there was an 80's style Aerobics class held outside an ice facility a few days ago.
analysis from a redd*tor
some are saying this is a case example of tactical frivolity,
or trying to be charitable but disagreeing with application; the "clown army"
this phenomenon reminds me of the 'Somebody needs to do it' video from Taylor Lorenz, if i am to be charitable - there is this hard wall that has been hit with all those in disdain with the USisan government.
I am of the opinion that progressing beyond these current actions such as this ICE "demonstration" would required well built structures that could sustain people, or make them feel confident in their networks for whatever government action thrown against them. All while having a party that exists under the current legal framework that represents their interests - I think of the ETA faction in Spain, with their overground and underground networks, similar things would have to exist for progress to be made.
Losurdo addresses this kind kind of absurdity extensively in his book on non-violence, wherein he points out the liberal domestication of resistance as a kind of religious dogma with no basis in how power relations unfold. At a certain point, we must recognize that elevating non-violence to an absolute principle can serve power rather than challenge it, particularly when it allows state violence to continue uninterrupted while protesters preserve their moral "purity"
As Losurdo argues, this normalization of non-violence as the only legitimate form of resistance creates an asymmetry: it condemns the counter-violence of the weak while legitimizing the violence of the strong. We risk creating a system where only resistance is deemed illegitimate, while the structural violence of the state proceeds without interference
Call for a strike. Organize and withhold labor. Commit to boycotts and structural obstruction of firms that aid and support ICE. But this kind of performative, feel-good action doesn't merely fail to accomplish anything, it actively risks delegitimizing more serious and practical forms of political resistance
It should go without saying but when the spectacle of protest is increasingly seen as the only substitute for material confrontation with power, its tantamount to us conceding the field entirely
source
a person replies, "it has it's place"
one says
"“If instead, the right to resistance is to be considered a constitutional mechanism that legally permits, in certain circumstances, disobedience of authority, it is clear then that we are dealing with something imaginary” From Losurdo’s book on Hegel."