"This vague and platitudinous carousel is reminiscent of what writer Alex V. Green has called the “Having Conversations Industrial Complex” in which what should be the first step toward achieving justice is instead stretched out into an infinite loop in which the perpetuation of this cycle becomes its own end goal"
https://newrepublic.com/article/158972/instagram-black-lives-matter-posts
https://newrepublic.com/article/158972/instagram-black-lives-matter-posts
The New Republic
The Lazy Liberalism of Instagram Slideshows
A boom in “instagraphics” indulges the desire to project social-justice values rather than act on them.
Forwarded from Strike Force
Joint statement from It's Going Down and Crimethinc:
"Lumping anarchists and anti-fascists together with far-right militias who explicitly support the state and especially the current administration is a strategic move to muddy the issue. This is the same operation that William Barr performed in creating a Department of Justice task force focused on “anti-government extremists” of all stripes. In the case of the Department of Justice, it enables them to point to far-right and militia attacks in order to demand resources with which to crack down on those who are on the front lines of defending communities against such attacks. They are attempting to do the same thing to Black Lives Matter activists, associating them together with neo-Nazis and white nationalists as “racially motivated extremists.” "
"Make no mistake, if this goes unchallenged, it will not stop here. The more it becomes normalized for governments to be able to determine which voices social media platforms permit to be heard, the further such censorship will penetrate into every sector of society, and the more it will shape what it is possible to think, what it is possible to imagine."
Full statement:
https://itsgoingdown.org/on-facebook-banning-anarchist-and-antifascist-pages-the-digital-censorship-to-come/
"Lumping anarchists and anti-fascists together with far-right militias who explicitly support the state and especially the current administration is a strategic move to muddy the issue. This is the same operation that William Barr performed in creating a Department of Justice task force focused on “anti-government extremists” of all stripes. In the case of the Department of Justice, it enables them to point to far-right and militia attacks in order to demand resources with which to crack down on those who are on the front lines of defending communities against such attacks. They are attempting to do the same thing to Black Lives Matter activists, associating them together with neo-Nazis and white nationalists as “racially motivated extremists.” "
"Make no mistake, if this goes unchallenged, it will not stop here. The more it becomes normalized for governments to be able to determine which voices social media platforms permit to be heard, the further such censorship will penetrate into every sector of society, and the more it will shape what it is possible to think, what it is possible to imagine."
Full statement:
https://itsgoingdown.org/on-facebook-banning-anarchist-and-antifascist-pages-the-digital-censorship-to-come/
itsgoingdown.org
On Facebook Banning Anarchist and Antifascist Pages & the Digital Censorship to Come
Today Facebook deleted a variety of far-Right militia and Qanon accounts along with anarchist and antifascist pages, including It's Going Down and CrimethInc. The following is a joint statement in response. Facebook has taken down multiple Facebook pages…
A remarkable campaign. Take notes!
"Unlike Democratic political clubs or nonprofit organizations, NYC-DSA endorsed in races early, kicking off field operations in November for the late-June primary. This gave organizers the time to build a base of support within the districts, and to connect the state races to a national platform: Bernie Sanders was still in the race for president, advocating for the same issues the DSA for the Many slate was fighting for.
As DSA members campaigned nationally for Bernie through an independent expenditure, NYC-DSA connected local issues to the Sanders platform. When knocking on doors in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, for example, volunteers talked about both Mitaynes’s and Sanders’s fight for universal rent control. Not only did linking our slate to Bernie grow in-district support and volunteer energy, but the national scope of the Democratic Primary and the scale of Sanders’s second presidential campaign lent credibility to our local socialist movement."
"Throughout the election cycle, the “DSA for the Many” slate made it clear that volunteers and supporters were growing a movement, not just supporting a few candidates. Even when deployed through electoral campaigns, our organizing was not just about winning elections; we are focused on broader goals."
https://jacobinmag.com/2020/08/nyc-dsa-slate-democratic-socialists-america/
"Unlike Democratic political clubs or nonprofit organizations, NYC-DSA endorsed in races early, kicking off field operations in November for the late-June primary. This gave organizers the time to build a base of support within the districts, and to connect the state races to a national platform: Bernie Sanders was still in the race for president, advocating for the same issues the DSA for the Many slate was fighting for.
As DSA members campaigned nationally for Bernie through an independent expenditure, NYC-DSA connected local issues to the Sanders platform. When knocking on doors in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, for example, volunteers talked about both Mitaynes’s and Sanders’s fight for universal rent control. Not only did linking our slate to Bernie grow in-district support and volunteer energy, but the national scope of the Democratic Primary and the scale of Sanders’s second presidential campaign lent credibility to our local socialist movement."
"Throughout the election cycle, the “DSA for the Many” slate made it clear that volunteers and supporters were growing a movement, not just supporting a few candidates. Even when deployed through electoral campaigns, our organizing was not just about winning elections; we are focused on broader goals."
https://jacobinmag.com/2020/08/nyc-dsa-slate-democratic-socialists-america/
Jacobinmag
New York’s Successful Socialist Slate Shows the Left Should Think Big
In New York City, the Democratic Socialists of America ran a five-candidate slate for state office — and won across the board. The campaign’s overwhelming success points to a model of radical electoral organizing in the wake of Bernie Sanders.