> On Jan 20, 2025, at 5:18 AM, Carl Peters via groups.io
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> It's odd that a supposed Marxist, Mark Baugher, takes a "Bah! Humbug!"
> attitude to anti-Trump protests.
I believe that even a collection of real Marxists like Carl Peters should have
disagreements. In a democratically-functioning organization, that's a sign of
health. In the US left today, the practice of "exposing" people as "frauds"
undercuts the debate that we badly need: The US left is very ineffective; we
failed to achieve any wins in the anti-globalization movement, anti-Iraq war
movement, Occupy, Black Lives Matters, and against the Gaza genocide. We should
ask ourselves "what are we doing wrong?" rather than exposing supposed
Marxists, fake socialists, tankies, hypocritical anti-imperialists, and etc.
> So, we're supposed to take the rightward turn in U.S. politics lying down?
That's the Democratic Party's job, Carl. We fight capitalism here. Biden isn't
a rightist, but were Gazans better off with him as US president? Were the 10M
US families who fraudulently lost their homes and most their life savings
better off under Obama? How about Clinton, who caused the 2008-09 financial
meltdown by making all the wishes of the US financial industry come true? The
rightward turn of Democratic Party politics happened under Clinton.
The question is not fighting the drift of US politics but the murderous
destruction of US capitalism, in the US and worldwide. So, how to do THAT? What
do you expect will happen by protesting Trump's election? The united front
against Trump's election is the Democratic Party. I see this a replay of the
2017 Women's March, which was coopted by them. In the first Trump
administration the Democrats mobilized an activist wing by coopting the Womens
March, creating programs like Indivisible, and organizing other engaging
activities. How did that turn out for us? Should we do that again and protest
the outcome of a presidential election in preparation for the midterms? The
Womens March movement split over Zionism after the midterms after internalizing
the political contradictions of the Democratic Party - a peek of what was to
come after 10/7.
> He complains that such protests have no concrete demands, but this is a lie.
> They have plenty of demands, from what I've seen, from opposition to Trump's
> planned mass deportations, to his support for Israeli war aims, to his
> opposition to reproductive rights (abortion, etc.), to Trump's open embrace
> of oligarchic rule. Baugher raises the danger of the movement being co-opted
> by Democratic Party officialdom. OK, so how do you oppose that? By throwing
> cold water on the movement? By opposing any talk of anti-MAGA politics and
> leaving the field open to the Democrats?
For starters, wait until does Trump does something rather than protesting what
he says he is going to do. We need concrete, visceral issues to develop tactics
based on what people in the US are seeing and experiencing. We organize united
fronts around specific issues that can mobilize people against the forces
behind Trump and Biden and Obama, Bush, and Clinton. This week's protests
cannot do that. Protesting the inauguration of Trump is a Democratic Party
mission.
Mark
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