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Empowerment Equalizer
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Antony Sammeroff
Ann Sterzinger
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Craig FitzGerald
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Caity & Dan Greene
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Keith Preston
Bill the Butcher
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Jack Donovan
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Michael
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Noonan
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Rachel Haywire
Nexus X HumectressAs I said in the previous post, current events are no skin off the ass of the ruling class whatsoever. If the stock market is soaring, they’re happy. My guess is that the power elite probably sees the insurrection as an exaggerated sports riot, as opposed to a low-grade sports riot such as Charlottesville.
What is happening now is the equivalent of a group of factory workers getting upset over working conditions, beating up the shop foreman, trashing the employee restroom, turning over the water coolers, smashing up some insured and easily replaceable equipment, and, at most, venturing to the offices of the lowest level administrators, maybe punching a few low-level managers and slapping a few receptionists.
In such a situation, top management, the CEO, Vice-Presidents, Board of Directors, Chairman of the Board, major shareholders, etc. would not feel threatened. They would privately laugh and then fire some middle managers for not keeping the employees under control.
These mayors and governors that Trump not incorrectly calls weaklings are merely lower to middle-level managers. Trump himself is merely the CEO. The major shareholders and Board of Directors are the real power. So far things are still going just fine for them. In fact, the capitalist class is already trying to co-opt the insurrection. Soon enough, Amazon will probably start selling riot masks and clothes online.
The great danger is that if the power elite does at some point come to feel threatened, they will show their hand, and the USA will have a Pinochet-like situation (and a real Pinochet, not a carnival barker like Trump). Americans have zero experience with such situations and are nowhere near being prepared for such circumstances.
My book on the civil war in El Salvador details what real state repression and what a real armed insurgency looks like.
Krystal and Saagar discuss reports that show stocks on the rise as reopening hopes offset concerns over ongoing protests.
I understand you were involved with organized labor and you always keep the labor issue relevant at ATS. That’s one of the main attributes of ATS that I respect. And I agree with this analysis of the corporate/government response to the rioting, i.e. they really aren’t affected by it. But I must take issue with your analogy. At the company I work for (a multinational chemical manufacturer) I can guarantee that if a group of workers roughed up some management and smashed up the offices, the CEO, the VPs, and everyone else (with the possible exception of the shareholders) would be seriously shook up. They are exactly as detached, inept, and incompetent as your standard government organization. Our supervisor was apoplectic when my crew refused to wear face coverings and told them stick their ‘social distancing’ up their ass. If a minor assertion of basic worker dignity and discretion nearly broke their whole facade of control, you can only imagine what a genuine resistance would do.
That being said, again, I agree that all these demonstrations, pandemics and so on are basically zero threat to the neoliberal hegemony. They are more likely all manufactured events anyway. They all serve the commodification agenda, turning ideas into consumable products and thereby sapping all effectiveness and power. What a certain fellow referred to as The System’s Neatest Trick.
Anyway – Working Class Power!