this post was submitted on 28 Apr 2025
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The Democratic party would love to turn this movement into nothing more than a "vote blue!" movement. We all know that we need to turn to more effective alternatives than that, that we need to stop and abolish ICE & cop cities, form tenant unions against the landlords eating our paychecks, and so much more.
Use these protests as a chance to connect with groups that are on the same page, even if it's at a local level. Make connections, meet neighbors, refuse to be policed by so-called "protest leaders", look for opportunities for direct action (but not near the protests)
The best case scenario outcome for these protests is organization. And unless they grow very quickly and are extremely successful in radicalizing an absolutely massive number of people, a lot of that organizational energy needs to focus on elections.
Viable Presidential candidates come from Congress and state Governorship. Viable Congressional and Gubernatorial candidates come from local offices. We should certainly try to organize more direct action, but that takes time. In that time we should be encouraging every leftist to either run for local office or campaign for someone who is. There's no reason not to promote electoral strategy while we simultaneously build critical mass for direct action.
Nothing wrong with voting, or running for low-level offices especially if you can take the right-wing pressure off your local library or school board. But we've seen with Bernie in 2016, with attempts to primary The Squad and other even slightly center-left Democrats in Congress (and if AOC runs for president, we'll see it again), that the Democratic party organizations, national and local, will largely come together against any leftist candidate. They have been tacking right for several elections now, for decades since Reagan, and I think it's about time we learn the lesson that electoral pressure isn't effective on them at this point. They know that we have no choice but to vote for them because the Republican party is so monstrous, so why on earth would they suddenly let a bunch of leftists spoil that?
Tenant unions work. They will get your plumbing fixed, your heating fixed, and can even (eventually) make your landlord sell the building to a tenant co-op. What if multiple tenant unions organize together? You can really make things happen. The real estate lobby is a huge part of what is screwing us over, so why not fight back directly instead of trying to elect someone who somehow has the superhuman ideological purity to be immune to the RE lobby's propaganda?
Direct action gets the goods. The civil rights movement wasn't just marching, speeches, and voting -- it was disruptive! It had boycotts, sit-ins, and the Black Panthers. The 5-day, 40-hour work week (and the entire New Deal) wasn't won by "getting our candidates in office", it was won by strikes and labor actions, supported by towns and municipalities' worth of people. Our indigenous water protectors, forest defenders, and other formations have stopped pipelines from being built and actually prevented ecological destruction.
It's electoralism that takes too long.
I agree, but all the other wonderful stuff you brought up is also taking a pretty long time to become widespread. That's the only reason I really care about the electoral side.
Widespread unionization of all types would be ideal, followed by a gradual conversion to co-ops. I think that's both reasonably achievable and effective in service of the long term goal. Unless union membership goes exponential real soon though, that's going to take years, if not decades. These protests offer a fantastic time to push unionization. We need representatives out there with clear messages and easily digestible literature.