It's a wild life out there lads!

I’ve often been surprised at how living in America is perceived by the world. I’ve met a lot of people from all over the world, and while some have actually spent enough time here to understand the good and the bad. The rest who have not seem to believe in the shiny veneer that we export in our movies and television.

We are absolute wage slaves here. We are one missed paycheck from homelessness. But sure, blame the slaves for not overthrowing their owners.

Protests are not the only option, but when asked why Americans are not making meaningful resistance the argument always boils down to: We have protests! Or We can’t protest!

Perhaps the most cursory look at why these actions are successful in different countries is worth a gander. It’s not that France couldn’t crush every protest with their military.

Lol

But a genuine comment because people think I’m a big meanie:

It’s helpful to know that folks aren’t alone and also helpful for orgs who are already doing things to improve the material conditions of their community to get some publicity and maybe some new helping hands.

Maybe then america will realize they have power, and the revolution might not be exactly the same as their last one

If you go your whole life hearing it’s your god given right to have all the privilege and comfort you have (which is still a pittance in comparison to the rich but more than the people exploited to provide cheap goods) it’s hard to risk them.

I genuinely do not understand this level of delusion…

Look, these protests are ineffective. Period. They’re nothing more than photo ops for social media. I don’t care if they’re happening everyday and the news isn’t reporting, they are not doing anything to alleviate any of the issues this country is facing.

Spain has a left wing government (the last time I looked at least) they play by the rules it seems (people ask, government provide as it can).

In France the right have sold out the country to the rich, more or less stole the prime ministers seat (after the snap elections it should have gone to the left, surprise surprise it didn’t) , they couldn’t care less about housing prices and so on.

So when you say france only obtained a curfew you show that you don’t understand those two countries political landscapes.

The fight goes on ✊🏼

When he tries to deny or overturn the results of elections from 50 separate states (again) because he’s a whiny crybaby bitch and most Americans are sick of his shit?

Did you not read the first part of my comment when I said the pain threshold isn’t high enough?

Did you forget my other comment (that you bookmarked) where I said people ARE acting every day to resist ICE?

We are acting. It’s just diffuse and not loud. And, granted, it may not be enough.

For now the focus is on the election, to get the opposition party in power, to reform the opposition party away from neoliberalism, to plan to, for the next two years hold accountable everyone in the political class and plutocratic class who engaged in corruption and self dealing.

The fight doesn’t end there. We still need to rebalance the federal powers. We still need to make anew the regulatory bodies, to reforge international relations and rethink our role in the world, to create social safety nets, to reconsider our national security model… the list is long, and the problems that need addressing have been around since before Trump, just as the problems that beleaguere Europe have been festering for a while.

The question is if we can confront the disproportionate power of the patrician class and business interests though the political system. The preponderance of data centers disrupting neighborhoods, and of officials who have signed NDAs shows us the corruption is entrenched even at the local level.

The American people need to organize twelve million strong under a common manifesto. If we can do thatn there are several options open to us, violent or otherwise (though we are erring towards non-violent) that will disrupt industry and overwhelm responders, and leverage the American economy against moneyed interests. And we’ll need to have a clear set of demands when we do it.

As someone who isn’t even rallying calls to action, but simply suggesting that people exercise the second amendment and get involved in their community, and having those ideas rejected?

Literal mad max scenario.

Stop trying to make substantiate happen!

I am very plugged in on the American politics, and yet I have no idea which ones you can mean. This means that either those organisations are small enough so they don’t even break the local social media barrier, or they were so quiet after that, they didn’t even try to do anything on any public level.
Two people were executed on the streets by the regime, and the reaction was less severe than when a shitty musician was shitty.

Ah. That makes more sense.

Are those individuals the ones who are lazy and didn’t do anything, or are you using them as a shield?

Notice how the excuses start to fly when I apply the same (warranted) criticisms to other countries that so many non-Americans lob at the U.S.

You mean when you engage in whataboutism?

Yes, that is my point, too.

Really shitty way to make it by feeding right back into it. Notice I didn’t have to do that to make the point?

It doesn’t feel good,

I’m not from France. I just saw an American acting like an ass and decided, as an American as well, to call it out.

and doesn’t help anything, does it?

Nope, yet you fucking did it anyway?

Everybody should knock it off, and work together instead of basking in self-righteousness.

How did you not drown in the irony typing this out?

Ditto.

Do what? She’s not president?

Good. Let’s hope that France doesn’t fall for her shit like US did with Trump.

Societal unrest usuall does not bode well for the incumbent party.

No I wouldn’t say the Russian people are the enemy either. But their autocratic government invading Ukraine aren’t exactly high on my list of potential allies.

It’s not the Russian people that were fighting, but we should be fighting autocracy wherever it happens to be, and it happens to be in Russia. Being allies isn’t like being sister cities. Our autocratic govt is in bed with their autocratic govt.

You would be surprised what average Russian citizen wants.

the biggest lie ever told.

People always say 'belgh blehg blerg bleg governement ≠ belgh blehg blerg vleg people . People have gotta stop spoiuting this bullshit line cause Im too tored of it. Carlin said it once:

"Now, there’s one thing you might have noticed I don’t complain about: politicians. Everybody complains about politicians. Everybody says they suck. Well, where do people think these politicians come from? They don’t fall out of the sky. They don’t pass through a membrane from another reality. They come from American parents and American families, American homes, American schools, American churches, American businesses and American universities, and they are elected by American citizens. This is the best we can do folks. This is what we have to offer. It’s what our system produces: Garbage in, garbage out. If you have selfish, ignorant citizens, you’re going to get selfish, ignorant leaders. Term limits ain’t going to do any good; you’re just going to end up with a brand new bunch of selfish, ignorant Americans. So, maybe, maybe, maybe, it’s not the politicians who suck. Maybe something else sucks around here… like, the public. Yeah, the public sucks. There’s a nice campaign slogan for somebody: 'The Public Sucks. Fck Hope. Because if it is really just the fault of the politicians then where are all the other bright people of conscience? Where are all the bright, honest, intelligent Americans ready to step in and save the nation and lead the way? We don’t have people like that in this country. Everybody’s at the mall, scratchin’ his ass, pickin’ his nose, takin’ his credit card out of his fanny pack and buyin’ a pair of sneakers with lights in them. So, I have solved this little political dilemma for myself in a very simple way. On Election Day, I stay home. I don’t vote. Fck ’em! Fck ’em! I don’t vote. Two reasons. Two reasons I don’t vote. First of all, it’s meaningless. This country was bought and sold and paid for a long time ago. This shit they shuffle around every four years? Pfft! Pfft! It doesn’t mean a fcking thing. And secondly, I don’t vote because I believe if you vote you have no right to complain. People like to twist that around, I know. They say, ‘Well, if you don’t vote you have no right to complain.’ But where’s the logic in that? If you vote and you elect dishonest, incompetent people and they get into office and screw everything up, well, you are responsible for what they have done. You caused the problem. You voted them in. You have no right to complain. I, on the other hand…who did not vote…who did not vote…who, in fact, did not even leave the house on Election Day, am in no way responsible for what these people have done and have every right to complain as loud as I want about the mess you created that I had nothing to do with. So, I know that a little later on this year you’re gunna have another one of those really swell presidential elections that you like so much [Bill Clinton v. Bob Dole]. You enjoy yourselves; it’ll be a lot of fun. I’m sure as soon as the election is over your country will improve immediately. As for me, I’ll be home on that day, doing essentially the same thing as you. The only difference is, when I get finished jerking it, I’m gunna have a little something to show for it, folks.” – George Carlin  

These are Russians and Ukranians from Russian and Ukranianian homes, businesses, schools, soldiers who instead of just saying “Fuck it” and conscientiously objecting in jail in the millions and millions together in brother and sister hood choose to do their fucking parastic bitches biddings . How long do you think this war would go on for if only the politicians threw their bloody parasrtic asses at each other? … I heard the same said anout the needless Iran-Lebanon-Yemen war…

Heck even the last surviving WWI veteran talked about this: He said something along fhe lines of: “I still feel about the war now as I did then, that I wished that these fucking politicoans were the omes who picked up the guns and artilerry and blew up each other.”

The Common People outnumber the politicians, the billionaires , the bribed mercenary class traiitor pigs in the hundreds and even thousands. The Common People can clearly ALWAYS come together and absolutely de-fucking-molish the fuxk out of all these war mongerers and create numerous societies that are created by the Common People and work for The Common People, Societies That Works For The Workers !..

…The people choose not to do this… Every second …of everyday… Why they choose not to do this? Meh! Ive asked a couple and its always bullshit reasons here and there. Heck, Ive met some people who acrually enjoy being exploited like this.

The people indeed ARE their government . The people at any moment could substantiate substantial effort to permenanently change their society for the better , to substantially change society to favor them and our hard work . We have the dream , we have the hands , we have the numbers… but we dont have the courage (or even the thinking capacity it seems) . Instead we would rather just be complacent and let these parasites throw us at each other in needless air raids and invasions or shoot at each other over a couple thousand dollars in random gang wars here and there…

Fuck outta here with this garbage line.

Adding to your post, the protesting, this is a classic idea everyone has. Have you ever lived there, then shut the fuck up. Because in places like this you have to shut the fuck up. You can have an opinion to yourself otherwise you’re going to the front line.

No it’s get your fckin lazy asses up

No monster trucks, fighting cages, or trailer parks to be seen. Definitely an old pic.

Its always the Danes.

Social Media is especially insidious. They want to drive everyone online into a space they can control and monitor.

I’m not saying that your plan is bad or wrong but it’s not necessarily mutual aid.

What you are describing is one way aid, unless I am jumping to conclusions about the people who are organizing it. The problem with one way aid or charity is that it doesn’t build parallel systems to protect people when the state takes away things they depend on. This is why it’s not an effective support for direct action. If the people supplying the aid get scared or they lose their privilege, the aid stops.

I’m going to use strike support as an example. Striking workers may get strike pay, but it’s not enough to live off. They depend on the support of friends, family and other workers who are not on strike to meet their needs so that they can continue to strike until a fair(er?) deal is made. The idea is that when these people are back at work they can support another group who is striking.

In a more general example, I am a gardener. I can take my time to teach others how to garden. I can share my seeds and my produce. Maybe my neighbor can put aside his raked leaves for me to mulch my beds with? It might be easier to think of mutual aid as an informal economy where the goal is to distribute resources and knowledge for the purpose of making sure people are taken care of vs profiting. IRL my neighbor has offered his front lawn for more growing space, but I haven’t been able to take him up on it because poor health has stopped me from using all the land I have already. He can’t spare the time or labour to help rn but I know our produce delights him so I’m not going withholding it because I’m not getting anything in exchange.

Seettu is another example although it’s not a static thing and different applications may be closer or further from mutual aid than others.

I hope this helps.

Good luck with your food drive.

It’s even easier to only care about any of this when it starts effecting you.

Ah yes, the Arab spring was famous for being low risk. Nobody died or risked their lives at all.

Jesus, this does not help the stereotype of Americans being ignorant as fuck about the world.