Audio podcast version of posting of thoughts on the souring political climate within and without the Democratic Party. As with my previous article on Mike Bloomberg’s corporate raid on the Democratic Party, my worry is about the fate of the progressive and liberal wing of the party and its allied movements and organizations, especially at the hands of resolutely hostile mainstream media organizations.

Audio podcast version of the blog posting of thoughts on the souring political climate within and without the Democratic Party. As with my previous article on Mike Bloomberg’s corporate raid on the Democratic Party, my worry is about the fate of the progressive and liberal wing of the party and its allied movements and organizations, especially at the hands of resolutely hostile mainstream media organizations.

SUMMARY

- intimidation as a political and theoretical problem

- traumatic lessons

- taking political violence seriously

- political intimidation vs. everyday bullying

- from political tool to an entire political program & form of governing

- how it works

- affective challenges to civic action and activism

- resistance: a nimble politics of anticipation

- creating our own affective facts on the ground

THEORETICAL FRAME

My thinking has been in conversation with the work of Étienne Balibar on citizenship, globalization, extreme violence and the State, Wendy Brown’s deep inquiry into the political project of neoliberalism of “dedemocratization,” Judith Butler’s and Brian Massumi’s respective writings on lawless sovereignty, indefinite detention, and the affective politics of preemption in the endless War on Terror, and Corey Robin’s book on fear as an operative concept in the liberal political tradition.