Essay: Organize or Die (Link)

NinaIllingworth December 20, 2020November 5, 2022 Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, antifa, antifascism, austerity, backlash, Black Lives Matter, Covid 19, Democratic Party, democratic socialism, DSA, Energy and Commerce Committee, Essays, FA1, how to build power, Ilhan Omar, informal writing, Jimmy Dore, lay siege to the government, Medicare for all, Medicare for All floor vote, MP6, neofeudalism, neoliberalism, Nina Illingworth, Offsite Writing, organization, organizing, organizing strategy, Patreon, Patreon Blog, Politics, Protest, reactionary, rigged oligarchy, Social Justice, social media, Socialism, ST2, The Squad, Theory, Un-Civil War, uprising, white lash, whiteness

Editor’s note: at this point I’m fairly unclear about my plans for this apocalypse Christmas; I know I’m not going anywhere or celebrating anything, and I’m pretty sure I’m going to take a nice long break from social media posts, but it is entirely possible I’ll still publish essays and blogs before the New Year. On the off chance I don’t however, here’s a breezy four thousand word informal essay about the current Medicare for All vote fight and general theories of left wing political organizing in a rigged oligarchy to tide you over, and please accept my warmest plague-holiday greetings.

Finally, as an aside please allow me to mention that my (free to read) Patreon Blog has been marked 18+ despite containing literally no “adult” content, because I once swore about George HW Bush in an essay about why he was a war criminal, pig-f*cking monster. No regrets.

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With the blue dog neoliberals launching an ambush against Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez during a contested vote over a place on the Energy and Commerce Committee, the un-Civil War inside the Democratic Party is now raging in full force. When combined with the battle raging on the left over Jimmy Dore’s call to force a floor vote on Medicare for All, it can seem to an outsider like the larger American left is on the backfoot, and indeed that may be so as long as we keep relying on our current strategy for personality-based electoral politics. There is however a way (and indeed, only one way as far as I can see) that we can win here on all fronts, including coronavirus relief checks, universal healthcare and toppling neoliberal mummies clinging to power simultaneously; and I think the Sqaud knows it. Now is our moment, but we’re not going to get there without changing strategies; it’s time to organize, or die. To check out my latest informal political essay on my (free-to-read) Patreon Blog, click on the title header or the image below.