a lot of talk about death squads, you know, the shit like Operation Gladio, the contras, etc lately in my circles
Here's my take:
These types of death squads simply won't be needed here in the States. The feds don't need to train groups of people to do that, because there are already a large number of people who are absolutely primed to murder. The idea that you can murder a protestor with your car is already considered acceptable, in fact there's laws in several states that allow it.
So we're seeing more and more of these large mobilized protests, blocking highways, etc. We need to ask this deathly serious question: "Are we prepared for the eventual right winger who decides to be a hero (in their mind) and let everyone go to work? Who decides to grab the strap and start spraying us?"
I would say no, we absolutely aren't prepared for that. In fact I would say that most people even on the "left" don't see this as an actual threat. I think there is a certain level of complacency that we will need to rapidly drop. I'm just as guilty of it as anyone.
Once this event happens, and it's more of an eventuality than an IF, the act will become normalized within the discourse. It benefits the state for that to happen, and it is exactly what happened after Charlottesville. We saw these laws passed after the dude with the challenger rammed into those protestors at full speed.
Our enemy has deemed the murder of 75 children a day an acceptable thing in order to preserve neoliberal capitalism. We've seen right wingers do multiple mass shootings ie Buffalo.
What do you think will happen when the same is done to an interstate blockade? The right will support it, either subtly or explicitly, the liberals will be calling for gun control while supporting the status quo.
Do you think we will adapt? or continue our "peace"? Do you think any current party will be willing to "take it there"? When every single one maintains a reformist political line? One that entails reforming the settler state, "fixing democracy" and "preserving Amerikan culture"?
We've been writing our representatives, voting and engaging in the "process" and yet, our futures are no less doomed than they were when I was in high school 10 years ago. All of this points to one simple, yet hard to grasp fact. There can be no reform, only revolution. There can be no peaceful gains, only revolution. 75 children murdered everyday should tell you that "voting in socialism" is a settler dream at best, controlled opposition at worst.
There is no way to separate the history of America, Israel, Canada, New Zealand or Australia from settler colonialism, this is to our advantage when it comes to transitioning, to pull from Kwame Ture, from a mobilized force to an organized one. This movement is not like OWS in that we can "reform" Wall Street, or redistribute wealth, to dismantle settler colonialism and it's global imperialism can only be revolutionary in nature.
Further, one only needs to look at the amount of "Cop Cities" being built in the US, the size of the Gaza strip relative to cities like NYC, Dallas, etc to realize that the climate plan is Gaza.
Take, for instance, the development of 'Cop City' in Atlanta, a project that involves destroying the city's last remaining forest to construct a sprawling urban warfare training facility for police. Why is there a need for urban warfare training for police forces? This development points towards an unsettling anticipation of conflict, suggesting a preparation for scenarios that go beyond the already normalized police brutality. It becomes clear that Palestine is the climate plan for the rest of us. It becomes clear the tactics employed to subjugate and ethnically cleanse Palestinians have their foot on our doorstep, future violence to be inflicted upon us by the powers that be, the ruling capitalist elites.
Another example, the Biden administration's environmental policies. Despite campaign promises to curtail drilling, the reality has been starkly different. The approval of the Willow Project (despite a 2 million strong petition and multiple protests) and the issuance of more federal drilling contracts for fossil fuels than even under the Trump administration are not just policy shifts. This isn't a minor oversight; it's a glaring contradiction that speaks volumes about the priorities and commitments of those in power. The question we must ask is: If 75 murdered children a day is an acceptable cost, what does that mean for your child's future? What does this say about the direction our society is taking, and what can be done to alter this course?
Anything less than a true revolution, a true PPW, and a total dismantling of the current regime is essentially a bribe to the population. "Well we need to keep murdering kids, but we'll give you Medicare for all" that was the Bernie era socialism in the settler state.
I say, it's time to move to the Houdini era, to embrace the impossible odds and the miracle escape, to break the chains. It can be done. It will be done. It must be done. If it is to be done then we must be shed the idealism, the complacency, we must understand that the struggle is eternal, that the Amerikan regime has created countless martyrs and we could very well be next to join them if we aren't realistic about the stakes of the game we play. The People's Republic of Turtle Island will provide us a future this regime could never, one where death is no longer worshiped and normalized.
No prison can hold me; no hand or leg irons or steel locks can shackle me. No ropes or chains can keep me from my freedom. -Harry Houdini
