TOTW: The Resistance, 2019

Following the 2016 election there was a wave of social unrest - we were called upon not to accept the “new normal” of the Trump administration, protesters attempted to disrupt the Inauguration, controversial immigration laws were met with people flooding airports, and countless reading lists bloomed to educate readers on the subject of fascism. This phenomenon was branded as The Resistance, a slogan which was soon to be associated with bumper stickers and obsessions with foreign intrigues that disrupt the “normal” as much as your garden variety conspiracy theorist.

Anarchists too were caught up in the moment of 2016, and our fires have been burning much longer than most whose stamina, attention, or faith in being able to change the world has waned into an angry malaise. In a podcast this January crimethinc. and IGD were even speculating that “the third year of any presidency is generally the most chaotic, and we must prepare ourselves for the very real possibility of mass collective action, as things continue to break apart.” Yet seven months into the year and much like in 2016 when IGD was speculating much the same thing in the wake of the airport protests any sort of frequency of individual or small group action, nevermind mass collective action, has failed to materialize or meet the seriousness of the situation we find ourselves in even as the “new normal” grows more nakedly cruel.

What do you make of the last three years of anarchist activities against Trump “and his world?” What might the next year (or five) look like? If there is indeed a “new normal” how do we resist it?

There are 76 Comments

unless the seething malaise actually manifests as something approaching the extreme polarization that precedes civil wars, the slide into more naked cruelty and an acceptance — if not celebration — of a carceral/police state will continue. the “resistance” was/is completely disjointed and pointlessly focused on Trump, when the problems of American politics have far more to do with the revolving doors between multinationals and non-elected government positions, not to mention lobbyists. in a complete misreading of American history (to the point of a toxic combination of wishful thinking and denial) the activismists at Lamethink and It’s Gone Far Enough think that more street protests and idiotic antifa flagwaiving will cause a crisis of legitimacy for the current administration. hint: they won’t. unlike what just happened in Puerto Rico, black people didn’t gain civil rights by marching, the Vietnam war wasn’t ended by marching, and Nixon didn’t resign because of marching. not even marching with broken windows.

haha, interesting to note, the people in P.R. didn’t gain any rights by marching either, just pressured a governor to resign by showing how much his public image was damaged by why what was leaked (which was the final straw in a list of things which people would have tolerated and “forgiven” had it not been for that).

for Trump to face similar circumstances he’d have to piss off his own voter base. so far he’s doing fanservice to racists and bigots, getting approval for tweeting things similar to what the soon to be ex-governor expressed in a private chat.

even if Trump was not reelected, we all know migration policies will not revert to pre-Obama by themselves, and patriot act etc “security” stuff will not revert to pre-Bush.

we live in the no future of “no we can’t”

what made monarchies go out of fashion?
explanations are long are boring.

we know more of the same will not give different results.
does anybody know what else is there?
shhh don’t say it here.

what’s been done during other two term presidencies?

Franco ruled from 1939 to 1975

two documentaries covering groups from that era were posted last week

WVP did a yolo, whose turn is it now?

space out the yolos lest we run out of them too early on

given the deal US struck with Guatemala, maybe people migrating from Honduras could consider taking a boat to Cuba, R.D., or P.R. instead?

Democracy needs populist leaders to accelerate the decline and failure of their own monsterous social constructs. Don't raile against them, it is pointless, you will be shouted down. Sit back with popcorn and watch the inevitable implosions of mass destruction caused by stupidity made law.

the intentions of all these activists like IGD and crew was to capitalize (socially) on people's anger with "fascism", but the problem is that this is donald trump's whole game. Troll the libs. Make them mad. Energize my base by pissing off the libs. It's really a pathetic spectacle.

Really I'm more interested in doing away with the activist paradigm completely. No, we really don't "have to do anything", it all boils down to being practical and having fun instead of crying 24/7 about a troll president.

There have been anti-trumper anarchists and activists who have done interesting stuff, like i know about a group that harasses ICE agents so they back off from the mexicans they are trying to deport. It's really a case of using an enemies tools against them. IGD is all about demonstration politics, hence their name, I've been trying to run away from that bullshit now for 6+ years.

How is that a clear distinction to you? Between "crying about a troll president" and doing anti-ICE actions?
If you use the word "movement" with any degree of seriousness, that's arguably the same movement.

It's simply doing stuff. Dont turn into some sort of self-aggrandizing politic. You think you're clever but you a standard dis-ablist leftist troll.

I'm not doing anything except asking you a question, I even left it open for you to be all like "movements are for libtards" or whatever fart-noise of an argument you're attempting to float here. Want to try again and think instead of snark?

and just in case you're super dumb or young or both, you've thought far enough to realize that the word "movement" was always referring to when many different people are all "doing stuff" and at least somewhat influenced by each other? Yes?

you seem to have forgotten about the purpose of posting on these forums. I was just repeating the same opinion i've had of anti-fa and IGD for a long time now, you are intentionally not read what i posted and yelling and flapping your arms.

Here is how trump vs. libs has worked now ever since the election:

trump: I'm going to make people mad because im an asshole politician

everyone else: "hey, you can't say that!"

republicans: "oh what a man, he said that, stupid libs!"

and by paying such close attention to trump, the cycle just repeats. Trumps presidency benefits, the news media benefits, everyone else just gets mad.

"...you've thought far enough to realize that the word "movement" was always referring to when many different people are all "doing stuff"...."

political movements are not only about "doing stuff", they are more like a hip clothing trend, or a type of cultural revolution. The U.S. has a new set of these that happen every day. They are very boring. There used to be more practical ones that have inspired me like the hippy movement and the anti-war protests, but I am very tired of slogan driven politics, and you seem to be defending IGD directly for what purpose? So that people can get on the shit-chucking bus against trump and everyone some leftist labels as a fascist?

I'm sorry to bring you into my angry ranting, but here was just a very ADHD type of response to what i originally posted:

"How is that a clear distinction to you? Between "crying about a troll president" and doing anti-ICE actions?
If you use the word "movement" with any degree of seriousness, that's arguably the same movement."

You missed the point entirely, anti-cop and doing something about the states abuse and bullying by attacking what they do is different from crying about trump. I never even said it was bad or wrong to cry about trump, but some people prefer to do it every day, which is lame, annoying, and makes this short life time we have more unpleasant to live.

If there are nazis, cops, ice, republicans, racists in your area going around hurting people acitively, then get together with like-minded individuals if it makes you mad and try to put a wrench into [the fascists] efforts, otherwise, stop being mad. If you try something once and don't succeed, then i guess keep doing it until you get sick of it.

Actually, I'm just throwing a bit of attitude back at you. What's wrong, can't take the heat?

You just typed a lot more and still haven't said much. What's your point here? Most people whine online but don't actually do?
You'd prefer if more of them actually did something instead of complaining? Join the club.

This is just pedantic rambling that doesn't have much to do with activism or movements or whatever. Especially this part

"political movements are not only about "doing stuff", they are more like a hip clothing trend, or a type of cultural revolution. The U.S. has a new set of these that happen every day" <--- that's just meaningless word salad.

Why should I care what you think highly subjective words mean? It's just a sweeping assertion that doesn't mean much. So I tried to tease that out a bit. Apparently the thread doesn't go anywhere except - doing things is better than complaining. YEP! SURE IS!

well don’t blame him for the name, blame me, his name was just a lazy inversion of mine

08:19 here, yep, they all get sucked into their activist tantrums and achieve nothing but feeding Trump Troll. He thrives on that and counters with insulting sarcastic quips which are styled to satisfy the populist bigots and recruit more for the next election. Its ironic that antifa idpol are actually doing Trump Trolls work for him by creating a larger and growing pro Trump majority.
So yeah, just let it run its course, everything is totally stuffed up, its Einstein's definition of stupid, doing the same protest over and over and over again for the same result. WE ARE ALL SCREWED, ENJOY THE SHOW!

einstein said something like: Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. dem's words o wisdom.

It's more about effective affective communicative propaganda then activism. The Trumpers have some good shit posters in this regard. Be better.

Trump has to be understood as a Caesarian President(Spengler) not a fascistic one. One has to take on the phenomena that he represents in a structural discursively effective manner not a symbolic moralistic character driven manner with Obama being the good American Daddy. One of the things that anarchists need to deface more then Trumpism is Obama hope blocism. That nonsense was never called out for what it was. Antifa, IDG, the activistarchists @lamethInc are not helpful in this regard. They are part of the symbolic anti-trump spectacle.

If Trump wins another term or loses I'll be rubbing one out either way.

And don't disagree with the above video however this does not demonstrate that Trump is Hitlerian or Mussolinian. You could also find similar things in FDR and other US president admns and we do not call them fascistic. You need certain ideological political economic dynamics in place for this to hold water which it does not for Trump.

FDR put japanese people in internment camps, and when the next democrat comes the far left is just going to mysteriously disappear in the name of solidarity while the democrats continue improving the police statement for political capital.

This is @news … nobody here is defending democrats but hey, keep whuppin on that strawman if it gets you off.

Are you the boner troll who calls in to anarchybang? Sorta like the 3 chord punk of comedy but it was pretty funny!

I'm just satirizing the whole testosterone inspired and its chemiçally enhanced pharmaceutical simulation, along with the patriarchal machismo mentality that drives the whole tantrum activist culture. Alot of adjectives and drives but its a complicated business in a democratic capitalist society to nail, cos of its hegemonic nature, is all.

Right about the Obama hope bloc never being challenged, alt/right never trolled Obamalites about the more troops inthe Middle East and the more immigrants deported under his watch. The guy slimed in with Hilary on a feelgood cum surface and passed the BS test undetected. How to put halos on war criminals 101.

i don't know about any "hope bloc", but every self-respecting anarchist i know trashed obama every bit as much as they trash trump (actually, more). you all must only hang out with leftists, including those that claim to be anarchists.

It's that many leftists and liberals went away and their only coming back because of Trump. What anarchists should do as a response is not be sucked into structural anti-trump discourse. Be against him as part of a whole yes but do not fall into the flawed view that he is UNIQUELY worse then Obama or any other prez.

Exactly, and as you say, regard all politicians as equally representing capital and its expansion at the expense of individual autonomy and prosperity.

How come nobody is trying to impress Jodie Foster anymore?

Because she's too old to be sexy anymore, and her contemporary equivalent Kristin Stewart most likely doesn't give a fuck about any of you.

this is Trump and US centered but the stuff happening at the same time in Russia and China (and even UK etc etc) is just as worrisome if not more once you add it all up. so much talk of International this and that, so much internet babble and not so much as even merely regional or national coordination, let alone worldwide. it’s all reduced to an opinion and an affect which will be squashed.

>so much talk of International this and that

who the hell do you see pushing for internationalism on anews? anti-national, sure, but international? you're sure you're not lost?

What about anti-ICE stuff? It may be too little but as far as I can tell it’s actually helping slow down state attacks a little and pretty open about not being just against a single politician or party, developing links among the dispossessed etc

Umm, that's just a token gesture to sucķ in the antifa on the surface for media visibility, but through the back door the clamps are being applied.
Less naivety please, Thx.

Clamps? Are you sure you don’t mean camps? Jk idgaf what your egoist ass has to say

Ijdgaf fullstop! Eternal recurrence.

I meant clamps, poetically, squeezing the last ounce of awareness òut of the antifa spectators.

You guise gotta face the fact that not even Democrats atm got the power, or the balls, to impeach Trump with all the political means they got. So how can complete outsiders achieve overthrowing his rule? That doesn't make any sense.

This is a democratic republic. What does it mean? That either you win by playing according to its rules of the game, or else you're a big nothing (according to them), or an enemy of the republic. It's tougher to take down than any more brutal dictatorship as it's got a huge popular base of support due to its partly-horizontal political machine that provides business opportunities or bureaucratic careers to all kinds of people, even socially-discarded people (Trump has been good at that one, especially). The reason why Trump got so big is also because he gives away nice gifts, he knows how and WHO to bribe, so they get on his boat.

*whom* If you’re going to use all caps, then you should use the right word

Greta's sailing across the Atlantic to bring the bad news to America. Maybe a little hip gnosis can put some rebellion in our resistance.

it's like the control and authority is so diffuse that everyone is fighting for scraps, of SANITY...

Yet they ALL end up fighting one against another, which only contributes 7x more to the insanity.

where were the American anarchists during the Obama years? too afraid to bloc up for the inauguration because of Liberal optics only show up when they can march with Liberals

Fucking bullshit. There was a black bloc at the 2013 inauguration. Fuck off with your lies, troll. Disgusting falsehoods.

Greek anarchists threw the bottles you all were too coward to do when he visited Greece

Srsly this brings me to this amazing question... when was the last time a molotov was used by anarchos in the US? And before that? Eric King... then...

There was sooo much talk of anarchism there and there, and some disparate window smashing... but it doesn't seem like there's been any serious attacks in a long time.

originally march in formation with the liberals behind banners in Europe? I think it was more impressive when they distinguished themselves but were not outsiders.

"IGD were even speculating" - The link is to a interview with Crimethinc and it was the guest from Crimethinc that speculated that "the third year," so there goes that whole attempt at forming a narrative.

Really, it's just the third year under democratic presidents.

one of the worst things about the activista / strugglismo brigade leaders IGD / Crimethinc / Libcom / Submedia besides their shit 'politics' is that they all encourage the social media / corporate internet platform addiction. also gotta fucking laugh at IGD's new slogan too 'Insurgent. Proletarian. Life'. that old insurgent proletarian life- sitting on twitter 24/7 dispensing 'hot takes', retweeting news about shit demonstrations and tweeting Captain Obvious bullshit about Trump and his supporters.

Yeah they are the enemy just as much as standard corporate america, cops, right wingers etc., spewing out their cheesy "insurrectionary" lies, always at the forefront of "class war". I have an anarchist friend who got sick of all that bullshit and became a nihilist, it's weird how people stay a part of that cult for decades without criticizing it's fundamental rhetoric.

Yep, and they all become pawns of the scoffing Trump Trolls.

"it's weird how people stay a part of that cult for decades without criticizing it's fundamental rhetoric"

Dude, you just said it: it's a cult. So this is all predictable, as cult disciples and especially the henchmen are not supposed to be questioning the order of the day. If the hive mind decides we'll put all of our activism and every single of our Friends on the Fedbook, you do it and you promote that. Questions are for dem right-wingers, nihilists or them anprimmie scum!

Is happening because of TRUMP. Make that awful Trump go away, and everything will be wonderful!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBO92FFNUic&t=59s I'm going to follow the share land planet plan to allow myself others share land freely in intentional communities. If we share land with each other, we don't have to be as affected by the system and whoever corporate puppet they have in the white house. Trump was a real estate developer for a reason. If we share land freely though, we don't need to pay their rent and mortgages with our slave wages and our wage slavery. You can't negotiate with trump with the art of his deals but not entering into the contract with him in the first place, not buying or rent land or shelter that you get in debt for and/or work to pay back by profiting capitalists. He can't scam you then. Come to 8967 Galen Road, Lafayette, tn to help us live sustainably in harmony and in anarchy and help build an alternative way to live here and elsewhere.

Certainly that should be the base of anarchic affairs then shitty activism and other elective proposing nonsense. If you can make things flexible for transients you have something that could be intergenerational.

really a thing. Take back the land from the land lords! I just think that human need is so entangled in a giant sloppy mess and it's so easy to control it with money that people are just going to keep deferring to that it seems...

Its not about taking shit back, its about gracefully intercepting psychological impositions and turning them into creative outcomes, which may include dropping out into an insular micro-utopian environment.

"give unto ceasar what is ceasar's", which is so great either, sometimes you gotta not pay back your loans and debts. But the spirit of the message is, don't become some sort of bank-robbing anarchist cuz it's not really worth it anyways. Especially now adays where the risk is high and the reward low...the real bank robbers are the venture capitalists and scammers which also kinda suck.

*isn't so great either

Yup, keep on nihilizing in a positive sense, and satisfy your desires. Wow, sounds like alt-DrPhil ;)

Occupy was awesome because we occupied space and distributed free food and decided things in an egalitarian way and live anarchy and have a place to try to act as a real community and share our knowledge and opinions about the world and what are the causes for the way it is. But we don't need to take it over necessarily. there's plenty of people who think like this who have land that they would like to share with no charge. We don't have to convince the representatives in government not should we because anarchy, just some people around who we already know to share their land without charging so we can grow food and build shelters and live in intentional communities in egalitarian ecovillages. Some radicals already have the power to do this. Believe in our power and share it with each other. That's real empowerment. Invite anyone who wants to come to come and help. Like I am about to do. Go to this website for information if you would like to come here to The Garden intentional community.
https://m.facebook.com/shutupandgrowit/?ref=bookmarks ,
https://m.facebook.com/groups/388751901308125?ref=bookmarks

We won't be fooled into following the rules of the bulls and be used as tools for the power of their empire
We will escape through their loopholes and connect to the whole and use our own tools to build the cool world that we desire

terribad????!

more like terrigreat!!!!

... all of this with zero consciousness that the land doesn’t belong to “us” at all. if it belongs to anyone, it belongs to indigenous people. certainly not to people who continue to maintain and protect the property rights enshrined in a legalistic rapacious capitalist framework. tucking eurocentric colonialists

How do I not do that? How do I have that consciousness? I think of those who were here before my European ancestors. I try not to benefit from the history of oppression and violent conquest of this society by living out of that society and live simply similar to their lifestyles before Europeans came here. Share land in off grid tribal intentional communities living in practice of anarchy.

Don't forget how stupid this dichotomy starts to look as soon as you include all the mixed ancestry folks. Which part of their consciousness is being appealed to? The liberal guilt part? Should we all throw a couple of bucks to one of those gene mapping companies and crunch the numbers? What percentage of genetics is required so I get to shake my finger at everyone else?

But seriously though, the effects of structural racism are real enough but getting in to petty shit like this at the personal level is a waste of time. Probably a troll post too.

OH NOOOO, I AM BOEWULF, SLAYER OF TROLLS YOUNG AND OLD, AND I AM 67% VIKING AND WILL UNLEASH MY BESERKER RAGE AGAINST ANY TROLLS WHO THWART MY OCCUPATION OF THEIR LANDS FOR THE PURPOSE OF RAPE AND PILLAGE FROM PROCEEDING!!

Nooo, have mercy, I will welcome your transient hordes in, America's history is not static, it's fluid, it changes, grows, becomes richer, and more complex when any individual troll interacts with it.

Oh no, not again *sigh* How many times do I have to tell this moronic troll ^^^ that "Viking" is NOT a genetically inherited trait, but was a brief social construction of various belief systems and customs between 500AD until approximately 1100AD which was swallowed up and dissipated into a larger Scandinavian Christian hegemony with numerous other groups of Iron Age settlers in Western Europe.

That would be pretty cool if building longboats and sailing around to rob wealthy people was something you could selectively breed in humans. Or maybe grow them in test tubes? Sort of like what Sean Swain is always saying but with boats.

Put a kid in a canoe and give him a bow and arrow. The start of a revolution :)

The world is really run by Controll Trolls lwho secretly collect the tolls in businesses and governments keeping people doing what there are told and sold and controlled by their gold for profit goals and are an enemy to anarchy must be avoided to live free in anarchy.

Add new comment