ChestRockwell

Hegel remarks somewhere that all great world-historic facts and personages appear, so to speak, twice. He forgot to add: the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce. Caussidière for Danton, Louis Blanc for Robespierre, the Montagne of 1848 to 1851 for the Montagne of 1793 to 1795, the nephew for the uncle. And the same caricature occurs in the circumstances of the second edition of the Eighteenth Brumaire.

We have again proof that Marx (and Hegel) are correct.

The first instance of an indicted presidential candidate running is of course the GOD Eugene V. Debs, running from prison after interfering with military recruitment for World War I, one of the most pointless wars ever.

We now might have a presidential candidate running from (the funniest version at least) prison for hush money to a porn star.

This is proof of the eternal science of Historical Materialism, and I will not be taking any questions at this time.

The whole live is good, but I just love a stripped down ballad like this.

Fucking jam, also, insane plot to this story. I love it.

WE MADE LAAAHHAAAVEEEE

The moment where she sings "please, please understand" is also a top tier moment.

Are you gonna bump the BONK?

https://noshumusic.bandcamp.com/track/the-bonk-song

Folks, it's good! Incredibly violent with some fairly decent (tho not perfect) politics.

Great review

Format

• We're reading 2-3 chapters a week (some are very short). I'm going to be shooting for 50-60 pages a week, give or take. I'm going to be getting page counts from the libgen ebook, so that's why readings will be done by chapter.
• Hopefully we'll be done in 7 or 8 weeks
• Feel free to get whatever copy you wish, I'll also post onto Perusall for your convenience and highlighting.
• I'll plan to post on Wednesday each week with the readings we're discussing and our future schedule as I work it out. I'll also @ mention anyone who posts in this thread in future weeks.

Resources

• Libgen link to an ebook here
• Here's Bevins' appearance on Trueanon, which is part of why I wanted to do this book club
• Perusall – if you want to flag passages for discussion, I'll do my best to check this before I post my weekly post. If people would prefer, I can also make weekly assignments here, but I've opened up the book for access in an assignment or whatever.

Finally, please feel free to drop in at any point. We're well along, but the old discussions remain open and I'd still love to have anyone who wishes to join.

@MF_COOM@hexbear.net @chicory@hexbear.net @Maoo@hexbear.net @Vampire@hexbear.net

Previous Posts

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

Week 7

Chapter 20

• Feels like we're finally drawing some conclusions. Firstly - the jestermaxxing of the early 10's has not been vindicated.
• "Things are worse now" of course is quite a vibe, and I think accurate.
• 301 – we are still living under the stupid south park meme - ??? - remains the key fill in (and at least MLM has thoughts for how to fill that in)
• Planning for the after, I think, is a key missed opportunity (and indeed, we see how the "after" is filled by reactionaries if we do not claim it).
• I do like that, if nothing else, Bevins indicts teleological thinking. There's no necessity to the changing world becoming "better."
• However, I do feel like "lighting it on fire" is not necessarily the right comparison. Revolution and change does not necessarily have to destroy all that came before it (I feel like a clean break with the past is almost ontologically impossible, humans are historical beings).
  • But unless you work for it, the new car/new world won't happen, I think, is the takeaway we should have.
• I feel this vindicates the Trueanon "you gotta be unemotional about this" vibe.
  • Maybe ends are more important than means.
• 7/10 backsliding is rough. Bevins's list of W's: South Korea. Euromaidan is a push
• Chile feels like a definite borderline, and there's still potential, but Al Jazeera suggests there's not going to be much movement until 2025.
  • Anyone have further info on this?
• If Chile actually adopts a left constituion, this would probably be the biggest W, but we are sort of in the middle of the arc right now.
• The postmortem on the Arab Spring is especially brutal.
• And now we arrive at the money question: why doesn't protest work?
  • Here, I do think also the past decade is a big refutation of the narrative produced about the mid-century model (Civil Rights in the US, India, etc.). We're told in school about nonviolence, but to what degree is this even viable anymore, I think, is a live and real question.
• "There is no such thing as a political vacuum" - this is a very important maxim, and I think I can agree with it. We should rush into these open spaces and make the case for our left position, rather than the farce of anti-politics.
• "A protest is very poorly equipped to take advantage of a revolutionary situation, and that particular kind of protest is especially bad at it."
• A contrast with mid-century – protests were always subordinated to a larger strategy of independence/revolution/reform. Here, there's a sense that there isn't that larger "endgame."
• Bevins throwing a bone to reformists here. I wonder if we'd have a different perspective here in the imperial core if there were some sort of proletarian party that at least ostensibly supported the working class (a PT, for instance).
  • I will say, Brazil feels the most tragic, because in some ways, the MPL was doing the very "pushing left" that we understand unions, etc. doing to FDR. Yet, instead of a New Deal or better situation for the working class in Brazil (and the PT was in power!), we got the situation we did.
• Turns out you have to create some sort of organizational/representative structure (perhaps also why Chile is a tentative win)
• This kid in Ukraine gets it too "Any revolution with no organized labor party will just give more power to economic elites, who are already very well organized"
• Bevins with some savage juxtaposition.
• "Not one person told me that they had become more horizontalist, or more anarchist, or more in favor of spontaneity and structurelessness." Oof.
  • I will say, for my anarchist comrades, I do think not all of this is necessarily a result of horizontalism as such, rather, it might also have to do with strategies for coopting revolutionary movements developed in response to horizontalist movements. As such, I do think new safeguards need to be developed. There's nothing wrong with struggle sessions and votes, after all.
• I like that Bevins also acknowledges that these things don't just magically happen together.
• de facto leadership, is, of course, the real fact. There's people with more energy, more commitment, etc. who can rise up in any group, even if it's technically horizontal.
• I do think there's something valuable about prefiguration, but it has to be merged with discipline/structure (here I'm thinking of CHAZ/CHOP's failure).
• Bevins with a really great insight: why do all these protests look the same? Why is there a "package"?
  • It's anti-Soviet bias and revisionism!
  • Also, great materialist analysis: social media DOES make Anarchist organizing "easier" in some ways!
• Oh such a great taking up of Graeber (who we all appreciate as a comrade, RIP) here. "If you are actually successful, someone is going to declare war on you." I think that Graeber might even agree here to a degree, and perhaps this is also something missing from the 10's
• The work of translating strategies is I think something that we should always remember is work and always requires adaptation/development (here, I also think about the angst about machine translation of things like anime, etc. as if there's anything close to scientific translation).
• The corrosive input of pop culture, another big OOF.
• Rage Against the Machine mentioned. Ironically though, I think it's actually nice (sowing seeds, in a way).
• The north-> south flow though, I think, needs to be reckoned with. How can we look to the south as generative/creative?
  • Realness: "In New York or Paris... you just get a media or academic career afterward. Out here in the real world, if a revolution fails, all your friends go to jail or end up dead."
• Bevins doing some work to credit other thinkers in the field here.
• Some real interesting arguments about a de-radicalized generation. I have felt this about GenX in particular, broken by Reagan and Thatcher, but there's also a kind of failing of Millenials as well, since we drank the KoolAid of neoliberalism. I'd like to think we're doing better now, but who knows.
• This material on individualism is important, I think. Is there a way to push us back to the "mass" of the 20th century? How do we produce a more effective collective?
• Ironically, I feel like the "horizontalism of role" that Bevins describes is so clutch - "the 'leaders,' the people who make strategic decisions or stand in front of cameras, must not be seen as superior to the people delivering food, or risking their lives in battle, or caring for the sick and wounded"
• The Leninist analysis of mass uprising is relevant, I think, as well.
• As is the recognition that there's foreign meddling as a crucial X-factor in all of these. If they had proceeded 'organically', would they have led to change? Perhaps, but we don't live in a world where that is possible.
  • America bad propaganda, I think, is useful if only so that people will recognize that they can't pretend they live in a world without a state willing to do anything to prevent an alternative system from forming.
• The role of the crackdown is also a common theme, glad Bevins brings this up.
  • Having "good victims" unfortunately matters.
• Here we get to something we've been tracking - the role of media. Having the media "prop up" the right people is, sadly, important (Tim-Houthi Chalamet went viral, others didn't).
• Basically, exposing the violence of repression (the Monty Python bit is actually exactly right) is also important, so having cameras is good (though practice good OPSEC people! Wear masks, turn off GPS, etc.)
• ORGANIZING MATTERS. If you're a UnionMan, then the Union can help explain why we're striking. Growing these key organs, I think, is something that needs to be worked on.
• Big Takeaway: 323 "After looking at events like this across the world, I have come to the conclusion that horizontally structured, digitally coordinated, leaderless mass protest is fundamentally illegible. You cannot gaze upon it or ask it questions and come up with a coherent interpretation based on evidence."
  • So, to what degree are the current protests for Palestine falling in the same trap? I know that at least the anti-war movement still has some vanguard forces, but I do think there's a real potential opportunity as contradictions heighten this year, and how do we as leftists ensure they aren't taken advantage of?
• "Movements that cannot speak for themselves will be spoken for." - fortunately, this is not yet a total voic re: Palestinian liberation/peace. There are organized voices in the movement
• I like Bevins's critique of the assumption that these groups want "westernization", etc.
  • And conflating democracy with the west.
• I do think Bevins's rhetorical choice of "explosion" to describe these protest movements interesting. I am not studied in philosophical stuff around "the event", but I feel like to some degree this is something Bevins is circling around (any more philosophy-focused comrades want to take this up?)
• The media critique seems valid, but I wonder if there's a left version that says "we should actively work towards making a meaning that benefits our purposes," rather than concern ourselves with a liberal media version of "what happened" in a forensic sense?
  • After all, if Bevins's book shows anything, it's that the forensic "reality" of these protests didn't matter for their negative consequences.
• "We are drawn so powerfully to the production of whatever will go viral on social media" 326. Is this something to resist or co-op? I think it's an open question.
• "Things could have gone differently" – I appreciate Bevins recongnizing the contingency of these "hinge points" (a lot of them, I think, were).
• "You should not pick your strategy based on which post gets the most upvotes on a forum."
  • Words to live by. I hope that if we're ever doing real praxis, we're not running polls on hexbear. I think if we take anything from this book as comrades, it's that if we enter the cool zone we have to get a hiearchy going. I'm not going to lead, but I'll be on the side of the struggle session pushing for a representative structure, because we need that shit.

Chapter 21

• Folks, we're here! It's the end!
• "We have planted the seed for something bigger." (328) This is a classic cope for failure (see, Bernie 2020 and 2016), but I do think there's something there as well.
• "Between obvious truth and teleological self-deception" - what a wonderful way to put this. So, how do we make it into the obvious truth, I think, is the question?
• I don't know if "failure is an option" with climate stuff though…
• Finding a good comrade, that's a nice outcome (and indeed, is futurity incarnate if you have a child)
• I do think there's a good argument against "Do somethingism" - we need to be strategic, unemotional, and choose our battles.
  • Not every action is equally valuable, I think, is another good takeaway
• "Organizations are effective, and representation is important. Collective action has a proven record of success and works best when it is truly collective."330 - who knew!
• UNIONIZATION
• "Strikes and boycotts work much better than people walking back and forth across a city" god damn, spit it Bevins.
• I do like this caveat "But none of that means you have to dismiss unplanned mass action or decline the participation of all kinds of regular people who may not have the time or inclination to join a political party, union, or formal organization" – yes, we can totally use these moments.
  • Part of why we all need to "be normal" in public, so that in these moments, we can work towards our ends, collectively, and drawing on an even greater power of the "mass"
• "The crucial distinction is to not use the explosion in order to form the organization"
• This is why we have to be building orgs. Do the work now, so that when the hinge point happens, we're ready
• Surprising Derrida citation, but I like the phamrakon idea. However, this is a "weak defense" (it's a tool, you can use it for good or evil) of revolution. I'm fine with it, but I wonder if there's a strong defense out there (I'm thinking of the "weak defense" of rhetoric as like makeup – used by good girls and bad girls alike, and then the strong defense - rhetoric determines the very values of good and bad and thus is before good use/bad use since it is constructive)
• "Networked leninism" - is that what we're doing?
• ORGANIZE ORGANIZE ORGANIZE.
• "A focus on ends" - I really like this return to the GOAL of all this. This doesn't excuse means, but it really means that it's better to win than to play fair.
• And yeah, there's really a question of people who just want to scrap. I want to say I admire them, but also, should we really build a movement around this?
• The FEELING, I think, is a key temptation. I'm not saying we have to be revolutionary ascetics, but avoiding the "high" is important. Or, to use Bevins's framework, having a structure that insulates leadership from the "high" is probably important.
• TWO REALLY BIG FOOTNOTES at the end - let's all keep our opsec, because organization has a different set of challenges.
• Althusser could be a cool reading group sometime, though I wouldn't want to lead it.

Final Thoughts

Hopefully these reading notes help out anyone reading the book in the future. Please don't hesitate to respond to these threads in the future, and I hope we've picked out some of the important questions/insights from Bevins's work.

Looking forward to following along with future book clubs here!

Format

• We're reading 2-3 chapters a week (some are very short). I'm going to be shooting for 50-60 pages a week, give or take. I'm going to be getting page counts from the libgen ebook, so that's why readings will be done by chapter.
• Hopefully we'll be done in 7 or 8 weeks
• Feel free to get whatever copy you wish, I'll also post onto Perusall for your convenience and highlighting.
• I'll plan to post on Wednesday each week with the readings we're discussing and our future schedule as I work it out. I'll also @ mention anyone who posts in this thread in future weeks.

Resources

• Libgen link to an ebook here
• Here's Bevins' appearance on Trueanon, which is part of why I wanted to do this book club
• Perusall – if you want to flag passages for discussion, I'll do my best to check this before I post my weekly post. If people would prefer, I can also make weekly assignments here, but I've opened up the book for access in an assignment or whatever.

Finally, please feel free to drop in at any point. We're well along, but the old discussions remain open and I'd still love to have anyone who wishes to join.

@MF_COOM@hexbear.net @chicory@hexbear.net @Maoo@hexbear.net @Vampire@hexbear.net

Previous Posts

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

Just because we're almost done doesn't mean you can't join in! All previous posts remain open, and since it is a long book, just hop in at any point/place.

This is our last set of chapters on the "events" - 20/21 will be conclusions, from how far I've read into 20.

Chapter 18

• The farce here is of course particularly stupid - got to arrest Lula before he can get elected
• It's kind of insane to think of how Lula's imprisonment started with a movement that fundamentally his party is/was sympathetic to (hence, I think, Bevins's immediate turn to Mayara)
• However, as Bevins insists, it wasn't their fault (indeed, if we take anything from this, I think it's that protests open up a contingent space where there's really a lot of potential possibilities, and you have to fight for your desired outcome).
• I also see parallels to America, and the Democrats failure to embrace the energy of the 2020 protests in a meaningful way (gesture to the Nancy-kneeling emoji, lol).
• I can't imagine getting in the mind of a center-right person or lib reading this book and not seeing how they're the moderate wing of fascism. The cruelty/accelerating atrocities here really hit home.
• 264 - paying someone for a cigarette – this is peak neoliberalism, and actually fucking with my brain.
• What is to be done when the state imprisons the popular left candidate? Like, what should have been done here? Ironically, I feel like electoralism is an absolute dead end in this case, but I'm curious what y'all think?
• I do feel like returning to protest/electoralism after multiple years of the shit that Bevins has discussed is kind of crazy. Lula won last year or whatever, but was it worth it to have 4 or 5 years of Bolsonaro?
• Rather than tragedy/farce, this is just two different tragedies, and the kind of doomed energy of Mayara's organizing feels especially bad as there's clearly some real deep earnestness (naming it after the left wing martyr).
• Also, even if this wasn't adventurism, it is a good example of why it's dangerous (266) - you're consolidating the reactionaries around a martyr.
• I can kind of see why the right wing went so hard on the LGBTQ culture war, since it's lurid and easily shared by boomers. While the energy is fading, I wouldn't be surprised to see it again.…
• The distinction between the hardcore and the "voters" of course applies to Trump too, and the real question is, how do you peel off these "voters"? I'm not exactly filled with hope that we find ourselves in this position again.
  • "Let's see how he does" attitude seems the core of this – is there any way we could grab these voters to a left candidate instead?
• The role of gender does seem relevant to bring up here. I hate to return to a Chapo/Hasan/Citations Needed meme, but how do we get more left-wing "self-help" types to avoid men becoming like this?
  • The Citations beg-a-thon noted, there's a paradox, since left critique is often systemic, thus self-help hardly gets you the changes that you desire in society.
• Of course, all the corruption reporting is too little too late, and I wonder how useful it is. Lula did get elected though, so perhaps it helped discredit Bolsonarismo among squishy libs?
• "Brazilian agribusiness already quite liked the current setup in the country" (270) this feels very like the DeSantis shit with Disney, etc. Why do we get these right wingers when Capital is already so concentrated/comfortable? Why aren't they disciplining their petit bourgeoisie better?
• The connections between these right wing movements are important, and I'm glad Bevins notes the Ukraine right beginning to "appear" more. However, I do wonder if having some journalists who were able to "embed" in these movements might have added to the book. I'm not entirely sure on this, btw – maybe not knowing what's going on in those Telegram channels will keep us sane..
• This shit is just so grim at this point – I do wonder, would left-wing protests of Bolsonaro have done anything? Or is head down the best strategy (especially when they're trying to ban communism)
• Interesting how Bevins notes that "normally, these figures [of anti-politics] floundered" – is the implication here Zelensky was propped up by western interests? Or was he lucky Putin invaded, allowing him to consolidate power?

Chapter 19

• So, we're nearing the end here – Bevins suggesting that 2019 allows for us to really evaluate the organizational question that he's been tracing, so let's see where this goes.
• What is it that allows for paranoid readings of "unremarkable" legislation (as Bevins describes it)?
• It also might be business interests just trying to protect themselves (the "tycoons" worried about anti-corruption...)
• Polite cops always smacks a bit of copaganda to me…
• Coordinating beforehand to storm the building and disrupt proceedings – this is a classic tactic, and one that doesn't necessarily require cop clashes either (the UAW did it in California during the TA strike last year).
• So on one level, this does really look like a mass movement (even Bevins acknowledges this)
• Of course, the new generation of protestors can't remember the historical contexts – I find Finn Lau's frankness about this interesting, since the Arab Spring was such big news in the west.
• This is really interesting - the total decentralization (yet it's not, since I'm assuming that polls aren't just submitted by anyone, I might be wrong though) as a contrast to Leninist organization and discipline.
• "Be Water" is of course smart though, and I think if there's one thing to take from this, it's that you need to be agile/adaptable. How to graft that to an organizational discipline/vanguard is, I think, a key question here.
• So, there's a clear difference from the reactionaries in Brazil (which are more clearly connected to US imperial interests), but I'm curious how many of these youth vanguard on telegram are connected.
  • I don't think it's all of them and I do think there were probably earnest actors in this case - maybe it's just vibes, but it doesn't feel as "inorganic/counterprogramming" as the Brazil stuff
• I do like that Bevins notes – what do you do if you get "yes"?
  • Would a quick "sure" to the demands have been the way, perhaps? None of these 5 seems particularly depraved/terrible...
• The colonial flag is just absolutely nuts, along with the redbaiting feels very connected to US interests to me.
• And of course, identifying with Imperial Japan is always a terrible choice too. Au Loong-Yu's perspective is interesting here, since he's clearly not a huge fan of the PRC/mainland, but yet he recognizes that the movement is crippling itself.
• The horizontalists remaining open to co-option is of course a key issue, and the arrival of the racists really feels like we're running the same script.
• "The tyranny of structurelessness" is such a good perspective on this issue (283), and I do think this is what I was getting at with the fact that the people running the polls are de-facto leaders.
• The role of organized crime is of course a Blowback classic, and I feel like there's something deeply sinister about the Triads here.
• Performativity in protests - cringe or useful? I'm legitimately curious, since I wonder if the aesthetics of culture are really helpful here (feels cringe to me).
• "Previously worked for US Naval intelligence" (285) there it is!
• "Imposing meaning" and the right wing attempt to co-opt what Bevins argues is a disparate movement with many different contours – this is, I think, another key takeaway (how do you prevent this imposition on a disorganized movement)
• The protestors getting way out over their skis, of course, is inevitable, and here Leninist discipline, I think, matters a lot.
• I do think that there's definitely an argument that sometimes you just chill and let these things "Burn out" - how do we prevent this sort of thing? Is this, again, a role for a more central structure (so you don't bleed chatroom members as things slow down?)
• Switching to Chile and their own transit protests.
• Interestingly, here we see how a mass movement can really work (there are fundamentally too many people to arrest) in response to curfews, etc.
• I do think that there's something to having these associations/affiliations (i.e. the Abogados Feministas) that can "activate" and join in solidarity.
• Shifts in technology matter - how much do they effect the actual conditions of protest though? Is posting on instagram stories really materially different (except in terms of audience, etc.)
• The specificity in this movement does help - I think it's important to avoid leaving things totally empty (they don't have to be perfectly specific though) - having some placeholder "there" I think helps the cooption problem. Make the movement about a specific thing and also a specific goal.
• Mayara thinks this is "better" and I'm inclined to agree.
  • Do we need a right-wing president to gain change? I feel like that's such a gamble, but I recognize the left-punching tendency otherwise.
  • Accelerationists, would you like to take the floor?
• Having a clear shape matters, it turns out!
• OK, a new thing that I do think really helps - making a local proxy/assembly for the centralized protest. Rather than making people come to the "square" as it were, there's a way to build solidarity in your community here. Very cool!
  • I do think this is something that was definitely not present in 2020 and perhaps a key reason nothing happened - you're not actually meeting with your community.
• Obviously it's a fairly pathetic gesture (vote!), and was rejected by the streets.
  • However, both the "assembly" and the convention seem particularly troubled, since we've seen the real weaknesses with the horizontalist approach…
• "Some of the most radical people insisted that a riot itself was the revolution and could be expanded and transformed into a new society" (295) - I feel like the multifaceted motives of the riot mean that it can't actually do this, but maybe there's potential?
• Cancelled - this is especially comic. I feel like Marx's tragedy/farce is vindicated yet again
• What's especially sad here is that there's a potential here in committees, etc. but the lack of a larger party structure is really killing the momentum it seems.
  • "The cabildos had never really known what to do with the decisions made by their collectives"
• Also, we can see the ability of the news cycle churn here (Hong Kong and Chile become backburner stories)
• The role of COVID in transforming street movements is also interesting. In particular, the way that the end of hard lockdown let out already simmering tensions (some of which Bevins is noting here).

Next Week's Reading (3/20) - Chapter 20-21

Schedule Announcement

Decided to take an extra week since I didn't realize my tagging needed to be done in a top-level comment. Needless to say, sorting that out here.

Since we're almost done, and since I'm finally done re-applying to my current job (contingent labor is hell folks), I think things should be smooth sailing from here. My current plan is to have two more weeks -- next week will be Chapter 18 and 19, and then 3/20 will be 19 and 20. The reasoning is that while we could blast it all out in one week, I don't want to run into issues with finals and so I'm giving myself a bit of a cushion to finish this up alongside my actual work.

It's been a really interesting read, and I hope some of you have been encouraged to pick up/catch up on this reading series.

Format

• We're reading 2-3 chapters a week (some are very short). I'm going to be shooting for 50-60 pages a week, give or take. I'm going to be getting page counts from the libgen ebook, so that's why readings will be done by chapter.
• Hopefully we'll be done in 7 or 8 weeks
• Feel free to get whatever copy you wish, I'll also post onto Perusall for your convenience and highlighting.
• I'll plan to post on Wednesday each week with the readings we're discussing and our future schedule as I work it out. I'll also @ mention anyone who posts in this thread in future weeks.

Resources

• Libgen link to an ebook here
• Here's Bevins' appearance on Trueanon, which is part of why I wanted to do this book club
• Perusall – if you want to flag passages for discussion, I'll do my best to check this before I post my weekly post. If people would prefer, I can also make weekly assignments here, but I've opened up the book for access in an assignment or whatever.

Finally, please feel free to drop in at any point. We're well along, but the old discussions remain open and I'd still love to have anyone who wishes to join.

@MF_COOM@hexbear.net @chicory@hexbear.net @Maoo@hexbear.net @Vampire@hexbear.net

Previous Posts

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Chapter 15

• So we're starting to get some direct links between Syria and Brazil as we move into 2015. Twilight of the Obama era, and we've got the consequences of this foreign policy rippling into other countries.
• Interesting that Brazil, at least at this point, doesn't have the typical reactionary response to migration. I'm worried, however, this may change.
• Was the anti-immigrant reaction of the mid 10's really particularly unique? Obviously it's in part due to the blowback of imperial policies in the Mideast or Latin America, but is there really anything "new" about this era? I don't feel like Bevins has a clear distinction between this and the 40-50 year history of panic at the US border, for instance.
• On this (70) year history - Bevins does note that most countries that decolonized are, by and large, not in wildly better positions.
• Is the "problem with Kansas" or "Brexit will hurt the country" just a liberal cope (ideology is trumping material interests because people want to stick it to the man)? I like that Bevins notes this is a common trend, back to 2003 and Schwarzenegger winning the governorship.
• I feel like as leftists, we want to resist anti-politics, even if we recognize electoralism isn't the only form of politics out there. How do we present this in a way that doesn't allow us to be painted as "anti-political" though, since the one thing I'll hand to prefigurative politics is it is a politics. Making the commune happen is, after all, a form of politics (one I hope we can all do together someday), so how do we disentangle ourselves from those who reject politics entirely even if we're not going to vote or vote for West/Stein/etc?
• I feel like the contradictory attitudes of citizens are simultaneously wildly frustrating and all too common, but there's always an opportunity there too (I'm thinking of the attitude on 225 - isn't there a chance to intervene when someone has this contradictory position?)
• Bevins again with some salient media criticism on 226.
• I think the example of the MPL here is really good – it's just a slow-moving disaster as a great movement is slowly being lost in a sea of reaction, and the members (at least according to Bevins) see it happening.
• The ease with which reactionary forces "fit" the anti-politics void also makes me feel like we should always try to insist on politics, even if we're opposed to electoralism, but I'm curious if others have thoughts here?
  • I'm just struck by how Bolsonaro easily slid into the gap created by the MPL protest's slow collapse.
• I feel like vague signifiers are a huge issue here ("corruption" as a problem is something you can fill with your own opinion, after all). On the one hand, they do allow for a mass movement, but it just seems incredibly dangerous as well…
• I distinctly remember hearing about Lava Jato on NPR uncritically, as a "corruption" scandal with very little context, so it's interesting how there's a very clear media angle in Brazil here
• Bevins trying to redefine corruption, I think, is a good move, but how do we give this kind of cognitive flip legs when it serves our purposes? I know when I teach, I joke about how I don't want to be free to decide between 6 different brands of black beans, but when is this move effective and when is it perhaps a fool's errand?
• I think this turn to the question of representation (231) is especially interesting - it's a real question, when is representation "valid" or legitimate? Whe can we speak for each other, as it were? Or is it just direct democracy time all the time now?
• Of course, Bevins is also right that politicians just usually don't represent their constitutents
• Even China is in crisis w/r/t "representation" it appears - I have no idea if Bevins's source is accurate on this, but I wouldn't be surprised (just the continual abstraction/alienation that bureaucracy creates).
• Thoughts on Roy's argument (234) that the NGO has more and more taken on the role of a contracting state?
• The move to declare the movement over without the rest of the movement – ballsy move, but also, one I respect. Still, this feels like something to attend to – recognizing when the movement is dead and new directions need to be taken, yes?
• Realistically, representation feels like a powerful tool we should never reject out of hand, but I sympathize with the MPL members who feel betrayed (even as a ML myself!).
• I really think Bevins's pessimism is pretty warranted here, and it does feel like nearly every movement either died or was co-opted due to the issues that faced the MPL. I think it's a really good comparison, but any thoughts otherwise?

Chapter 16

• OK, this is crazy. South Korea and psychic advisors to the president – Nancy Reagan joke here.
• Pretty blatant corruption here, and the connections to the dictatorship are gross too, of course.
• OK, this is interesting - Bevins is associating this blatant shit with the Dilma situation in Brazil. Also, personal memory kicking in again, I remember a ton about Dilma, but this Korean thing I don't, which is interesting.
• Bevins is trying hard to give a sense for the kind of corruption that exists, and I do appreciate this. Reminds me of Christman's Hell of Presidents where old corruption was basically a redistributive mechanism by other means.
• While perhaps this isn't useful (we're in this to think about protest/organizing), would things have been better for Dilma if she had caved to this dude's demands?
• I think the other thing here – this whole time, the right wing MBL has been organizing, simmering, and keeping the energy going, and use the protests that had started as left-wing to enact their right-wing impeachment agenda. I think this really shows how protest isn't just a "left-wing" or even "populist" thing - and perhaps we need to valorize it less?
  • Yet, at the same time, you have real bravery from anti-Israel activists at the moment, and I don't want to take anything away from them, or people like Aaron Bushnell. But seriously, it hurts to think that left-wing protests haven't gotten anything while right-wingers have gotten so much from co-opting those protests.
• Police supporting the demonstration is obviously a huge red flag.
• I do appreciate Bevins being very clear about the stakes of these things. Weird governmental arcana are important when it calls into question your power: "how can you govern a country if a rival faction within the state is recording and leaking your calls in order to weaken you?" (243)
  • Also, the role of golpe/coup here is interesting. The fact that right-wingers overthrew a more left government makes me sympathetic, but he's right this is a different/new "mechanism."
• I do like the reminder that aesthetics don't really matter - the MBL ghouls changing their look on a dime from "indie rockers" to be where they need to be.
• Protests calcifying into a kind of game with "obvious rules" I think is key here (247) - I feel like this kind of "expectation" also undercuts the power/potential in protest. Of course, how to renew the energy/novelty of a protest is also a real open question…
• Bevins: "No one is imposing any costs on anyone in power. They are showing up to be counted" (247) – yeah, this isn't protest, this is just "showing face" (as a student of mine once said after skipping 90% of classes, showing up in Week 10).…
• Bevins's arguments that these are all very performative is great - "who can afford a ticket" could also be "who can afford to take time off..."
• The role of culture-war and anti-trans shit is really gross – I do feel like this was a moment though back in 2016 and way less explosive now (the anti-trans shit has been losing.)
• Media really taking a central role here, and the spectacle nature of politics rears its head
• Sexism, clowning, etc – this all feels like the right wing playbook, and really there's a question of what was to be done? Obviously we can appreciate the rage of someone like Jean Wyllys trying to accost Bolsonaro, but was the problem here perhaps they didn't go far enough (perhaps my ML stripes showing a bit hard here...)
• What could have been done to make the MBL sickos more obviously painted as fascists? What can we do, as leftists (Anarchists and ML(M, etc.)s I think this applies to left unity here in a big way) to prevent this kind of disgusting co-option?
• The "parlaimentary coup" language is tortured, but also perhaps correct? However, the media's role shouldn't be understated…
• Aaaand we're back to Korea. I've been listening to Blowback Season 3 recently (getting hype for Season 5) and this summary is familiar to me. Bevins does a great job giving the cliffs notes here.
• It's interesting to see protests adopted by subjects of all these different systems (various "democracies," dictatorships, etc.)
• Is this one a "W"? Even though it just leads to the removal of the daughter of a dictator, it feels good (especially since it led to a rapproachment with NK).

Chapter 17

• I do like reading this in 2024, as Trump is coming for America again. It's funny, since you'd think at this point more could be done in opposition, but there's a steady crawl towards a Marxian "first as tragedy, then as farce" sense of this year.
• The role of technology has taken a bit of a backseat, but I do like Bevins returning to it. There is a materiality to the internet and its technologies (and especially their effects on the world) that I think is important to attend to.
• Blowback? In my America? I like how Bevins connects the foreign policy of the Obama administration in the early 10/11 years to 2016.
• Jakarta protests – we get a mini Jakarta Method here it seems.
• I think the parallel to Brazil is interesting and relevant, but I'm interested in how things go differently
• Interesting role of ethnic/racial tensions that Bevins is establishing. Parallel to the sexism in Brazil, perhaps? (I'll admit, I'm not sure where this is going, since I don't remember the Jakarta protests Bevins is talking about here)
• Edited video, viral attacks and outrage – this is the new right wing playbook, and I'm curious if we have thoughts as to how to counter it?
• OK, so we have dualing protests again, which seems to be the par for the course now. I wonder where the "counterprogramming" meme came from, especially since early in the 10's, it was always reactionaries emerging from within the protests. What changed?
• Bevins argues this isn't a movement(258), I think to emphasize the strategic/planned nature of all this (to elect someone other than Ahok, I guess?). However, what should we say of these sorts of strategic actions? How do they diverge from our own praxis? Do they?
• However, on the next page, this is a confluence of movements ("an almost complete overlap between the radical anticommunist movement and the radical Islamist movement") - what's the tipping point here, Bevins?
• Right wing digital soldiers – I do think this presages the Q movement in some key ways, and it's definitely worth paying attention to, but I wish Bevins had some more material from these groups (I know it's probably not possible, but interviews, etc. would have been nice).
• Red baiting, riots, and murder – what could have gone different? I feel like to some degree this whole chapter reads like there was nothing to be done – there aren't really key strategic mistakes/failures like with Brazil, so I'm curious why Bevins includes it (aside from, perhaps, foreshadowing his own work in The Jakarta Method)?

Next Reading 3/13 -- Chapter 18 and 19

From a silly Pew thing

Format

• We're reading 2-3 chapters a week (some are very short). I'm going to be shooting for 50-60 pages a week, give or take. I'm going to be getting page counts from the libgen ebook, so that's why readings will be done by chapter.
• Hopefully we'll be done in 7 or 8 weeks
• Feel free to get whatever copy you wish, I'll also post onto Perusall for your convenience and highlighting.
• I'll plan to post on Wednesday each week (or thereabouts) with the readings we're discussing and our future schedule as I work it out. I'll also @ mention anyone who posts in this thread in future weeks.

Resources

• Libgen link to an ebook here
• Here's Bevins' appearance on Trueanon, which is part of why I wanted to do this book club
• Perusall – if you want to flag passages for discussion, I'll do my best to check this before I post my weekly post. If people would prefer, I can also make weekly assignments here, but I've opened up the book for access in an assignment or whatever.

Finally, please feel free to drop in at any point. We're well along, but the old discussions remain open and I'd still love to have anyone who wishes to join.

Previous Posts

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Chapter 12

• Artem's position feels very familiar. Is the over-educated/under-employed combo one worth cultivating in our organizing?
  • Of course, getting fired for trying to unionize is perhaps the most typical outcome here. How can we ensure potential comrades find useful/strategic material (so they aren't fired after 2 months...)?
• I think the class character of "protest" (and, as it were, the more bourgeois character they've begun to take on) really starts to rear its head here. However, this also feels particularly esoteric – trade agreements with the EU – and thus lib catnip. With the crackdown though, is there the potential to transform this protest? We'll see, I think…
• Good history of Soviet Ukraine – another great explainer from Bevins about the Banderites.
• Bevins on the sham democracy of the post-soviet era – good? This broadly tracks with my own understanding, but any critiques/concerns with how he presents this?
• Earlier I suggested maybe Bevins was missing the state department role in this stuff, but clearly here he's in the know, making the connections pretty explicit w/r/t the color revolution. Of course, in this case, I'm not particularly sure either of these politicians were "good" (and Bevins seems to suggest as much), but anyone think otherwise?
• 181: "the Orange Revolution did nothing to change the oligarchical structure of the Ukrainian economy." Seems like this is the common theme, and feels like a L for protest (even if perhaps the Orange Revolution got what they wanted)
• "But culture war is free." Bevins here tracks why I think we should always be suspicious of nationalism as leftists. We all know MAGA Communism is a sham, but I think broadly, we need to reaffirm internationalist commitments because nationalism gets so easily turned to culture war.
• This protest feels so weird. Like, should we suspect this journalist is a state department asset? Or are these people just very committed to trade with Europe?
  • Also, it feels like the asks/goals of these protests are getting dumber/shittier each time. We've gone from free bus fares, issues around justice/economic security, and now.… EU trade regulations.
• I'm trying not to be too cynical, but it feels like Bevins is setting us up for it, noting all the ways in which this is a rather different push than Brazil or even Egypt (185 and the various media narratives, for instance).
• Police cracking heads again leads to mass support. I wonder though – is this kind of move being so overplayed that it's losing it force? Especially in the imperial core?
• How do we keep liberals in check? Can they be useful?
• 187 – got the right wing sickos – Bevins very good about making these stakes clear, t oo bad that the western journalists are so suceptible to just promoting these people.
  • I like how Bevins argues there's specific factors that allow right wingers to punch above their weight – thoughts on how to manage these contingencies? Is the swoletariat the future (since one issue is these assholes are hooligans basically)?
• Alternatively, if we're trying to co-opt a liberal movement, how do we align both other leftists and liberals to our goals? Is organizational structure the only way? Can we retain some horizontalism (especially between leftist tendehncies in the movement) but have some kind of authority/org structure?
• 188 Artem and crew trying to do this very thing.
  • This is just pretty sad, poor kids get their shit wrecked.
  • Alternatives – should the group have come prepared to fight? Or would that have ended badly? Or do you come nonviolently then return? Feels like there's a tactical L here.
• Turns out having unions/organizational structure is a key way to avoid this kind of militarization (190).
• Bevins with some great media critique here – Why did this protest get the imprimateur of "The people" is a real question here!
• 192 - seems like this story is one of liberals getting dragged the wrong way (adopting violence… but for the wrong cause). The reverse could be good, broadlly, but how do you get the libs to pick up the fireworks for the left causes?
• Staying in the movement even after it's been coopted by the right feels like a big L here for Artem. Obviously there's an argument not even to work with libs, but I've always felt that until things have gone to the right, there's an argument for engagement/persuasion/cooption. However, I think what this chapter shows is that there's definitely a line where you cut losses/ties – thoughts?
• Was Maidan a coup? Thoughts? I think Bevins's analysis here is compelling, but what do y'all think?
• 195 - the "pattern" of protest. "Infinite possibilities present themselves." How do we sieze these hinge points folks?
• "We were very far from the digital world that Western leaders had envisaged just a few years prior. Bad things were happening all around, and raising awareness was very far from sufficient to stop them." (197) – is the reason for this a change in the technology? Or rather just people getting used to this stuff (and a few real dogshit awareness campaigns --looking at you Kony 2012)?

Chapter 13

• OK, back to Brazil. Things continue to get worse, and the anti-World Cup movement trying to grab hold of an opportunity to improve the safety net.
• I wonder if there's a way to use obscene "get in" prices to organize?
• Anti-terrorism laws being used against leftists – this shit just sucks, and also why liberal howling about Jan 6th has always felt a bit sus. Be friendly with your co-workers folks, since while it was a false alarm, Mayara seems to have had a good crew.
• Smashing car dealerships – this seems insanely cool, but I also see how it's frustrating when you've got specific goals. Granted, this protest they have planned feels a little half baked, so how do you keep people from splintering like that? Maybe having a cooler/stronger protest plan?
• Brazil takes psychic damage from losing to Germany.
• This election is just profoundly weird, and there's definite resonances. The fact is, the right winning is always pretty terrifying, and there's a real argument that sometimes we need to do electoralism. At least Brazil had Dilma though, not Biden… God that's a depressing thought.
• Betraying the left here, though, I think is the bigger crime, and something to consider: how to exert force after the left gets betrayed by a harm reduction candidate?
• The stolen election playbook, we love to see it folks!
• Yeah, meanwhile the MPL is just slowly disintegrating. I like Vegetable's take here – that the right takes elements from the left and inverts them, which we see time and time again.

Chapter 14

• And now we're in Hong Kong. Bevins with another great summary of the history after a little introduction.
• I do like how Bevins connects the "repressive repertoire" (212) to colonial strategies.
• "It was only after Margaret Thatcher and Deng Xiaoping hammered out the terms of the final 1997 handover that British authorities began to introduce democratization measures" – I feel like the take on this "undermining the transition" is probably right. After all, why do this shit now? Could have been done decades before.
• Real question for the Deng-thinkers out there: Was "One Country, Two Systems" good policy? I honestly don't know, because I don't know if the alternative of just fully incorporating HK could have been done without massive violence. I'm not really knowledgeable on this history though, so I'm really interested in what y'all think on this.
• I do think the longterm strategy of China has been pretty vindicated though – Bevins seems to think so too, with the comparison with Russia/former Soviet states.
• Actually losing my mind at how blatant the HK system was – businesses have seats at the table, amazing work Anglos! Of course, does the mask-off nature of this make it easier to critique? Or is it actually harder since they're just doihng it in the open?
• 216 - I love John Woo's crazy cop movies as much as the next movie mindset fan, but I do think Bevins' gentle reminder about copaganda is helpful here.
• Conflict here between top-down movement and horizontalism (217) is interesting. Of course, there's some real irony here – the "pro Bejing" faction is pro cop as well. I feel like there's just muddled ideology here (though perhaps a comrade can clarify). Feels like Americans though, where protesting "my body my choice" with the vax falls apart w/ abortion. Maybe I'm wrong, but I wonder if the capitalism of HK leads to the ideological mish-mash vibes?
  • Of course, "pro-democracy" doesn't have to be pro-West, but I think Bevins recognizes it as well.
• There seems to be a "copy of a copy of a copy" going on here with Umbrella (218). In particular, it feels like each subsequent protest movement loses more of the things that are key to success. Say what you will about Tahrir and Tunisia, there was real change. Occupy already loses that fire, and now it's really becoming kind of hollow. Question though – is it governments adapting to these movements or the movements failing to recognize what made the previous iterations successful?
• The role of memes here seems to be rising - pop culture as a touchstone for these movements. Cringe or potentially useful?
• The coalition always fractures, but it's interesting how the right wing co-opts horizontalism here. I don't want to be suspicious of horizontalism as such, but it feels like a strong cudgel that opens up space for reactionaries here. Thoughts?

Next Reading (2/29) -- Chapters 15, 16, 17

We're so back @MF_COOM@hexbear.net @chicory@hexbear.net @Maoo@hexbear.net @Vampire@hexbear.net @Pluto@hexbear.net

I can't tag material_delinquent and WithoutFurtherBelay who participated in the last thread, so not sure what's up with that.

Folks, it's good! I'm about 2/3 through the 3lb bag I ordered and just threw down for a 5lb. Eventually I need to order some in bulk to save on shipping, but I need to figure out how I'll store multiple bags (I got a large container for the beans)

Some thoughts for the comrades out there:

I think my favorite is in the moka pot. It's got a very rich body, a bit of acidity which I like, and still is nice and mellow.

However, my daily drip machine also does nicely with it. It's got less acidity in that, more just a mellow and easy to drink blend.

I do have an Aero Press, but I haven't tried with that yet. I should bust it out sometime though.

Also, it smells fucking phenomenal. Every day when I open the container now, it's like, god damn that's good coffee.

In summary, it's damn fine coffee.