All tagged intimidation

Creating Courageous and Robust Strategies, Part I: “Indivisible on Offense” and Galvanizing the Democratic Party in the Current Climate of Political Violence

Roddey Reid
politics, terrorism, Democrats, violence

First part of two-part article: 'Indivisible on Offense' and Galvanizing the Democratic Party in the Current Climate of Political Violence"

It is a response to the publication of Indivisible.org's new battle plan, "Indivisible on Offense: A Practical Guide to the New Democratic House."

Part 2 (due out next Monday): "Countering Acts of Political Violence & Domestic Terrorism"

"Today, in light of the electoral Blue Wave that caught most observers by surprise, and the release last week by Indivisible.org of its new activist guide (Indivisible on Offense: A Practical Guide to the New Democratic House), I want to offer several ideas about not only how to anticipate and counter political violence but also how over the next two years Democrats — and liberals and progressives generally — should confront Republican acts of intimidation.

"I want to argue that confronting the aggressive tactics of such remorseless opponents will require a transformation of the Democratic Party in terms of its self-image, public postures, and overall approach to political conflict in governmental institutions and the public media. As a Hungarian colleague, who has watched apprehensively as the U.S. has edged closer to the kind of legal authoritarianism or illiberal democracy already in place in his home country, put it, thanks to the Blue Wave, 'Democracy in America is now back on life support.'

"But absent changes in Democratic politics and a strategy for countering political intimidation and violence, the best efforts of Indivisible and other new activist organizations to “pave the way to the post-Trump era” (Indivisible on Offense, p. 2) may well founder."

July 30, 2018: "How Political Bullying and Intimidation Work — A Practical Guide"

Roddey Reid
politics, bullying

Author’s Note: this is the second installment in a four-part series on the current public climate of fear and intimidation that since the kick-off of the last presidential campaign in 2015 has dominated national life in the United States to a degree not seen in a long while. In Part One, “The Emotional Toll of Public Bullying and Political Intimidation,” the focus was on the experience of the sheer power and psychological effects of bullying in general and public bullying and political intimidation in particular. Below in Part Two, I now look at how public bullying works as a concrete method and set of political tools: I examine specific devices and tactics that will provide readers something of a practical guide through this potent minefield and a way to anticipate future acts of aggression. As we approach the midterm elections, the hope is to provide readers with some protective mental armor against the daily barrage of assaults.

First posted Sept. 3, 2018--"2018 Elections: Political Thuggery and Party Identities"

Roddey Reid
politics, bullying

In the wake of the tumultuous Kavanaugh hearings marked by wrenching accusations of sexual assault and extreme examples of political bullying, in Part Three I focus on the two major political parties to explore why over the years Republicans and their right-wing supporters have freely resorted to extremely aggressive political tactics and — just as important — why Democratic Party leaders and their liberal allies have often failed to take seriously such acts of political violence and skullduggery by their opponents and respond accordingly. Part of the answer, I argue, lies in their respective practices of loyalty and identity, social composition, and conceptions of governing.

June 10, 2018: "The Emotional Toll of Public Bullying and Political Intimidation"

Roddey Reid
politics, bullying

Author’s Note: this is the first installment in a series on the current public climate of fear and intimidation that since the kick-off of the last presidential campaign in 2015 has dominated national life in the United States. In particular I look at how this toxic environment has poisoned our politics and even reached into our very relationships with friends, co-workers, neighbors, and family members. Next up is Part Two: “How the Public Climate of Fear and Intimidation Works.”

Excerpt:

“We think we know who they are: they cut you off on the highway, they taunt you to your face, mock you behind your back, smirk at you from the TV screen, standing always beyond reach. They are everywhere and anywhere, from the schoolyard to the boardroom, the office cubicle to your local bar. They come unbidden, visiting violence upon the unsuspecting and the fearful alike. They now lurk even in your pocket wherever you go, and you can feel the buzz as trolls spew 140-character poison to anyone and everyone. Even at home you can’t get away from the pervasive climate of intimidation and disrespect: you turn on your TV or laptop and there they are, injecting venom and fear through old and new media. Requiring little or no provocation, they are poised to strike at the first sign of weakness — or courage. For they tolerate no one, no one but their own kind — belligerent bullies ready to declare who is fit to speak, to listen, and to submit.”

Podcast: "Affect & Activism in the Trump Era," Center for Cultural Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz (52 mins.)

Roddey Reid
politics, bullying

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.