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The principal aspect of the Capitol protests we should be horrified at is political — that they were a clear victory for fascists/fascist-adjacents, QAnon, white supremacists, etc., not the fact that anybody deigned to take a protest inside the Capitol building itself.
Occupations of buildings like the Capitol aren't inherently wrong. The stuff about violating the sanctity of that hallowed space or w/e is antidemocratic nonsense—democratic chambers shouldn't be seen as spaces the rabble are kept out of so elites can go about business unmolested
I slept in the Wisconsin capitol during 2011 mass protests there. That occupation was a triumph for democracy, not a violation of it—both b/c 100s of thousands were in the streets & b/c the cause itself was just, defending workers' rights/opposing GOP's undemocratic maneuverings.
Yesterday's protests, by contrast, had nowhere near the kind of mass support of 2011 Wisconsin—it was a couple thousand people at most. Most importantly, the actual substance of their demands was insane and morally abhorrent. They wanted to roll back democracy, not defend it.
And, of course, they could only pull it off w/ the police's tacit backing. As many have noted, anyone who's protested in the last year or 20 can tell you cops are loaded for bear when leftists are in the streets. Only reason they could break thru yesterday is b/c cops let them.
All this matters b/c it impacts what the response should be. If protesting at/occupying Capitol itself if the problem, state repression should be ramped up.
We should prosecute those who threatened lawmakers, looted, etc. But an uptick in state repression would be disastrous.
We should prosecute those who threatened lawmakers, looted, etc. But an uptick in state repression would be disastrous.
The Right's mobilization yesterday should be met and defeated through democratic means: with an overwhelming show of mass opposition in the streets by socialists, trade unionists, antifascists, liberals, etc., all across the country.
