And it wasn't just Malcolm X:
Really, if, on January 6th, Bernie Sanders had given the same speech as Trump (substituting "healthcare" when necessary) to a demonstration of thousands of angry people he had mobilized, enraged that they went bankrupt or their children died for lack of Medicare-for-All, and they had stormed the Capitol to force passage of it, my response would have been: "Right on!" I certainly wouldn't be pearl-clutching about how "the mob" was "desecrating" the sacred institutions that enact imperialist wars and capitalist austerity. It's hard to fathom that any self-described revolutionary socialist would.
By all means, Storm the Capitol! For the right (left) reasons. It depends on what you're fighting for.
Yes, I know, that organized working-class "we" doesn't exist. Bernie did not, and would not, do that. Unfortunately. But if and when that "we" does emerge, it better be prepared to do that. Because that kind of militant action is the only thing that is going to get us the most basic social-democratic reforms. As Bernie's reticence demonstrates.
"Progressive" reformers will never get the radical change we need by making better arguments that will eventually convince their Democratic colleagues. They don't care if you're right; they have the power. That cohort of the "left" is incapable of thinking about, let alone fighting for, power. The way, the only way, to get the substantive change the oligarchy and their political minions don't want to give is precisely to scare the f*ckers, to make them afraid of something worse--some worse physical violence or some worse political or economic defeat. That's a revolutionary socialist left.
Watch. If, after twenty years of doing nothing, there's some serious action on making elections more transparent and trustworthy before 2024--and there better be--it will only be because of what happened on January 6th. There will not be serious action on Medicare-for-All.
It's a shame that it takes the January 6th event to throw into relief the entire political trajectory of 2016-21 and the farcical state of "left" politics in the U.S.--especially, but not only, among Democratic-Party-aligned "progressives."
So, excuse me again, but I cringe at now seeing the torrent of liberals, "progressives," and some real left socialists, reacting to January 6th by joining with the ruling-class, and adopting its sanctimonious constitutionalist framing of the event, in order to reinforce the repressive apparatuses of the state. There's nothing more telling than watching "progressives" go from "defund the police" to "except the police that are protecting me."
And demonstrating
their commitment to free speech by trying to make sure no one ever strays
outside the Overton window sees or hears any seditious conspiracy theories
again. I'm sure that'll work. I'm sure it won't cause an enraged backlash, with
reason, at all.
(As I write, I am very glad to see that 135 Civil Rights Groups Oppose New Domestic Terrorism Statutes.)
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