Protests in the street are great but our real power comes from shutting everything down by not working. And by crippling the parasitic landowners by striking on our outrageous rents.
My rent has gone up around $600 a month over the last 8 years from $1200-$1800. It's not some gigantic or nice place, though it's not a slum either. All this increase of price and nothing has been done to warrant an increase. They didn't improve this place. They just are allowed to starve us all.
I sincerely doubt that Americans will ever wake up to the realities of class oppression within our lifetime. It's always going to come down to a matter of identity politics, and that's the way the ruling 1% would like to keep it. "Be angry at them, not us." But since there's now a literal resurrgence of neo-nazism in the US I'd say it's a bit late now to for seeing eye to eye with your fellow worker.
It's unfortunately going to be a long, long time before there's any organized action around rent increases while everyone's worried that their neighbors might get disappeared for having the wrong skin color.
Americans are not practiced in large enough numbers in protest, demonstration, civil disobedience, and solidarity for a large scale general or rent strike to be successful. There needs to be a ramp up period with increasingly more frequent and expansive demonstrations for that to become practical.
We aren't there yet. If we get there it'll take an inciting incident. An inflection point. Probably ICE killing a kid on camera or another Luigi. Grim.
The general strike is, of course, not an agency that can be invoked arbitrarily on every occasion. It needs certain social assumptions to give it its proper moral strength and make it a proclamation of the will of the broad masses of the people. The ridiculous claim, which is so often attributed to the Anarcho-Syndicalists, that it is only necessary to proclaim a general strike in order to achieve a Socialist society in a few days, is, of course, just a silly invention of evil-minded opponents bent on discrediting an idea which they cannot attack by any other means.
Rudolf Rocker, Anarcho-syndicalism: Theory and Practice
Protests aren't magic things. Especially when the stakes are so high, the government isn't going to just cave in with one protest, no matter how "productive". They need to happen again, and again, and again, to the point where it actually inconveniences them.
It works in France because there’s an implication that you guys will start burning everything to the ground if the government doesn’t capitulate. The implication comes from a clear and demonstrated history of actually doing so.
Our history of that is much less clear, especially in recent history.
I don't know about the Vietnam war protests, but the Civil Rights Movement was a lot more militant than do-nothing liberals would want you to believe. Look up the Black Panthers and people like Malcolm X, and even the peaceful side included real civil disobedience and obstruction. There's no equivalence between what Americans are doing now and what MLK and crew did.
The Black Panthers weren't even formed until the greatest victories of the Civil Rights Movement had already been won, and for all of Malcolm X's rhetoric before leaving the Nation of Islam, the threat of violence from Black Nationalists was not a core factor to the victories of the Civil Rights Movement.
MLK Jr. spent nearly a decade and a half building organizations and connections for nationwide resistance.
34 Comments
karashta@piefed.social · 51 pts · 353d
Still no rent strikes and general strikes?
Protests in the street are great but our real power comes from shutting everything down by not working. And by crippling the parasitic landowners by striking on our outrageous rents.
My rent has gone up around $600 a month over the last 8 years from $1200-$1800. It's not some gigantic or nice place, though it's not a slum either. All this increase of price and nothing has been done to warrant an increase. They didn't improve this place. They just are allowed to starve us all.
FosterMolasses@leminal.space · 15 pts · 353d
I sincerely doubt that Americans will ever wake up to the realities of class oppression within our lifetime. It's always going to come down to a matter of identity politics, and that's the way the ruling 1% would like to keep it. "Be angry at them, not us." But since there's now a literal resurrgence of neo-nazism in the US I'd say it's a bit late now to for seeing eye to eye with your fellow worker.
It's unfortunately going to be a long, long time before there's any organized action around rent increases while everyone's worried that their neighbors might get disappeared for having the wrong skin color.
MirthfulAlembic@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 353d
Americans are not practiced in large enough numbers in protest, demonstration, civil disobedience, and solidarity for a large scale general or rent strike to be successful. There needs to be a ramp up period with increasingly more frequent and expansive demonstrations for that to become practical.
NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io · 1 pts · 352d
Okay, and where is that?
redsand@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 9 pts · 353d
We aren't there yet. If we get there it'll take an inciting incident. An inflection point. Probably ICE killing a kid on camera or another Luigi. Grim.
frezik@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 5 pts · 353d
crafty_consumer@lemmy.world · 47 pts · 353d
October 18 for anyone who doesn't want to read the article
FosterMolasses@leminal.space · 8 pts · 353d
And it only took 6 months. Guess everyone needed a break to catch up on Squid Game.
MangioneDontMiss@lemmy.ca · -1 pts · 353d
iglou@programming.dev · 24 pts · 353d
Protests aren't magic things. Especially when the stakes are so high, the government isn't going to just cave in with one protest, no matter how "productive". They need to happen again, and again, and again, to the point where it actually inconveniences them.
Take it from a french.
whiwake@lemmy.cafe · 6 pts · 353d
It won’t ever inconvenience them. Everyone would have to quit. All at once. And stop paying bills. Everyone. They couldn’t do anything about it.
iglou@programming.dev · 7 pts · 353d
It does, eventually. Else we frenchies would have stopped doing it a long time ago :)
overthere@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 4 pts · 353d
It works in France because there’s an implication that you guys will start burning everything to the ground if the government doesn’t capitulate. The implication comes from a clear and demonstrated history of actually doing so.
Our history of that is much less clear, especially in recent history.
iglou@programming.dev · 5 pts · 353d
No, it works because we actually burn shit to the ground when the government doesn't capitulate. And that's not an ability only french genes have.
It's up to you to make sure your protests have an effect.
NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io · 1 pts · 352d
Compare any recent French protests to the parades going on in America right now. They're two completely different things.
MangioneDontMiss@lemmy.ca · -2 pts · 353d
iglou@programming.dev · 10 pts · 353d
Wrong. Just look at your own history...
To only quote the ones off the top of my head. I'd expect an American to remember these better than me.
NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io · 1 pts · 352d
I don't know about the Vietnam war protests, but the Civil Rights Movement was a lot more militant than do-nothing liberals would want you to believe. Look up the Black Panthers and people like Malcolm X, and even the peaceful side included real civil disobedience and obstruction. There's no equivalence between what Americans are doing now and what MLK and crew did.
PugJesus@piefed.social · 1 pts · 352d
The Black Panthers weren't even formed until the greatest victories of the Civil Rights Movement had already been won, and for all of Malcolm X's rhetoric before leaving the Nation of Islam, the threat of violence from Black Nationalists was not a core factor to the victories of the Civil Rights Movement.
MLK Jr. spent nearly a decade and a half building organizations and connections for nationwide resistance.
FosterMolasses@leminal.space · 0 pts · 353d
American education in a nutshell lol (which is part of the systemic problem, and by design)
iglou@programming.dev · 2 pts · 353d
Yep. Lack of education and pacifying Americans by making them believe that stuff like protests and unions are against their interests. Sad.
MangioneDontMiss@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 353d
whiwake@lemmy.cafe · -4 pts · 353d
It won’t work in the US
iglou@programming.dev · 4 pts · 353d
It works anywhere people in power can be inconvenienced. The US is no different.
whiwake@lemmy.cafe · -4 pts · 353d
Don’t hold your breath.
AntiBullyRanger@ani.social · -15 pts · 353d
whiwake@lemmy.cafe · 2 pts · 353d
Found the Wumao
AntiBullyRanger@ani.social · -8 pts · 353d
True. I get paid by being sent to the deathcamps.
Found the fash.
whiwake@lemmy.cafe · 2 pts · 353d
Where ya from?
AntiBullyRanger@ani.social · -7 pts · 353d
From the heaven’s way. Dao?
whiwake@lemmy.cafe · 2 pts · 353d
Too afraid to say your country of origin?
AntiBullyRanger@ani.social · 1 pts · 353d
whiwake@lemmy.cafe · -1 pts · 353d
Nope. See, I can answer questions.