Right now we feel helpless in the face of what seems like overwhelming odds. The Overton Window is sitting on land that has been eroded from below and is in danger of crashing over the right hand side of the cliff. We probably have the most bizarre President-elect in American history, and a good many of our friends and family put him in a house that he thinks is a bit too déclassé and his wife won’t even live in.
Over the last few weeks, many liberal people have lived in a state of denial, grasping at straws like the Hamilton Electors. Others talk of cycles and retreat into nihilism, hoping that Armageddon will eventually give birth to the next progressive cycle. Some try to analyse their way out of the problem by identifying demographics that are susceptible to the lies and promises told by a man who famously said that he loves the uneducated. A few have decided to resist, either by direct action or by reaching out to friends and neighbours over local issues where it might be possible to reach a consensus. Nonetheless, almost all of us who consider ourselves left or even centre-left recognise that this is a critical point going forward.
NY brit expat writes in the ACM forum (a diary that contains a much more comprehensive overview of the situation than I’ve written here):
Whether Trump is a fascist (or not), whether we are in a proto fascist situation (or not), what we are in is deep trouble. While the right is getting stronger, the left is not. We are divided, weak and in no shape for a battle of this magnitude. The mainstream trade union movement is not strong enough. What has happened to the groups and people that were organised around Sanders? Are they still functioning? Have they taken a new form besides standing alongside Bernie? The waves of protests in opposition to Trump are excellent, we need more of them with clear proposals of fighting back and an understanding of what we want.
Polly Toynbee writes in the Guardian:
Newspaper columns are supposed to end with solutions, but I’m running low on hope. Instead, I’ll leave you with the reported words of Tory grandee Ken Clarke and implore you to think of this in the months ahead. “Brexit headbangers have made politics nastier than ever, but they are frighteningly well organised,” he said. “If we are going to stop them we have to do the same and not be intimidated by their wall of hate.”
While Toynbee appears to offer no solutions, she points out the biggest handicap that we need to overcome and that is organization. Bernie’s campaign was somewhat better at harnessing the DIY enthusiasm of his supporters, but it remained a niche position in a country that seemed to be swinging inevitably right. One of the reasons for a perceived rightward turn is that the Right has banded together to distort the “common sense” of countries to reflect their own desires rather than what may be accurate. Sites such as Breitbart and 4Chan have recruited an army of true believers who infest every online comment thread in online media and social media intimidating those who disagree, and discouraging readers who believe they hold the majority opinion. They are reinforced by domestic troll factories. and in places like Russia, who promote objectives of the State, including Trump’s election and Brexit.
One of the things we can do that takes very little effort would be to behave likewise, promoting the idea that the Right has no social license (and they don’t; we are in the majority). We need to fight back with our own versions of troll factories, perhaps crowdsourced and voluntary, perhaps centralised and funded. Even the most niggly comment on an obscure news story in a local paper shouldn't go unanswered, especially if it's abusive or if it's factually inaccurate. If someone is harassed on social media, we should follow them and have their back even to the extent of revealing personal information on known trolls to the public and if necessary the police. That sounds radical, but they have no shame about pursuing the people they wish to intimidate. We also should call bullshit on every mainstream news story that is factually inaccurate or inflammatory and let them know we are watching, not complaining on a left wing blog but shouting it right in their face. If this is a culture war, I would really like to see our side win.
