by Laurence Peterson
History is not rhyming; it is not repeating itself; it is being ignored, dismissed as an inconvenience, perhaps on a uniquely vast scale. Events that have already affected all of us deeply, or will almost certainly do so in the very near future are being passively wished away, perhaps in the hope that we, in a society addicted to convenience, can turn customary inertia into a vital historical force. Markets worth trillions seem to be avoiding collapse on the mere assumption that developments with of the most dramatic import, initiated at an exceptionally rapid rate, in an atmosphere of unprecedented unaccountability, will somehow, against perhaps all indications, work out in the lazily pliable manner we have been conditioned to expect.
I have never been a supporter of what can be called the American-led order. As a socialist, I have worked in the hope of a transition to a radically different society almost all my adult life. I have been impressed, however, by the durability of American institutions, good or bad, to the point that, until rather recently, I have expected the changes I look forward to to originate in other societies. Now all that seems to be up for grabs.
One of my closest friends has a cousin who was snatched up and sent to one of the far-away ICE concentration camps in California, leaving her husband to take care of their three-year old child alone; she faces deportation to a neighboring country in the middle of a mass gang-war (whose misfortunes are to a great extent due to US policies). My relationship with a very close cousin is deteriorating due to disagreements that only remotely touch on politics, like planning a trip abroad; I cannot speak of the apprehensions I have about flights getting cancelled and so on, without mentioning the occasioning factor of obscenely unjust and illegal military actions. A dear friend and I are finding ourselves increasingly negotiating a similarly dicey interpersonal space over much the same thing. And then there are the inevitable economic and financial ramifications that will, very soon, take a severe toll on just about all of us, perhaps resulting in severe recession. A depression or market meltdown of some sort cannot be dismissed on intellectual grounds. Climate disaster nears at a palpably quickening pace. Even the use of atmospheric nuclear tests or employment of a limited nuclear weapon in the Iran conflict is mentioned as a distinct possibility more and more, even amongst mainstream press showing the most lapdog-type tendencies. Which, of course, makes the prospect of a full nuclear one more likely on its own.
If someone had told me, even during the dark, dark days of the George W. Bush administration, that these and innumerable other outright murders, aggressions, crimes, scams (this one is my–recent, mind–favorite), outrages against common decency, negotiations in bad faith, and evasions or even perversions of clearly-stated law (amongst other things…) would be raining down on us on a daily basis under a second Trump regime, I, even I, holding so little affection or support for the American way of life and how it is regulated generally, would have responded with complete disbelief. We have reached a point now that simply cannot responsibly be viewed as comparable with American life as the great majority of us have known it. It is incumbent on all of us, for the sake of those closest to us, as well as our fellow Americans, must come to terms with this situation and openly decide what to do about it. Somehow, despite the conditioned inertia and love of simple convenience that has become inbred (and which Trump seems, ironically, to project on the Iranian people and regime when he assumes they will simply capitulate absolutely under any kind of pressure) in Americans over a couple of generations now, we must begin looking closely at distinctly new ways of living, prospering and, yes, suffering with each other. Such things simply cannot be done under the present regime. It must be vigorously resisted. And only the most exceptionally creative means will be required to meet this challenge. The usual stuff simply won’t do.
I am composing this piece on Sunday, March the 29th, the day after the so-called “No Kings” protests took place all over the US and even abroad. It is reckoned that more protests took place yesterday than have ever taken place in one day in the USA, and that more people participated in those protests than on any other day in the country’s history. I have seen the figure of 8 million bandied about. I live in Massachusetts, and attended the state’s flagship event on Boston Common. One news outlet reported that an extraordinary 180,000 were at the Boston rally. I believe this tally was tainted by the presence of numerous passerby who simply used the park as a transit route to other places. I thought the stationary crowd was smaller than some of last year’s No Kings events held on the premises, but still impressive, for what my musings are worth.
I left the rally uneasily conflicted: on the one hand, the turnout was alright and the atmosphere enthusiastic, if perhaps less so than at previous No Kings protests, but the crowd was lily white in terms of racial composition, mostly middle-aged or elderly and looked to be disproportionally affluent. But the thing that disturbed me most concerned the fact that the earlier protests, which featured all sorts of speakers and entertainers, were now transformed into proceedings featuring professional Democratic politicians and musicians of notoriety. This was not necessarily because I thought the messages transmitted in the earlier events were more compelling or better presented, but on account of the seeming wholesale takeover of the event by the Democratic Party establishment in Massachusetts. Both US senators spoke, along with the Governor and Attorney General. And they were enthusiastically applauded. I fear the influence of Democratic institutions and, with it, the intrusion of big-money politics can only increase in Indivisibles as the midterms near, and as desperate opposition to Trump grows.
The reason I align myself with Indivisibles and have attended every No Kings event except one is that I have sensed a discernible openness to or even desire on the part of many I have met in this–what is it? A movement, even?–to adopt stronger left positions, particularly on unions and economic justice issues (antiwar sentiment seems to be lagging; I hope what still exists of antiwar sentiment in the US is being absorbed into Indivisibles, but don’t see much evidence of that yet). But this must intensify, and must do so super-quickly. And there was precisely zero evidence of that at the Boston event. No Kings is in a difficult position: it has attracted historic numbers of participants. And it is only considerably larger numbers of participants, particularly in red and less urban states, that will force Trump and his fellow gangsters to look at it with anything but the derision and contempt they with which they have hitherto considered it. But, if that point is reached, the goons will inevitably come out, and the dubious but increasingly effective legal proceedings proliferate. I hope and hope we can, in the words of one of Indivisibles’ beloved US founding fathers, hang together during the times of singular trial we will face very soon.
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