Outraged Innocence and Deadly Illusions: The Time to Break Free

January 11, 2021 | revcom.us

 

To those who now write, in reference to the fascist mob that stormed the Capitol, that they never expected to see the scenes of violent mayhem and widespread police cooperation on display there …

You could have read Bob Avakian (BA) over six months ago, when he wrote the following:

… Trump is already preparing the ground to say the election was “rigged” if he is not declared the winner. Remember how, before the last election, he refused to say he would abide by the results if he lost? Now, he is proclaiming that in Michigan, and some other states, preparations for people to vote by mail is massive “fraud”—when, in fact, this is not only legal but highly sensible in the conditions of the coronavirus. At the same time, Trump and the Republican Party are making other moves to suppress votes, especially of people very likely to vote against them. And all this will almost certainly go on, in an even bigger way, as the time for the election approaches.

Further, if the election is held and Trump is not declared the winner but refuses to accept the results and insists he is still president, what about all those fascist followers of Trump, some of whom are already parading around with weapons and threatening people, including elected officials—what do you think they will do if Trump calls “fraud!” and calls on them to rally to his support? Remember how, during the 2016 campaign, Trump threatened his opponent, Hillary Clinton, talking about what “those Second Amendment people” might do to her? Remember how Trump has openly talked about how he has lots of supporters, among the police and the military, and among bikers and other “tough” people? And then, just recently, Trump has threatened to use the military to violently suppress protests against police brutality and murder.

Even if the election takes place and Trump loses, and he is prevailed upon to accept the results, and his MAGA-hatted madmen and women do not “rise up in arms” in the short run, do you really think they are just going to “go away,” or slink off passively, waiting for the next election?

To some of the same commentators who “never expected” to see those scenes and who now sternly “demand” that Joe Biden and the Democrats implement this or that program of reform (as if these fascist forces will “just slink off passively” and as if the Democrats will stop being one of the major institutions charged with overseeing and advancing U.S. imperial interests, including exploitation and oppression at home) … you can still read THIS, from the very same article:

For those who cannot help but hunger for a “return” to some kind of “normalcy” as an answer to the madness of Trump, Pence and the rest—forget it, it is not going to happen!

And nobody should want a return to the “normalcy” of this system. The “normalcy” of this system has always included the barbaric oppression of Black people and other people of color, with systematic terror, brutality and murder to enforce this oppression. It has always included vicious discrimination, bigotry and violence against immigrants, women, LGBTQ people, and any others regarded as inferior and “alien.” It has always included unjust wars for empire, and continuing crimes against humanity. It now poses a threat to the very existence of humanity through its increasing devastation of the environment and the ever present threat of nuclear war.

The very illusions that led to the shock—and the very resistance to actually confronting the reality we face and what is required, as concentrated in the analysis and the way out brought forward by BA—are illusions and resistance that may still cost humanity dearly—for this battle itself is not yet over. And the clinging to those illusions and that resistance will certainly end in disaster, should we manage to get through this juncture.

It is time and past time for anyone serious about actually ending this oppression and finding a road forward for humanity in the most perilous time of our existence to engage this work and this leader.

See the full film, excerpts and Q&A of this film