Facebook Update: Alive, Antifascist, and Irritable

NinaIllingworth February 21, 2021November 5, 2022 A Brief History of Neoliberalism, Amerikan Musik, An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States, antifascism, Boogaloo Boys, Books, Canada in the World, class reductionism, class war, communism, contrarian left, David Harvey, democratic socialism, extremely online wankers, FA1, Facebook, fascism, fascism is a bourgeoisie plot, fascism is about destroying the labor class, fascism is antisocialist, Gerald Horne, Glenn Greenwald, informal writing, JA5, Jimmy Dore, Journals, left right alliance, Matt Stoller, Matt Taibbi, MP6, Nina Illingworth, Offsite Writing, online discourse, Pacifism As Pathology, personal, reactionary thought, revolution, revolutionary praxis, Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, Second Tier Faux Left Influencers, settler colonialism, Site Updates, social media, Socialism, The Apocalypse of Settler Colonialism, Tyler Shipley, Ward Churchill, whiteness, writing schedule

Autor’s note: in light of Facebook’s openly hostile attitude towards anarchists and left wing radicals, I’ve come to accept that any personal updates or journals I post on Zuckerburg’s cursed hell-site, have to also be published on a site I control; like this one. The too long, didn’t read here is that I’ve been ill for the past week with a standard flu, reading a lot of books, and watching a bunch of mutuals crap themselves in public online to defend reactionary, chud-loving, faux-left influencers; and folks falling for it should be embarrassed.

Mid February Update

Alright then lads and lasses, I promised myself that if after I came back for good at the end of last year, I was unable to publish something for a whole week – I would force myself to write a personal update on social media, to at least stay engaged and keep people informed. Here we are I guess.

First and foremost I should just like to say that my friends and readers shouldn’t worry about my absence; I get sick every winter and my immune system isn’t really up to snuff for cold, wet environments where everyone else around me is also catching head colds and flus. The fact that it took essentially till February this year is almost certainly a function of the larger lockdown and anti-Covid ethos folks around me are adopting. Factually I’m burning a fever and my head is full of snot, but I can still taste things and the symptoms are completely different than Captain Trips; I am of course still avoiding most human contact simply because we’re in the pandemic anyway, but I’m in no real danger here. I just feel like crap and it’s hard to write when your whole noodle is cooking.

I have managed to spend some time catching up on my reading, at least in part because I can’t write. On my list this past week was re-reading A Brief History of Neoliberalism by David Harvey to try and put a few issues coming up in my pinko community life in context. I also read the magnificent 3rd edition of Ward Churchill’s “Pacifism As Pathology: Reflections on the Role of Armed Struggle in North America” and I can say without reservation that it was a mind blowing study that helped me understand why certain anti-revolutionary “pathologies” continue to haunt the left to this day, and make revolutionary praxis in the Pig Empire extremely difficult or at least increase the barriers of resistance against such.

Furthermore, I’m most of the way through “Canada in the World: Settler Capitalism and the Colonial Imagination” by Tyler Shipley which I’m reading as part of my quest to get a grasp on the place I’m living, even if I probably won’t ever understand it as my home. The key to Shipley’s analysis is the understanding that Capitalism, Colonialism/Imperialism, and Slavery developed together for a reason, and that reason has effectively influenced Canadian policy both foreign and domestic, throughout its entire existence. For my American readers who want to explore these concepts but really aren’t all that concerned about Canada in specific, let me once again recommend “The Apocalypse of Settler Colonialism: The Roots of Slavery, White Supremacy, and Capitalism in 17th Century North America and the Caribbean” by Gerald Horne and “An Indigenous People’s History of the United States” by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz.

Finally of course I should note that whatever hours I have been awake and paying attention to “the discourse” online, have been extremely disappointing. It seems that in the ongoing fallout from the Jimmy Dore promoting crypto-fascism incident, a number of second tier online influencers have begun aggressively promoting reactionary positions (including minimizing the fascist coup attempt on the 6th, and group humiliating antifascists while hiding behind one particularly embarrassing faux-antifascist informant) and demeaning the work of actual antifascists.

I would be lying if I said that I didn’t find all of this depressing. Although I am certainly aware that most of these people are Americans, or otherwise members of reactionary, settler colonial societies, and that their reasons for adopting these stances are social, and financial, rather than ideological; it makes little difference in the final analysis why you’re doing what you’re doing, if you’re helping fascists, and attacking left wing anti-fascists.

I have no interest in dissecting each individual strawman and custom-crafted Tucker Carlson argument these folks employ to accomplish these goals, nor am anywhere near as worried about their ability to influence “the American left” as the high profile sh*tlords I mentioned in the Jimmy Dore piece (folks like Glenn Greenwald, Matt Taibbi, Matt Stoller, etc) – I do still feel obligated to remind the less experienced readers of my work that you simply cannot do good things with sh*t people, and you can’t work with folks who fantasize about throwing you out of a helicopter.

The class character of fascism, is bourgeoisie, not labor. The purpose of fascism in a capitalist society is to destroy left wing labor class organizations and stamp out socialism. Pushing reactionary thought online, defending chuds engaged in political violence, and promoting left-right alliances against the system, are all activities that help the very fascists who want to stomp you out of existence. And frankly, I shouldn’t have to say that at this point in the game lads.

“The historic function of fascism is to smash the working class, destroy its organizations, and stifle political liberties when the capitalists find themselves unable to govern and dominate with the help of democratic machinery.” – Leon Trotsky, “Fascism: What It Is & How To Fight It.”

“Many understood that the raison d’être of fascism was to destroy communism – and communists – and that, therefore, the rise of fascism would mean death not just for the cause of greater equality and justice but also potentially of anyone who believed in that cause.” – Tyler A. Shipley, “Canada in the World”

“First they came for the communists and I did not speak out – because I was not a communist.” – Martin Niemoller

“The depth of this statement (above) has often been reduced in popular capitalist culture, as if any social groups could be slotted into the structure of the verses and the lesson would be the same: we should always oppose oppression of particular groups of people. True. But Niemoller was also trying to tell us something specific: the Nazis killed the communists first. Then, having deal with the hard left, they moved onto the soft left and attacked the trade unions. Then they expanded their operations to more widely target all Jews, even those not connected to the left, and their list of targets grew from there. Thus, importantly, it was anti-communism that lurked at the heart of the Nazi project, as it did with all fascist projects” – Tyler A. Shipley, “Canada in the World” in reference to Martin Neimoller’s “First They Came…”

PS – before you scoff and close this window, ask yourself whether or not you think it will matter to the chuds and neon*zis, if you’re not really a communist but you just kinda want free healthcare, when they get around to “purging socialism” like they’re openly declaring they intend to?

Please folks, do better; and stop getting your ideas from people who for whatever reason, cannot, or will not, do better themselves. It’s not about friends, or Youtube hits, or who hurt you and why you’re going to make them pay; antifascism, isn’t optional on the left, and if you aren’t against fascism, you’re no ally of mine.

Additional Resources

Six Things I Think: The Enemy of My Enemy Is Still a Fascist, Actually

On Mea Culpas, the Populist Alliance & the Young American Left

Film Sessions: “Where Do We Go From Here” by Renegade Cut

Counting Coup: the Chud Rush Insurrection & an I Told You So

‘The Devil You Know? Revisionist History On the Contrarian “Left”

How to (Make a Troll) Disappear Completely: A Primer on Americanized Fascism

On Whiteness, Identity Politics & the Pig Empire Left

Capitalism, Climate Crisis & the Rise of Fascism in the Pig Empire

No Fugazi On Fascism: A Five Part Podcast Series

Thought Crimes and Appeasement

– Nina Illingworth

Independent writer, critic and analyst with a left focus. Please help me fight corporate censorship by sharing my articles with your friends online!

You can find my work at ninaillingworth.com, Can’t You Read, Media Madness and my Patreon Blog

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