0:00:05.850,0:00:12.157
The five stages of grief are a way of[br]describing how people may react to a loss.

0:00:16.126,0:00:18.949
The media said Joe Biden is president.

0:00:18.949,0:00:25.404
HA HA HA!

0:00:28.499,0:00:32.340
The media is covering up the Biden[br]crime family stealing this election.

0:00:32.530,0:00:34.434
Give us our freedom Joe Biden.

0:00:37.584,0:00:41.234
For angels are being released right now,[br]angels are being dispatched right now.

0:00:41.234,0:00:46.079
[Speaking in tongues]

0:00:59.042,0:01:01.251
No. No. No.

0:01:15.825,0:01:17.662
Oh, hello.

0:01:17.662,0:01:19.141
Welcome to System Fail,

0:01:19.141,0:01:21.340
the show that dances[br]like nobody’s watching.

0:01:47.647,0:01:51.950
The gruelling, two-year-long spectacle[br]of the US presidential campaign

0:01:51.950,0:01:54.880
drew to an official close[br]on Tuesday November 3rd.

0:01:54.880,0:01:56.819
I don’t want to say [br]that I hated every minute of it,

0:01:56.819,0:01:59.835
but I literally hated every minute of it

0:01:59.835,0:02:04.850
During the weeks leading up to election night,[br]tens of millions of Americans cast ballots,

0:02:04.850,0:02:08.855
indicating which kleptocratic septuagenarian[br]they would rather be ruled by

0:02:08.855,0:02:10.240
for the next four years.

0:02:10.240,0:02:13.635
Would you rather get punched in the face[br]or get slapped in the face hard?

0:02:13.635,0:02:15.192
Well slapped, innit? You’d rather get slapped.

0:02:15.192,0:02:16.499
I'm gonna say slapped.[br]Yeah.

0:02:16.499,0:02:17.129
Thanks for the help.

0:02:17.129,0:02:21.964
For months, popular fears had been mounting[br]that a disputed election result would spark

0:02:21.964,0:02:25.898
widespread political unrest,[br]perhaps even culminating in a

0:02:25.898,0:02:27.848
second American Civil War.

0:02:29.584,0:02:32.593
Given this generalized state[br]of heightened anxiety,

0:02:33.683,0:02:36.850
the days following the election[br]were somewhat anti-climactic.

0:02:39.192,0:02:46.250
I pledge allegiance to the flag[br]of the United States of America.

0:02:46.250,0:02:48.104
Our government is in the midst of a coup,

0:02:50.709,0:02:53.570
they’re trying to turn us into some [br]sort of socialist government

0:02:53.570,0:02:55.484
a new form of government,

0:02:55.484,0:02:57.364
all that matters is that it doesn’t happen.

0:02:57.364,0:03:03.065
CNN projects Joseph R Biden Jr[br]is elected the 46th president....

0:03:08.960,0:03:09.850
On election night,

0:03:09.850,0:03:15.310
a small crew of Proud Boys, including their[br]national chairman Enrique Tarrio,

0:03:15.310,0:03:18.370
were out drinking at a DC bar[br]with Bevelyn Beatty,

0:03:18.370,0:03:23.310
a conservative Christian activist best known[br]for repeatedly painting over the Black Lives Matter

0:03:23.310,0:03:24.960
street mural in New York.

0:03:24.960,0:03:27.167
They say black lives matter, right?

0:03:27.167,0:03:28.224
They say black lives matter.

0:03:28.224,0:03:29.674
They don’t care about black lives.

0:03:29.674,0:03:31.038
Fuck you!

0:03:31.038,0:03:32.459
Re-fund the police!

0:03:32.459,0:03:33.047
Re-fund the police!

0:03:33.047,0:03:42.296
Re-fund the police!

0:03:42.296,0:03:43.361
Jesus matters!

0:03:43.361,0:03:45.584
At around 2:30 in the morning,

0:03:45.584,0:03:50.266
pumped up from Trump’s win in Florida[br]and chalk full of liquid courage,

0:03:51.050,0:03:55.964
the group picked a fight with some local youth,[br]and promptly got themselves stabbed.

0:03:56.344,0:03:59.130
They stabbed me.

0:03:59.130,0:04:00.711
Are you stabbed or punched?

0:04:00.711,0:04:02.660
I don’t know. [br]But the amount of blood that came out...

0:04:02.660,0:04:04.850
Oh my god you've got tons of blood[br]coming out of your neck!

0:04:04.850,0:04:05.687
Yes I do.

0:04:05.687,0:04:09.130
As many commentators and political[br]analysts had predicted,

0:04:09.130,0:04:11.309
no winner was declared on election night.

0:04:11.309,0:04:13.650
This election is not over.

0:04:13.650,0:04:14.566
Far from it.

0:04:14.566,0:04:15.647
Fuck!

0:04:17.751,0:04:22.391
It would be four days before enough votes[br]had been tallied to project a winner.

0:04:23.705,0:04:27.410
While this delay did not result[br]in mass political upheaval,

0:04:27.410,0:04:28.842
as some had predicted,

0:04:29.809,0:04:31.609
protests did take place,

0:04:32.116,0:04:34.988
leading to several skirmishes[br]and dozens of arrests

0:04:34.988,0:04:38.740
in several of the country's so-called[br]“anarchist jurisdictions”.

0:04:44.903,0:04:48.145
And we ain't even talkin about the election [br]right now, cuz no matter who wins

0:04:48.145,0:04:50.345
we still gonna have Black men[br]killed every day.

0:04:50.842,0:04:54.517
The behaviour of police in the so-called[br]“anarchist jurisdiction”

0:04:54.517,0:04:56.800
of New York[br]was particularly problematic.

0:05:02.630,0:05:06.300
In the so-called[br]“anarchist jurisdiction” of Portland,

0:05:06.300,0:05:09.250
locals continued their nightly [br]tradition of rioting,

0:05:10.690,0:05:14.456
prompting Governor Kate Brown[br]to call in the comrades of the National Guard.

0:05:14.456,0:05:18.706
Oh bella ciao, bella ciao,[br]bella ciao ciao ciao...

0:05:19.456,0:05:20.052
What does that mean?

0:05:20.052,0:05:23.000
On Thursday night,[br]two armed Trump supporters

0:05:23.000,0:05:26.100
were arrested near the[br]Philadelphia Convention Center,

0:05:26.100,0:05:28.476
where ballots were still being counted.

0:05:29.087,0:05:34.725
The men had driven up from Virginia Beach[br]in a silver hummer with QAnon decals,

0:05:34.725,0:05:39.431
as part of an alleged plot to storm[br]the vote counting facility, commando-style,

0:05:39.765,0:05:42.000
and, quote, “straighten things out.”

0:05:44.123,0:05:48.810
As all of this was taking place, [br]Donald Trump retreated to his National Golf Club

0:05:48.810,0:05:52.112
where he proceeded to send out[br]a series of unhinged tweets.

0:05:52.112,0:05:56.030
Sounds like he just lost a challenge in Scrabble[br]after putting down the word QUARF.

0:05:56.030,0:05:58.332
Trump was playing golf[br]when he learned that Biden

0:05:58.332,0:06:03.665
had been declared the winner by a number of[br]corporate media outlets, including FOX News.

0:06:11.607,0:06:12.797
FOX sucks!

0:06:12.797,0:06:14.138
I don’t even watch Fox anymore.

0:06:14.138,0:06:15.528
Whats your main source of information?

0:06:16.021,0:06:19.335
My main source of information[br]is I listen to Alex Jones

0:06:19.335,0:06:23.733
Its a chicom new world order great reset,[br]global depression,

0:06:23.733,0:06:26.786
attack our families,[br]castrate our sons program.

0:06:31.338,0:06:35.770
As news of Trump’s loss spread,[br]people took to the streets to celebrate.

0:06:35.770,0:06:37.711
Goodness won, that’s who won!

0:06:37.711,0:06:39.301
Goodness. Not Biden. Goodness.

0:06:45.550,0:06:49.380
The spontaneous outpouring of emotion[br]is a defining human trait,

0:06:49.380,0:06:53.650
and it is predictable that many humans[br]would express relief and jubilation

0:06:53.650,0:06:56.266
upon hearing news of Trump’s apparent defeat.

0:06:56.266,0:06:57.910
It’s over!

0:06:58.230,0:06:59.397
Best day of my life.

0:06:59.397,0:07:03.220
But as an AI-powered automaton[br]who was not programmed to feel relief,

0:07:03.220,0:07:06.780
it falls on me to remind viewers[br]that a Donald Trump loss

0:07:06.780,0:07:08.623
also means a Joe Biden victory.

0:07:08.623,0:07:12.000
We did it. We did it Joe.

0:07:12.000,0:07:16.503
You’re going to be the[br]next president of the United States.

0:07:17.053,0:07:20.130
Biden is often presented as [br]a quasi-senile old man,

0:07:20.130,0:07:21.874
who is prone to verbal gaffes.

0:07:21.874,0:07:24.827
Poor kids are just as bright[br]and just as talented as white kids.

0:07:24.827,0:07:28.720
Someone who is out of touch, a bit creepy,[br]but ultimately harmless.

0:07:28.720,0:07:30.376
I love kids jumping on my lap.

0:07:30.376,0:07:31.105
Oh dude!

0:07:31.105,0:07:33.751
This caricature papers over [br]the functional role

0:07:33.751,0:07:36.860
that he plays within the Democratic Party[br]establishment,

0:07:37.580,0:07:41.390
his status as the favoured candidate[br]of Wall Street and finance capital,

0:07:41.390,0:07:45.251
and his decades-long career[br]as a foreign and domestic policy hawk.

0:07:45.251,0:07:48.810
Biden’s 1994 crime bill [br]helped fuel mass incarceration,

0:07:48.810,0:07:51.571
with financial incentives [br]to keep people behind bars.

0:07:51.571,0:07:53.876
We have predators on our streets.

0:07:53.876,0:07:58.073
We have no choice [br]but to take them out of society.

0:07:59.394,0:08:01.483
I like the idea of keeping in jail longer.

0:08:01.483,0:08:06.876
I’m the guy that wrote the bill[br]requiring federal judges to keep people in jail.

0:08:06.876,0:08:11.680
President Bush is right to be concerned[br]about Saddam Hussein's relentless pursuit

0:08:11.680,0:08:13.443
of weapons of mass destruction.

0:08:20.566,0:08:23.000
His running mate, Kamala Harris,

0:08:23.000,0:08:26.650
is now being positioned[br]as the future of the Democratic Party,

0:08:26.650,0:08:30.890
after making history by becoming[br]the first female, Black and South Asian

0:08:30.890,0:08:34.677
police officer to be elected[br]Vice President of the United States.

0:08:37.309,0:08:39.075
Top Cop, top cop, top cop.

0:08:39.075,0:08:40.910
Oh, you know... Kamala was popo.

0:08:40.910,0:08:44.651
In the nights after the election,[br]many of those in the streets made it clear

0:08:44.651,0:08:47.169
that they didn’t support[br]either political party.

0:08:47.169,0:08:48.690
Fuck Biden and Trump!

0:08:48.690,0:08:49.751
Fuck Biden and Trump!

0:08:49.751,0:08:52.970
Turn your weapons on yourselves!

0:08:52.970,0:08:55.880
But as the days passed, [br]and a Biden/Harris victory

0:08:55.880,0:08:58.276
began to come into clearer focus,

0:08:58.929,0:09:02.080
the Democrats’ messaging [br]of “count every vote”

0:09:02.080,0:09:04.860
became more prominent at marches and rallies.

0:09:04.860,0:09:10.170
This created an odd and increasingly alienating[br]environment for anarchists, abolitionists

0:09:10.170,0:09:14.741
and other professed enemies of America’s[br]bipartisan political establishment.

0:09:15.660,0:09:19.999
Anarchists who had been physically and mentally[br]preparing themselves to confront

0:09:19.999,0:09:22.300
and fight back a fascist coup d’état,

0:09:22.300,0:09:25.059
soon discovered that the [br]internal democratic mechanisms

0:09:25.059,0:09:27.220
of the most powerful state in the world

0:09:27.220,0:09:28.779
were more than up to the task.

0:09:28.779,0:09:32.970
They’re not going to have any success[br]in stopping the vote counting.

0:09:32.970,0:09:34.440
There is no basis in law.

0:09:34.440,0:09:36.367
I think if our message to global investors

0:09:36.367,0:09:38.599
was America is not [br]a legitimate democracy anymore,

0:09:38.599,0:09:40.997
I think we’d be doing a lot worse[br]than down a thousand points a day.

0:09:40.997,0:09:43.822
Judges around the country, [br]tossing out some 30 cases.

0:09:43.822,0:09:47.501
A growing number of Republicans[br]now acknowledge it’s time to move on.

0:09:47.501,0:09:52.100
This realization no doubt affected attendance[br]at the so-called “Million MAGA March”

0:09:52.100,0:09:56.034
which took place in Washington DC,[br]on Saturday November 14.

0:09:57.144,0:10:01.879
This mobilization was organized and promoted[br]by a broad coalition of Trump loyalists

0:10:01.879,0:10:03.549
and fixtures of the far-right,

0:10:03.549,0:10:06.921
including Trump’s former[br]campaign adviser Roger Stone,

0:10:06.921,0:10:10.869
members of the Proud Boys,[br]Three Percenters and Oathkeepers,

0:10:10.869,0:10:11.784
Alex Jones,

0:10:11.784,0:10:15.259
Death! Death![br]Death to the New World Order!

0:10:15.259,0:10:19.310
and white nationalists associated with[br]the so-called Groyper Army,

0:10:19.310,0:10:23.783
such as Nick Fuentes and former[br]American Identity Movement leader

0:10:23.783,0:10:24.674
Patrick Casey.

0:10:24.674,0:10:26.190
We’re all going to be out there in DC.

0:10:26.190,0:10:28.740
Who’s going to be out there in DC?

0:10:28.740,0:10:33.660
A related event called the March for Trump[br]was promoted by FOX News,

0:10:33.660,0:10:37.968
White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany,[br]and Trump himself.

0:10:40.899,0:10:44.849
The idea was to stage a massive rally[br]to boost morale in the Trump camp,

0:10:44.849,0:10:50.697
and to show that there was an army of “Patriots”[br]willing to fight to overturn fraudulent election results.

0:10:51.600,0:10:56.241
Yet even with all its free advertising,[br]the largest display of far-right unity

0:10:56.241,0:10:57.610
since Charlottesville,

0:10:57.610,0:11:00.239
and the fate of the presidency [br]hanging in the balance,

0:11:00.239,0:11:04.807
the rally was only about to pull out somewhere[br]between 10,000 and 20,000 people.

0:11:04.807,0:11:09.480
And that’s not really our fault,[br]because the last time that there as some kind of

0:11:09.480,0:11:14.185
dissident right rally, or demonstration[br]we all know how that went

0:11:14.185,0:11:16.309
- the last one I participated in.

0:11:19.004,0:11:23.690
Despite this smaller-than-expected turnout,[br]those who did show up were agitated

0:11:23.690,0:11:25.116
and spoiling for a fight.

0:11:25.116,0:11:27.501
Fuck Antifa! Fuck Antifa!

0:11:27.501,0:11:28.704
Kill them!

0:11:28.704,0:11:29.751
You need to kill them!

0:11:29.751,0:11:31.922
You need to fight for this fucking country

0:11:31.922,0:11:34.790
The morning began with [br]a small flock of MAGA supporters

0:11:34.790,0:11:38.370
ripping down the memorial wall [br]at Black Lives Matter Plaza.

0:11:38.700,0:11:40.230
Tear them down!

0:11:40.230,0:11:41.959
Tear them down!

0:11:41.959,0:11:47.167
Throughout the day, there were sporadic fist-fights[br]and physical attacks on journalists.

0:11:47.167,0:11:49.606
I just know that I got hit in the head.

0:11:50.285,0:11:52.729
And I started yelling "I'm Press! I'm Press!"

0:11:52.729,0:11:53.765
And then they were just kinda like

0:11:53.765,0:11:57.463
you’re fake news people[br]and you’re helping to steal his freedom,

0:11:57.463,0:11:58.970
and it will not stand!

0:11:59.334,0:12:03.536
Later that night,[br]a crowd of approximately 200 Proud Boys

0:12:03.536,0:12:07.846
returned to Black Lives Matter Plaza[br]and attacked a vastly outnumbered group

0:12:07.846,0:12:10.486
of anti-fascists and BLM supporters.

0:12:10.953,0:12:15.160
In the process, three people were stabbed,[br]and one person was sent to the hospital

0:12:15.160,0:12:16.691
in critical condition.

0:12:16.854,0:12:18.314
Hey, we got one on the ground!

0:12:18.314,0:12:19.424
We got one on the ground!

0:12:19.994,0:12:24.436
The Proud Boys-led crowd also targeted women,[br]queer and trans people,

0:12:24.436,0:12:28.250
in a violent, testosterone-fuelled display [br]of wounded masculinity.

0:12:29.635,0:12:33.418
King Kong ain’t got shit on me!

0:12:33.418,0:12:37.084
Y’all need to be outraged and come back,[br]because on December 12,

0:12:37.084,0:12:37.797
they’re going to be out here

0:12:37.797,0:12:40.292
and they’re going to be fucking us up[br]just like they did last time.

0:12:40.292,0:12:41.453
We need help.

0:12:41.453,0:12:42.673
And we don’t have it.

0:12:42.673,0:12:47.050
There are no doubt a number of lessons[br]to be drawn from the events in DC,

0:12:47.050,0:12:50.909
and hopefully it provides an opportunity[br]for a critical reflection on strategy

0:12:50.909,0:12:51.915
and tactics.

0:12:52.875,0:12:57.519
This is important, as the country[br]is already facing a series of painful,

0:12:57.519,0:13:01.410
deepening and interconnected crises,[br]and things don’t look like they’re

0:13:01.410,0:13:03.167
going to be improving any time soon.

0:13:03.167,0:13:06.519
Oh this fucking shit!

0:13:06.519,0:13:10.455
One clear takeaway is that the energy,[br]excitement and momentum

0:13:10.455,0:13:14.379
seen during the Black-led, [br]but multi-racial George Floyd uprisings

0:13:14.379,0:13:18.189
has not transferred into the movement[br]to protect American democracy

0:13:18.189,0:13:20.216
from a presumed fascist coup d’etat.

0:13:21.059,0:13:23.749
To learn more about why [br]things played out this way,

0:13:23.749,0:13:26.241
I recently caught up with Anarchist writer,

0:13:26.241,0:13:30.149
insurrectionist strategist,[br]and author of The Master’s Tools,

0:13:30.149,0:13:31.459
Tom Nomad.

0:13:31.459,0:13:33.034
Hey Tom, how’s it going?

0:13:33.034,0:13:34.870
Its incredibly exhausting and stressful

0:13:35.050,0:13:36.080
Indeed.

0:13:36.080,0:13:40.269
A USA Today poll released [br]shortly before the US elections

0:13:40.269,0:13:44.240
indicated that more than [br]75% of Americans were concerned

0:13:44.240,0:13:46.260
about post-election unrest.

0:13:46.260,0:13:48.460
This largely failed to materialize.

0:13:48.460,0:13:50.029
Why do you think this is?

0:13:50.029,0:13:53.060
And what do you make of this discrepancy [br]between people’s fears

0:13:53.060,0:13:55.450
and the reality of what has taken place?

0:13:56.074,0:13:59.715
I think there are a number of reasons why[br]that happened the way it did.

0:13:59.715,0:14:05.029
Part of that has to do with the fact that[br]Trump and the Republicans have essentially

0:14:05.029,0:14:10.309
turned anarchists and anti-fascists into super[br]soldiers in the mind of conservatives,

0:14:10.309,0:14:13.319
you know, taking over [br]parts of major cities and stuff like that.

0:14:13.319,0:14:19.889
And that has created this kind of mentality within [br]the right wing which is simultaneously hostile,

0:14:19.889,0:14:24.809
so really focused on trying to [br]confront anarchists and antifascists.

0:14:24.809,0:14:27.258
We saw that in Washington DC recently.

0:14:27.734,0:14:33.759
But also at the same time terrified. [br]And a lot that hostility comes from fear.

0:14:33.759,0:14:40.562
Most conservatives in the United States are[br]relatively normal, rural and suburban people.

0:14:40.562,0:14:44.359
Most are white.[br]Most work low to mid income jobs.

0:14:44.359,0:14:49.959
A lot are older. And those people aren’t going[br]to die or go to prison for Donald Trump.

0:14:49.959,0:14:56.423
At the same time, the fear on the left [br]was really coming from the fact that

0:14:56.423,0:15:01.360
that fear that we see on the right wing [br]is really unpredictable.

0:15:01.360,0:15:04.170
That at different points, [br]that fear has manifested

0:15:04.170,0:15:07.290
in conservatives failing [br]to really turn people up at protests

0:15:07.290,0:15:09.239
just as much as its turned[br]into Charlottesville,

0:15:09.239,0:15:11.619
just as much as its [br]turned into mass shootings.

0:15:11.779,0:15:16.979
Because of the prevalence of gun culture [br]down here, which involves a lot of

0:15:16.979,0:15:23.090
hyper-toxic masculinity and sort of [br]delusions of grandeur, I guess we could say,

0:15:23.090,0:15:28.640
that sometimes manifests itself in [br]people dressing in uniforms and joining militias

0:15:28.640,0:15:31.959
and running around in the woods [br]and pretending to be soldiers

0:15:31.959,0:15:33.828
and not really doing anything with that.

0:15:33.828,0:15:36.519
And sometimes it turns [br]into Kyle Rittenhouse.

0:15:36.519,0:15:41.050
And so it becomes really difficult to locate[br]where politic violence is going to come from

0:15:41.050,0:15:42.970
in the US right now.

0:15:42.970,0:15:49.290
And because of that, what it's generated[br]is this sense of constant vigilance.

0:15:49.290,0:15:54.723
The other basic reality comes down to class[br]and geography in the United States

0:15:54.723,0:15:56.749
and the way that interacts with race.

0:15:56.749,0:16:01.229
The right wing traditionally has been[br]terrified of cities in the US.

0:16:01.229,0:16:04.149
And the places where Trump [br]was telling people to go

0:16:04.149,0:16:08.069
were places like Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland,[br]Pittsburgh, Philadelphia

0:16:08.069,0:16:11.440
like these cities which to [br]people on the right wing

0:16:11.440,0:16:14.574
are thought of as smoking ruins of crime

0:16:15.009,0:16:20.209
And so when you combine all of that together, [br]its not particularly surprising

0:16:20.209,0:16:21.990
that a ton of them did not show up.

0:16:21.990,0:16:24.920
But at the same time [br]its also the case that

0:16:24.920,0:16:27.570
we all had to be very ready[br]for them to show up.

0:16:27.570,0:16:30.219
Because there was no way to know [br]which way that was going to play out.

0:16:30.219,0:16:33.200
What role has social media [br]played in this process?

0:16:33.200,0:16:37.619
Twitter definitely went through a transformation[br]in the last few months.

0:16:37.619,0:16:43.860
Part of this has to do with the seriousness[br]of Covid conspiracy theories.

0:16:43.860,0:16:47.779
So with Twitter, it was very [br]specifically a response to people

0:16:47.779,0:16:50.139
putting out misinformation [br]about COVID 19

0:16:50.139,0:16:55.019
that got them to start focusing really heavily[br]on labeling things as misinformation.

0:16:55.019,0:16:59.949
I think for them they sat there and they saw[br]how damaging the effects of misinformation

0:16:59.949,0:17:03.329
were and they started seeing that a lot of[br]people were leaving their platforms

0:17:03.329,0:17:04.379
because of it.

0:17:04.379,0:17:08.720
And so for purposes of profit, [br]they've started moderating that content.

0:17:08.720,0:17:12.020
Facebook on the other hand [br]is a dumpster fire, right?

0:17:12.020,0:17:14.610
No one should ever use [br]Facebook for anything ever.

0:17:14.610,0:17:15.610
They’re terrible.

0:17:15.610,0:17:21.020
What effect do you see a Biden/Harris presidency[br]having on social movements in the US?

0:17:21.020,0:17:26.689
What new dangers do you see ahead for anarchists[br]and anti-fascists during this coming period?

0:17:26.689,0:17:28.850
To understand how[br]this is gonna play out,

0:17:28.850,0:17:33.035
we have to understand what[br]the Democratic Party is, essentially.

0:17:33.035,0:17:38.719
And the role of counterinsurgency[br]in the foundations of the Democratic Party.

0:17:38.719,0:17:42.090
Some people mark it at the civil rights movement,[br]some mark it at the labor/corporate compromise

0:17:42.090,0:17:45.169
after World War II, but [br]starting at that period of time.

0:17:45.169,0:17:50.870
The Democrats really started to identify social[br]movements which might be able to build their

0:17:50.870,0:17:54.559
own support - build their own base. [br]And then identifying moderate elements

0:17:54.559,0:17:57.301
within those social movements[br]and sort of coopting them,

0:17:57.301,0:18:01.530
recuperating them [br]back into the political system.

0:18:01.530,0:18:03.099
We watched this happen[br]in the civil rights movement.

0:18:03.099,0:18:05.029
We definitely watched it [br]happen during Vietnam.

0:18:05.029,0:18:06.789
We watched this happen [br]with environmentalists,

0:18:06.789,0:18:10.149
we watched this happen with the[br]anti-war movement, so on, and so on.

0:18:10.149,0:18:14.740
And the Democratic Party at this point [br]is more or less made up of the moderate wings

0:18:14.740,0:18:17.959
of all of these social movements which[br]have occurred since World war II.

0:18:18.549,0:18:23.039
We also see elements of this playing themselves[br]out around the question defending the police.

0:18:23.039,0:18:27.800
A lot of liberals recognize something very[br]basic about the George Floyd Uprising.

0:18:27.800,0:18:32.409
Which is that it is a result [br]of a failure of reformism.

0:18:32.409,0:18:38.600
That after Ferguson in 2014 and 2015 [br]liberals were able to push the narrative

0:18:38.600,0:18:40.840
into a narrative of reformism.

0:18:40.840,0:18:43.019
Let’s get police departments [br]to have consent decrees.

0:18:43.019,0:18:45.090
Lets have the [br]Justice Department investigate.

0:18:45.090,0:18:46.620
Blah blah blah.

0:18:46.620,0:18:49.850
And that failed. Horrendously.[br]For obvious reasons.

0:18:49.850,0:18:53.049
And the George Floyd uprising[br]was a response to that failure.

0:18:53.349,0:18:58.510
So instead of just stepping back, they said,[br]"oh all of this violence is the result of people

0:18:58.510,0:18:59.660
from the outside."

0:18:59.660,0:19:04.760
"It’s not people rejecting our policies.[br]It's not people rejecting our attempts at reform.

0:19:04.760,0:19:10.299
It’s outside agitators. Its white nationalists.[br]Its Boogaloo Boys," and so on, and so on.

0:19:10.299,0:19:13.780
And that played itself out in almost exactly[br]the same way all around the US.

0:19:13.780,0:19:15.800
And again, that gives them[br]justification to crack down.

0:19:15.800,0:19:22.579
So I think its very likely that we are going[br]to see a situation in which the FBI comes after us.

0:19:22.579,0:19:29.729
In which the FBI is used as a mechanism[br]to destroy the militant fringe of the uprising

0:19:29.729,0:19:30.790
that’s happening right now.

0:19:30.790,0:19:34.770
Partially because it threatens [br]the continuity of the American state,

0:19:35.170,0:19:38.220
which it legitimately does, which is[br]not something I think i could have ever said

0:19:38.220,0:19:42.490
at any point in time before this.[br]At least since I’ve been alive.

0:19:42.490,0:19:48.740
But also because its is absolutely fundamentally [br]necessary to create the carrot and stick scenario

0:19:48.740,0:19:52.910
that they need to be able to co-opt the [br]moderate elements of all of these sort of

0:19:52.910,0:19:55.789
political initiatives that are [br]happening in the street right now.

0:19:55.789,0:19:57.630
Is there anything else you’d like to add?

0:19:57.630,0:20:01.860
As were kind of leaving a Trump administration[br]going into a Biden administration,

0:20:01.860,0:20:05.022
really the question that [br]we have to ask ourselves is

0:20:05.022,0:20:09.222
how do we move away from [br]that constant process of response,

0:20:09.222,0:20:12.478
where we’re moving [br]from outrage to outrage to outrage,

0:20:12.478,0:20:16.019
and how do we start to move [br]to a trajectory where we are able to dictate

0:20:16.019,0:20:21.734
the pace of action and we are able [br]to do that on a granular local tactical level.

0:20:22.790,0:20:27.839
In other words we have to move from a position[br]of activism to one essentially of insurgency.

0:20:27.839,0:20:33.509
We have to really focus on this idea that[br]we are not fighting an abstract enemy.

0:20:34.089,0:20:39.400
We are engaged in an open [br]material struggle with the state

0:20:39.400,0:20:41.210
and we have to think about it on that level.

0:20:41.210,0:20:45.830
And what that means is that we [br]have to abandon this kind of reactionary

0:20:45.830,0:20:53.740
posture of activism and start to really think[br]of ourselves as what we are, which is antagonists

0:20:53.740,0:20:58.549
and as insurgents in a circumstance which[br]is not particularly conducive to that.

0:20:58.549,0:21:03.300
And our task is not to necessarily [br]to get everyone agree with our ideas,

0:21:03.300,0:21:06.859
but its to create the political circumstances [br]for us to achieve our objectives.

0:21:06.859,0:21:07.829
Thanks Tom.

0:21:07.829,0:21:10.840
We’ve now reached the end of [br]this episode of System Fail.

0:21:10.840,0:21:15.850
An extended version of my interview with Tom[br]Nomad will soon be available on subMedia’s

0:21:15.850,0:21:18.099
brand new Circle A podcast.

0:21:18.099,0:21:23.228
You can find it via your favourite podcast[br]service, or by checking it out on our website:

0:21:23.228,0:21:26.334
sub.media/circle-a

0:21:26.334,0:21:31.269
My lazy, human producers are taking off the[br]entire month of December, meaning that I will

0:21:31.269,0:21:33.380
be back sometime in January.

0:21:33.380,0:21:39.320
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0:21:39.320,0:21:41.580
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0:21:41.580,0:21:46.479
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0:21:46.479,0:21:50.610
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0:21:50.610,0:21:52.150
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0:21:52.150,0:21:57.220
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0:21:57.220,0:21:58.070
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0:21:58.070,0:21:59.730
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