Abolitionism

August 1, 2023

The Revolutionary Power of Love

Because desire is a social construct, love desired is a collective action toward our liberation. We desire life-giving and honest love. We desire liberation. Karl Marx once stated that our consciousness comes through experience as social beings. Capitalism is not only a political and economic system as most people understand it, but also permeates and colonizes our daily lives as a social structure. As such, we strive to build community, and mostly in the form of “family”. As M.E. O’Brien states in Family Abolition Capitalism and the Communizing of Care, “oftentimes we feel as though we have found it.” Under capitalism, though, we are prevented from constructing the family we need.

May 8, 2023

by Justin Akers Chacón

The American Way of Fascism

We are living through a period of reemergence, rise, and surge of far right and fascist forces internationally. This includes reconstructed fascist political parties and movements from the past, alongside novel and neo-fascist formations taking shape inside capitalist states and electoral systems in the present.
The miasma of fascist regeneration emanates from within the cascading crises of the capitalist system, increasing in both depth and frequency over the last two decades. This crises include recurring episodes of recession and stagnation; imperialist and inter-imperial conflict and war; distress, weakening, and collapse of traditional bourgeois political parties; and the rising frequency and intensity of class struggle, authoritarianism, culminating in both revolutionary and counter-revolutionary movements.

September 11, 2022

by Bill V. Mullen

What Should Revolutionaries Say About Constitutions?

The recent defeat of a proposed new state constitution by voters in Chile was a setback for Left forces. The Constitution, which would have enshrined new rights for Chile’s multiple indigenous populations, guaranteed national health care, granted rights to the environment, and affirmed gender and sexual self-identification; was the product of Chile’s left-center government which won state elections last year.

March 29, 2022

by Zack Frailey Escobar

Reactionary Theater of the Absurd

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson is in the midst of confirmation hearings to become the next Supreme Court justice. If confirmed, she would be the first black woman on the Supreme Court. The liberal press is already hailing her nomination as a triumph, while Republicans in the Senate are frothing at the mouth at the chance to publicly attack her. The whole charade is a farcical exercise, which only serves the interests of both capitalist parties.
Out of the judges linked with the nomination, Ketanji Brown Jackson is thought to be one of the most progressive. Her politics, in addition to being a black woman, makes her a perfect target for Republicans eager to demonstrate their right wing bona fides to their reactionary base.

March 22, 2022

by Atlee McFellin

Left Conformity to the Settler Cult

In his book, Fascism: Theory and History, lawyer and historian David Renton outlined what he called “the anti-fascist wager.” It was a gamble the German left made against Hitler, the extent to which the social democratic (SPD) and communist (KPD) parties accurately perceived the uniquely dangerous threat the Nazi’s posed. This is like the gamble we make within settler Amerikkka against resurgent fascism today. Lives hang in the balance, which is why we start with the above quote from an April 2020 interview Noam Chomsky did with Medhi Hasan, who was then still at The Intercept.

February 12, 2022

by Atlee McFellin

Moving Beyond Settler Colonialism to Oppose Resurgent Fascism in Ameri(kkk)a

Over a year has passed since the January 6th insurrection in DC and, sadly, it’s unclear what we’ve learned. Shortly after that multifaceted coup attempt, sociologist Waldon Bello warned us as to what was coming. Reflecting on his own experiences of US-backed fascism in Chile and the Philippines, he pointed to their source. “America Has Entered the Weimar Era,” he said, that the insurrection “underlies the face of crises to come.”

Fast forward to today; Newsweek warns of the potential for a violent coup come 2024. Generals in the military warn of their own internal civil war, so their ability to “Choose Democracy,” like many hoped in the case that Trump refused to leave, is now off the table. Despite the chorus of warnings, our supposed left leadership chooses to put their heads in the sand. Instead, we must place revolution back on the table, one at the intersection of Clara Zetkin and Ella Baker.

December 14, 2021

by Justin Akers Chacón

Rebellion and Reaction: behind the attack on Critical Race Theory

The orchestrated attack on Critical Race Theory (CRT) is one facet of the racist and reactionary response to the decade-long Black Lives Matter struggle and the tremorous uprising of summer 2020. The surges of protest and revolt, taking distinct and elaborating form since the 2012 murder of Trayvon Martin, have grown in size, scope, and militancy. These movements have shifted anti-racist class politics and consciousness to the left, culminating into abolitionist cadence at its most organized and advanced points. Over one year on, the unified call for radical justice has been countered by the foul, cacophonous, and rage-induced dysphoria of the rattled ranks of the reactionary right.

December 3, 2021

by Kim Gasper-Rabuck

The Aftermath of the Rittenhouse Acquittal: Report from Wisconsin

After the murder of George Floyd May 25, 2020, millions of people protested—most for the first time in their lives—to say that “Black Lives Matter”. Thousands demonstrated dozens of times across the urban centers of Wisconsin. in Madison, the protests were called by large not-for-profits as well as new, young groups of African- American activists. Hundreds of national guard members were called up by Democratic Party Governor Tony Evers—and supported by Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway—to teargas and arrest Black and white protesters on the street. Much of State Street experienced fires and graffiti as peoples’ rightful rage against overwhelming police and National guard violence erupted.

July 6, 2021

by Héctor Rivera

The Path to Socialism Requires Border Abolition

Although the Biden administration has attempted to differentiate its immigration policies from those of Donald Trump, the end result has been the same: deportations, abuse and negligence of children jailed in detention centers and refugees turned away at the border. What’s more, Biden’s refusal to allow in the refugees at the border has contributed to horrific human rights abuses. As Reuters reported, nearly 3,300 migrants stranded in Mexico have been kidnapped, raped, trafficked or assaulted since Joe Biden took office on January 20.

January 29, 2021

by Héctor Rivera

The failures of the DSA are going to get us killed

I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw Trump supporters breach the Capitol on January 6. I was visiting my mom and we were getting ready for dinner when I received frantic texts from comrades from Mexico City. “What is going in the US? I just saw the videos from the Capitol”. I assumed it was some Proud Boys getting violent as usual but when I turned on the TV and watched thousands of Trump supporters outside the Capitol and an armed stand-off inside, I knew this was different.
As we commented on the chaos over dinner, my grandmother, who is blind, began to tense up, she was getting worried, we were talking about civil war, Donald Trump and running away to Mexico. I tried to reassure them that things would be OK, and that this would be resolved appropriately, but deep down, I wasn’t—I’m not—so sure.