Learned about it from this episode of the Team Human podcast
But what is happening in Hong Kong is they come up with a slogan, which is translated as Do Not Split, which is, we know that some people are willing to be confrontational with riot police.
And when they are, that’s going to cost the state in terms of not only resources, but it’s going to cost the state in terms of political capital and support. And we know that there are some people who are not willing to do that. And we are going to abide by the protocol of Do Not Split, which means that we’re not going to criticize them openly, and they’re not going to criticize us openly.
If we’re the pacifists, we’re not going to have them criticize us for being sort of like, I don’t know, limpid or flaccid or not courageous or whatever. And we’re not going to criticize them for being more confrontational. And the thing is that the support is also tacit.
It’s not like they have to come out and tell the media, oh, we approve of our more sort of confrontational colleagues. They just keep quiet. They just keep quiet.
Understanding that a range of tactics is probably going to be necessary. Nobody really knows what’s going to work. But if everybody’s pushing back against a particularly violent state, then everybody’s really on the same side.
Solidarity forever.
If this is a difficult principal for you, remember to rank your battles appropriately:
Number One will always be the people you actually disagree with on a fundamental level, the people you mean to be resisting. Way down on the list is the people on your side who are resisting in ways you don’t condone, but resisting nonetheless.
Never fight a low priority battle when a high priority fight is still going on.
This part, this part.
It’s not like they have to come out and tell the media, oh, we approve of our more sort of confrontational colleagues. They just keep quiet. They just keep quiet.
You don’t have to tell everyone your business and why you’re right. “Divide and Conquer” is a long time phrase.
You don’t have to tell everyone your business and why you’re right.
You don’t. However, corporate media is dirty as shit. So you’ll inevitably get the “Why won’t you condemn the Palestinian Intifada!” heckled at a guy running for NYC Mayor, simply because he’s a Muslim who also disapproves of genocide. And if you don’t say “I :heart: Israel and condemn all forms of Islamic Extremism” on a loop whenever prompted (and sometimes even when you do), the inevitable NYT headline is “Radical Mayoral Candidate For Most Important Job On Earth Supports Hamas And May Be Ineligible For Office So Don’t Even Bother Voting For Him”.
Not entirely unlike the inevitable flood of “Politician X is Literally Dying!” headlines that we get whenever a swath of corporate media has you in their sights.
People often fall into the trap of trying to explain themselves or defend or clarify their positions. And this inevitably gets spun as “Divisions in The Left! Leftists in Disarray!” It’s why you’ll often find politicians talking as though they’re stuck on repeat, even to the point of stumbling over the same prepared remarks on what feels like autopilot. That’s because they have trained themselves to stay so rigidly on topic, in order to avoid these pitfalls.
Broadly speaking, this is how modern liberal journalism functions to degrade democracy.
Understanding that a range of tactics is probably going to be necessary.
All successful movements have to have a radical flank in order to make the moderates look moderate. Otherwise, the moderates look radical and the Overton Window doesn’t shift.
Very well said.
Me, a nonviolent person, when someone chins a fashy cunt
chins a fashy cunt
Ironically you channel the Split vibes this post elaborates about: you give the same energy as someone who picks a white mage, but never casts any heal spells and just stays in the back while everyone does all the work so you can lazily enjoy the fruits of everyone elses hard work.
Pacifist ≠ passivist
And fascism respects neither. We didn’t sternly write letters to Mussolini’s death, did we? We didn’t protest Hitler to death? No, you pacifist dumb fucks, we killed them to death.
Passivist or pacifist, it doesn’t matter, both have no place when addressing fascism.
This is why it has come crawling back from the roach-infested shadows globally in Europe and the USA, we stopped at killing their leadership instead of also punishing their supporters.
