From Afghanistan to supply chains to the elections, the mainstream press unfortunately shows that the Chomsky/Herman (1988) model of “manufacturing consent” is still true: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34LGPIXvU5M
1. COVID/Science
a. Yes, certainly get vaccinated, but the profits/power of big pharma are scandalous: https://theintercept.com/.../bayh-dole-act-public.../
b. NJ Sens Booker and Menendez are just as complicit as Sinema/Manchin and the GOP: https://www.salon.com/.../not-just-sinema-sen-bob.../
c. “In this house, we believe in science” is not good enough. Science has never existed outside of politics, nor should it, actually: https://www.thenation.com/article/culture/carl-zimmer-virus/
2. Tech/Facebook
a. Facebook isn’t the problem. Well, it is, but it is much deeper The problem is surveillance capitalism: https://www.nytimes.com/.../12/opinion/facebook-privacy.html
b. With the unchecked power of "Bit Tyrants": https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/1381-bit-tyrants
c. As Silicon Valley mystifies the labor which makes it possible, including the (global south) human beings behind the algorithms/AI/automation: https://www.dissentmagazine.org/.../belabored-work...
d. Two excellent Luddite podcasts to cut through the tech punditry/BS. (Luddites are not anti-technology btw--they are against the power structure over technology)
i. This Machine Kills: https://soundcloud.com/thismachinekillspod
ii. Tech Won't Save Us: https://www.techwontsave.us/
3. Elections
a. Yes, Youngkin’s win in Virginia is a setback, but the manufactured crisis over "critical race theory" should not slow any of us down. For one, we educators must not stop teaching the truth, and here is one excellent resource for content/pedagogy: https://www.learningforjustice.org/.../teaching-hard-history
i. But also, it must be noted, “The Republican who just won in Virginia was an executive at the Carlyle Group--a private equity firm that has laid off thousands of unionized workers at the firms it acquires. But the Democrats couldn’t attack him on it. Because the Democratic nominee was a Carlyle investor.” (Gravel Institute) Capital plays all sides, and the people lose.
b. In Buffalo meanwhile, real estate capital made alliances across party lines to defeat the woman who won the Democratic primary. The Democratic Party cannot make the claim that she was “unelectable” (a la Bernie 2016/2020). Simply, her platform and movement simply threatened capital: https://www.newyorker.com/.../another-buffalo-is-possible
c. In Jersey City, real estate capital came out hard to back the NJ Dem machine incumbent, but bravo to our DSA-sponsored Joel Brooks who came within 180 votes for a city council seat. We will keep organizing to chip away, e.g. for affordable housing: https://www.jacobinmag.com/.../new-jersey-city-council...
4. Labor
a. I’m not sure what it means for the 2022 or 2026 or 2030 midterms, but I believe we professional middle-classers should be standing in solidarity with workers on/near strike at John Deere, Kellogg’s, Nabisco, Frito Lay, Kaiser Permanente, Tenet, Warrior Met, etc., and with workers attempting to unionize at Staten Island’s Amazon warehouse, for instance: https://www.commondreams.org/.../after-months-organizing...
b. Stand with the workers, even if in some sectors, they happen to be MAGA. Stand with coal miners, even as coal contributes to climate change--the miners themselves aren’t responsible for cooking the planet. The system of extraction/financial capitalism is. And, the road to climate justice goes through worker justice: https://www.thedigradio.com/.../organizing-dsas-pro-act.../
c. “Corporate America wants to frame this as a ‘labor shortage.’ But what’s really going on is more accurately described as a living-wage shortage, a hazard pay shortage, a childcare shortage, a paid sick leave shortage, and a health care shortage. Unless these shortages are rectified, many Americans won’t return to work anytime soon. That’s the real lesson here. I say it’s about time.” (Robert Reich).
5. Inflation
a. And of course, we’re all supposed to scared of the coming inflation, but inflation (like science and tech) does not exist outside of history/politics: https://www.thedigradio.com/.../inflation-politics-with.../
6. Alec Baldwin
a. Hollywood/SNL virtue-signaling liberalism is pretty easy. But, who are the obscured workers behind all the shows we stream from Netflix, Disney, and Hulu?: https://www.jacobinmag.com/.../halyna-hutchins-shooting...
i. Robert De Niro, anti-Trump, yes, but disaster capitalist: https://theintercept.com/.../robert-de-niro-barbuda.../
b. Support IATSE: https://www.labornotes.org/.../shocking-death-set...
7. Trumpism
a. Yes, absolutely fight this brand of authoritarianism, but long ago we submitted to "inverted totalitarianism" (Sheldon Wollin). Fight that, too: https://press.princeton.edu/.../democracy-incorporated
8. Supreme Court
a. “When people say that they want expertise that’s beyond politics, what they mean is people who learn in law school to pretend they’re not doing politics and do it anyway” (Samuel Moyn): https://podtail.com/.../behind-the-news-the-reactionary.../
9. War/The Rest of the World
a. On the Afghanistan withdrawal, beware not just the Tucker Carlsons but the Jake Tappers, too: https://www.thedigradio.com/.../the-media-war-w-adam.../
b. In between the big stories, beware the lower hum manufactured-consent on China, Cuba, Iran, Palestine, Colin Powell hagiography, etc.
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And so, we think globally, but organize locally, against capital and against empire. 3 quick, small ideas:
1. Stand with a strike nearby: https://aflcio.org/strike-map
2. Donate to strike funds, e.g. https://umwa.org/umwa2021strikefund
3. Support/organize with NJ WEC for a public bank in NJ: https://njwec.org/public-bank-petition/
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"Which side are you on?" -Florence Reece, union organizer for the United Mine Workers, Harlan County, KY, 1931
