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1/n: Thoughts on last 24 hours in the US from a progressive standpoint .
It’s not surprising what Trump tried to do. His was a classic extra-parliamentary tactic to force the US constitutional apparatus to overrule a democratic mandate against him.
It’s not surprising what Trump tried to do. His was a classic extra-parliamentary tactic to force the US constitutional apparatus to overrule a democratic mandate against him.
2/n The constituency for this coup was built over the last 4-5 years. The ingredients were stoking latent racism, disregard for constitutional norms in the garb of a “civilisational” defence & buying tacit support of the plutocracy through “pro-business” measures
3/n: This would not have happened without the majority feeling let down by the American state — it would be a fascinating study to measure how much have bottom 50% of the whites gained from the state in the post golden-age phase — & a class compromised Democratic leadership
4/n: Joe Biden’s victory was on thin ice. The radicals would have liked to have someone like Sanders. But there are no two things about this: the anti-Trump lot united behind Biden to successfully remove Trump from office. It was a coalition of extremes.
5/n: Had Trump not unleashed what he did yesterday, Biden would have had a moral deficit in his Presidency: a bigot-clown managed 45% plus of the popular vote even if he lost the electoral college. The neo-right would have found a new mascot if not Trump again in 2024
6/n: yesterday’s events present a classic watershed moment for the radical anti neo-right camp. They’ve gained moral high ground, even though they’ve had to support someone who’d probably go down in history like Keynes pitted agnst Marx, if I could borrow an economics comparison
7/n: where do they go from here? Can American capital be forced to see the reality that sanctity of the state is at risk without the discriminated underclass allying with the social (even if not financial elite)? Can state authority be used to scare a section of the neo-right?
8/n: classic leftists would dismiss the idea. Class contradictions, they would cite in defence of the dismissal. but isn’t politics the art of the possible? The spectre of communism pushed the envelope of democratic rights in the capitalist world.
9/n: can a spectre of neo-right extract class concessions from the economic elite? Concessions which address the sense of betrayal among the underclass which is also the racial majority. Would the right have let go of such a blunder by the progressives?
10/n: these questions aren’t relevant just for the US. There is no revolutionary communist wave in the world today which will defeat 21st century fascism (even if one agreed to — I don’t — describe neo-right as that). So what do you do?
11/n: even a bourgeois resistance is incredibly difficult thanks to the beast called social media, which is more than willing to amplify bigotry, especially when it’s winning elections. Thanks to it’s global dominance, US media wasn’t dependent on state’s favours to survive.
12/n: this is an epoch of a united front (not class compromised) tactic against the neo-right. The right promises higher profits through lower taxes/squeeze on labour, but can compromise the very premise of the economy, and trigger periodic explosions of anger of the oppressed.
13/n: this is the time for convincing the majority on the lines of “state’s not just biased against me, it could unleash a mad man’s whims against you too”. But it will take common pain to drive home this point. May be it was the pandemic in these elections in the US.
n/n: yesterday’s political siege is as symbolic as 9/11. The latter changed politics in the US & world; advantage NSO-right. Can the progressives do the same & regain advantage?
There’s a lot to think about.
There’s a lot to think about.
Neo-right, not NSO-right
