This is a valuable thing to internalize (and to spread) and expand upon, especially if you want to be effective irl. People that do terrible things and want you and yours dead can be very nice. They can be your current friends, family members that you value. Scratch that liberal and you will find they support your murder at the hands of the cops, they knee-jerk support fascists so long as they fit the hegemonic mold (Israeli, Ukrainian, KMT, Hindutva).
And then you have to work around it, evaluating how you will subvert those tendencies. Maybe it’s recruiting from young people so you can get them into a political education pipeline that heads this off. Maybe you try to address them directly and weaken their positions. Maybe you just Isolate them.
Either way, this bleeds over into our own spaces and our own organizing. The people we try to organize and radicalize are not there with us yet, they are not conscious. They won’t always let you know that they are your enemy. They might call the cops on you or snitch to your boss even though they called you a comrade a week ago.
For this reason, it is imperative that we weed this out in spaces where trust is necessary. We cannot build trust in a culture that doesn’t require solidarity and explain its meaning. And we need trust, because what we do will be illegal and then criminal soon enough, if it isn’t already.
Was renting a boat at the river last summer with my gay friends to this adorable German grandma in the outskirts of Berlin/Brandenburg. When we were done and back, we were resting and I sat between the legs on my partner. No kissing, groping or anything, we were sitting and holding hands. She became really agravated and started shouting at us slurs and other things.
So yeah. Many bigots are nice people most of the time. They’re still bigots.
This is a valuable thing to internalize (and to spread) and expand upon, especially if you want to be effective irl. People that do terrible things and want you and yours dead can be very nice. They can be your current friends, family members that you value. Scratch that liberal and you will find they support your murder at the hands of the cops, they knee-jerk support fascists so long as they fit the hegemonic mold (Israeli, Ukrainian, KMT, Hindutva).
And then you have to work around it, evaluating how you will subvert those tendencies. Maybe it’s recruiting from young people so you can get them into a political education pipeline that heads this off. Maybe you try to address them directly and weaken their positions. Maybe you just Isolate them.
Either way, this bleeds over into our own spaces and our own organizing. The people we try to organize and radicalize are not there with us yet, they are not conscious. They won’t always let you know that they are your enemy. They might call the cops on you or snitch to your boss even though they called you a comrade a week ago.
For this reason, it is imperative that we weed this out in spaces where trust is necessary. We cannot build trust in a culture that doesn’t require solidarity and explain its meaning. And we need trust, because what we do will be illegal and then criminal soon enough, if it isn’t already.
Was renting a boat at the river last summer with my gay friends to this adorable German grandma in the outskirts of Berlin/Brandenburg. When we were done and back, we were resting and I sat between the legs on my partner. No kissing, groping or anything, we were sitting and holding hands. She became really agravated and started shouting at us slurs and other things.
So yeah. Many bigots are nice people most of the time. They’re still bigots.
Oof that sucks sorry that happened to you