The capitalist system is committed to producing updated versions of its fundamental relations. This reproductive process has the unintended effect of producing constant resistance. New concepts and new theories of resistance are examples of these effects. They happen regardless of what the system wants or prefers. Resistance is a present force in everything the system […]
Read More Producing and reproducing resistance (10)We acknowledge that some conflicts might be permanent and may never end, so collective decision-making doesn’t only take the form of consensus. It’s through conflict that there are resolutions and new agreements. In order to generate new outcomes, there must be a commitment to and acceptance of conflict. It doesn’t make sense to embrace conflict […]
Read More Our conception of democracy (9)Capitalism adapts to counter all forms of resistance to it. In that process, the authorship of the people’s social force is erased by the State’s co-optation, so we should anticipate and plan for exactly that scenario. The State co-opts what’s popular and working, setting the boundaries of what’s legal and ensuring their middleman position. The […]
Read More The State co-opts what’s working (8)The instrument of the State is complicated and hard to understand. It’s made of multiple parts, with lots of things going on at one time. This makes it seem like the individual mechanisms are unrelated, but they’re actually working toward the same end: class domination. The State has a grip on people that is sticky […]
Read More The State’s domination is constant (7)Since liberal theory only sees political inequality, it ignores class and economic exploitation. Not only are there theoretical problems with this perspective, but there have also been actual historical inequalities created under democratic liberalism. So, it failed on its own terms. According to democratic liberalism, political inequality is the most fundamental form of inequality. The […]
Read More Democratic liberalism ignores class (6)Liberal democracy uses the concept of “civil society” to refer to a realm where everyone is equal because they all have one vote. But we’ve seen how dominant power structures continue to circulate within and through their civil society. Under this system, the State has total control to moderate conflict to guarantee equality, it defines […]
Read More The myth of civil society (5)In recent history, capitalism has continued to adapt. It isn’t necessarily getting stronger, but it’s still expanding, and there’s no reason to think that it will lead to its own downfall. While there are conjunctures where it could get stronger or weaker, capitalism won’t take itself out. It can and will adapt. This fact poses […]
Read More The forces of capitalism won’t kill the system (4)Being ready, willing, and accepting of reality, as it is, means not prioritizing our own ideas without considering how they could be positively influenced by other ideas. Our ideology isn’t coming from the outside, and it doesn’t ignore strategy in favor of organizational form. This is because, rather than coups, militarism, and reformism, we see […]
Read More Circulating in a global system (3)The histories we choose to tell are not neutral, and it’s important not to sell them as such. These histories reflect our values, beliefs, desires, and positions. This is also true for the histories told and retold by the State. Even though no theory of reality can claim neutrality, the State presents itself as a […]
Read More The State promises to be neutral and amorphous (2)Power is manifested through social relations, including relations with institutions like the State, the military, and the capitalist economy. The positioning can change, but not easily. And the same social relations vary in relative power depending on the context. Power develops in the relations to the institutions, not in the institutions themselves. It’s created in […]
Read More Where the power is (1)
