It’s educate, AGITATE, organize

edit: putting this at the top so people understand the basis for this:

You may well ask: “Why direct action? Why sit ins, marches and so forth? Isn’t negotiation a better path?” You are quite right in calling for negotiation. Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored. My citing the creation of tension as part of the work of the nonviolent resister may sound rather shocking. But I must confess that I am not afraid of the word “tension.” I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth. Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, so must we see the need for nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood.

Letter from Birmingham, MLK

  • archomrade [he/him]OP
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    1 month ago

    It can’t both be

    • a losing issue and
    • an issue that threatens to let fascists win

    Either pushing this issue threatens the democratic base of support or nobody cares enough about this issue to make it a winning one.

    • PugJesus@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      It can’t both be

      a losing issue and

      an issue that threatens to let fascists win

      what the fuck

      That…

      that’s exactly why it IS a losing issue

      This isn’t some fucking game, where the sides are ‘balanced’ or someshit.

      We run in a system where victories are decided by a fraction of a fucking percentage point.

      • archomrade [he/him]OP
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        1 month ago

        Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue.

        I’m just going to keep quoting this back to you.

        • PugJesus@lemmy.world
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          1 month ago

          Uh, okay, you have fun with not understanding the difference between social change and an election coming up in a handful of months with tensions over key issues already sky-high, and ‘Foreign Policy tension’ being pretty fucking unlikely to top or come close to any of them regardless of how loud you make “Genocide Joe” chants.

          • archomrade [he/him]OP
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            1 month ago

            Then it shouldnt be of any concern to you that I continue agitating it.

            • PugJesus@lemmy.world
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              1 month ago

              It shouldn’t be any concern to me that you’re agitating on an issue that can’t possibly win us the election, but can very possibly lose us the election?

              • archomrade [he/him]OP
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                1 month ago

                you’re agitating on an issue that can’t possibly win us the election, but can very possibly lose us the election?

                “[…]create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue.”

                • PugJesus@lemmy.world
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                  1 month ago

                  Negotiations only work when there is something that both sides can agree on exchanging, and refusing a deal offered, even a poor one (“I will condemn Israeli genocide but not make any actions against it”), is only viable insofar as you’re willing to accept the alternative (“I will give Israel everything it wants and more, and also I will commit genocide here, and also you can look forward to never having a real election again”).

                  • archomrade [he/him]OP
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                    1 month ago

                    Except, at least on paper, we all agree that there is a resolution that would be acceptable to both parties.

                    I suspect (as do many other leftists who have a more cynical view of american imperialism than you do) that Biden is well aware of what the right thing to do is, but doesn’t want to be the one to give up the benefits of having Israel as a foothold in the middle east and is willing to accept a genocide in order to keep it.

                    If Biden ever made a strong case publicly on why Israel is such an important ally that we should ignore their atrocities, it would be impossible for any of us to miss it. I think we haven’t seen that case being made because nobody who believes in the benevolence of the US would be happy with it.