Above Photo: ‘Democracy extends far beyond the ballot box.’ Photograph: Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images
Note: I’m not sure how much of a “tough on protester” agenda Trump will be able to get through the Congress but the executive order on policing and law enforcement shows the movement we must be very smart in how we challenge the system. The power of strategic nonviolence is greatest when our opponents use violence. That is when movements grow and get public support while the power structure loses support. We are already in an era where the system is opposed as people know both parties have undermined their economic insecurity. Economic insecurity is what is driving racism, xenophobia, anti-female views as well as support for Trump. People who are worried about their economic survival strike out at those who are perceived as threatening it.
The movement needs to oppose the corrupt economy and government that has made most people poorer but we need to oppose their violence with creative and aggressive nonviolence. If the movement is violent, at this moment in history, it is likely to backfire on us and we will lose public support, police will be applauded for being violent against us and laws will be passed to restrict our actions. We need to carefully consider our tactics and ask — what is effective? What will be the response of government? Will their be blowback against us or the government? Conflict is essential to progress but how we handle that conflict will be key to whether we make as much progress as possible in this insecure era. KZ
Social movements play a critical role in holding his administration to account. But Trump’s recent executive orders could endanger their survival
Pundits say Donald Trump is “undermining democracy”. But their concern is often just about elite institutions: the media, the judiciary, the electoral system. What is ignored is the effect that the Trump administration will have on the social movements, which serve as pillars of the resistance. If these fall, our democracy will be irreparably harmed.
Democracy extends far beyond the ballot box – it includes the active participation of labor and racial justice movements in civil society. People tend to think that voting and electioneering are the sum total of democracy. It makes sense in a way; media influences public opinion, and the eyes of the media are trained on the horse-race aspects of American politics. But thinking this way misses the bigger picture.
When we see Black Lives Matter rallying for racial equality, or when the Water Protectors at Standing Rock camp out for weeks to protect their water supply, that’s democracy. When workers decide that they want a union in their workplace, that’s democracy. And when those same workers decide to withhold their labor and demand the compensation and respect that they are owed, that’s democracy as well.
undits say Donald Trump is “undermining democracy”. But their concern is often just about elite institutions: the media, the judiciary, the electoral system. What is ignored is the effect that the Trump administration will have on the social movements, which serve as pillars of the resistance. If these fall, our democracy will be irreparably harmed.
Democracy extends far beyond the ballot box – it includes the active participation of labor and racial justice movements in civil society. People tend to think that voting and electioneering are the sum total of democracy. It makes sense in a way; media influences public opinion, and the eyes of the media are trained on the horse-race aspects of American politics. But thinking this way misses the bigger picture.
When we see Black Lives Matter rallying for racial equality, or when the Water Protectors at Standing Rock camp out for weeks to protect their water supply, that’s democracy. When workers decide that they want a union in their workplace, that’s democracy. And when those same workers decide to withhold their labor and demand the compensation and respect that they are owed, that’s democracy as well.
Trump’s campaign promise to be a “law-and-order” administration will doubtless be personified by the attorney general, Jeff Sessions. Sessions had previously characterized the Department of Justice’s attempts at providing oversight to local police departments as something that would “… cause an officer to be intimidated from doing the very things necessary to protect the African American community if we misread the data, if we over-read the data”.
On the issue of Black Lives Matter, he stated: “I do think it’s a real problem when we have Black Lives Matter making statements that are really radical, that are absolutely false.”
We can expect to see that oversight – limited to naming and shaming without actual legal accountability for the officers involved – diminish greatly under a Sessions-run justice department.
In addition to the problems that activists could face over the next four to eight years, labor unions could find themselves in the crosshairs as well. Despite the efforts of some wayward union leaders to kiss up to the Trump administration, they will probably find that their efforts are to be in vain.
The laws that have stuck in labor’s craw for generations – Taft-Hartley and Landrum-Griffin – are probably going to be enforced to their maximum potential. Taft-Hartley’s provision against solidaristic industrial action is likely to be pursued aggressively. Similarly, the disclosure requirements under Landrum-Griffin will further bureaucratize the labor movement and push the business of unions away from organizing worker-led collective action and towards doing all they can simply to stay on the right side of the law.
Labor unions might also find that the department charged with protecting workers and adjudicating a fair labor-management negotiating process will be no friend to them, no matter who ends up as secretary of labor in this administration.
If the resistance that everyone has been talking about is to be successful, it cannot be led by politicians in statehouses and Washington. It must be a grassroots effort that organizes communities for a common purpose: one rooted in the cause of social, economic, and political equality and justice. These efforts are building due to this administration’s naked disdain for working-class Americans, their families, and their communities.
Donald Trump and his administration knows this, and that is why they will use every weapon in their arsenal to stamp out the spirit of resistance and revolution that is bubbling to the surface. It is on us to ensure that Trump fails in his endeavor