump in the
first place and go on to fight for truly free, ecological and democratic
society.
Organize with your coworkers or fellow students and prepare to strike
after election day. Organize with your neighbors and community members
to care for each other and defend each other. Organize mutual aid
networks. Join a local grassroots organization. Unite diverse
organizations into strategic coalitions. Organize an affinity group with
your friends and prepare to take action. Organize study circles about
direct action tactics, first aid, legal rights, security culture and how
to stay safe at a protest. Raise money for community bail funds. Open up
your home as a potential safehouse for activists. Discuss revolutionary
politics with your fellow activists. In short – get organized.
And never forget: Trump is a symptom. Capitalism is the crisis. Popular
power is our only hope.