I’m going to start right off by saying, I am not advocating for anybody to do anything stupid.
But I feel like we have a very deeply ingrained caution about what some people call “adventurism,” or others call “propaganda of the deed.” Nobody ever makes the case against it.
I won’t spend too much time reiterating the argument for caution. I think it is reckless for somebody to take it upon themselves to throw kerosene into the fire. To unilaterally commit an act of antagonism which will surely cause blowback.
But as far as the manifold problems facing the western left go, “too much adventurism” has got to be at the very bottom off the list. There actually is an appetite for vigilante class justice. You can see it in the volcano of catharsis which erupts after events like Trump catching Covid, Shinzo Abe being vaporized, the Billionaire submarine implosion, and now, the assassination of the United Health CEO.
The proletariat is openly celebrating, while the bourgeois politicians and television news anchors bitterly clutch their pearls. The response to the killing is overwhelmingly positive, and in it, the class lines could not be drawn any more clearly.
This is NOT an essay titled “The Case for Adventurism.” Just a reflection on the changing social climate.
Andreas Malm’s book “How to Blow Up a Pipeline” talks about how the climate movement could engage direct action sabotage of infrastructure related to fossil fuel production, and likely be seen as heroes/righteous self-defense by the greater public. That was published before Covid, before ongoing climate collapse worsened faster than people imagined, and before the appalling violence of colonialism made clear as day by the events in Israel.
The reactions to events you mentioned and reaction to this event give us reason to think Malm was likely right at the time, and that the window for “legitimate target of self-defense” is even wider now. Infrastructure/equipment alone is not not the only legitimate target in the eyes of the public.
Copying a post I just made on Masto
Just realizing now that I recalled Trump catching Covid and completely forgot about him getting SHOT lmfao.
Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ear. because mine got shot off
Andreas Malm’s book “How to Blow Up a Pipeline” talks about how the climate movement could engage direct action sabotage of infrastructure related to fossil fuel production, and likely be seen as heroes/righteous self-defense by the greater public. That was published before Covid, before ongoing climate collapse worsened faster than people imagined, and before the appalling violence of colonialism made clear as day by the events in Israel.
The reactions to events you mentioned and reaction to this event give us reason to think Malm was likely right at the time, and that the window for “legitimate target of self-defense” is even wider now. Infrastructure/equipment alone is not not the only legitimate target in the eyes of the public.