Greetings! Welcome to this weeks’ co-op. Our Converses and pearls are out of stock for the moment but we have plenty of great deals on lightly used L.A. Lights and overstock Ring Pops.
Today’s Co-Op is named after the work of Bissau-Guinean and Cape Verdean anti-colonialist and freedom fighter Amilcar Cabral. Cabral was an agronomist by trade but became the de facto leader of one of the most successful wars for independence in history. There’s a lot to say about him and anti-colonialism in general but I think it’s important to note that a significant part of Cabral’s radicalization came from his background as a soil scientist. Now that Trump is gone, there is a sense that we can begin to take climate change seriously again. But what Amilcar Cabral understood is that it is impossible to shepherd a sustainable environment without dealing with the exploitative excesses of capitalism and colonialism.
Just something to think about as we celebrate rejoining the Paris Accord.
Give us links!
News of the World
Welcome to a brave new world. A world of hope and healing where…...oh poop, things are still happening. Oh well.
In which tech writer Paris Marx explains why banning plastic bags won't save us from the coming already here climate crisis:
Only Class War Can Stop Climate Change (jacobinmag.com)
In which Alleen Brown and Akela Lacy take note of the (what should be) disturbing amount of anti-protest bills that have passed since this past summers uprisings and the Insta-Insurrection at the capitol.
“Unprecedented” Anti-Protest Push in State Legislatures (theintercept.com)
In which Vanessa Williamson at Dissent Magazine traces the history of austerity politics to their racist roots in the Reconstruction era:
The Austerity Politics of White Supremacy | Dissent Magazine
Bonus: A quick update on the Hunts Point worker strike in NYC:
"That's Upside Down": AOC & Other Lawmakers Back Hunts Point Workers' Strike - Gothamist
Let’s Pod it Out
We are all just vibrating on our own frequencies, creating a rich tapestry of sound.
In which returning champions at Citations Needed take on the ubiquitous notion of “healing the divide/nation” and extoll the virtuous nature of conflict in politics:
In which Mathew Sitman and Sam Adler-Bell of Know Your Enemy discuss whether or not Trump is a fascist and more importantly the different definitions of fascism and their limitations:
Know Your Enemy: Did It Happen Here? | Dissent Magazine
The Internet is a Series of Tubes
Brought to you by YouTube. “Guys, I swear it’s not our fault!”
In which educational YouTuber Tom Nicholas explains the history of neoliberalism, because I know you’re just dying to know:
Neoliberalism: From Ronald Reagan to the Gig Economy | Tom Nicholas - YouTube
In which we link to a video that you may have already seen. But watching James Baldwin pants William F. Buckley is perhaps just the kind of restorative therapy that this nation needs:
James Baldwin Debates William F. Buckley (1965) - YouTube
Notes from the Editor:
This week marked the end of the one of the most chaotic periods in American history. The presidency of Donald Trump is now over and it becomes our collective goal to make it but a weird and tragic footnote in the saga of American history.
“Hey, you remember when America elected a gameshow host as president? Crazy right? …..A lot of people died though.”
Sanity has been restored to white house. Basic competence is no longer at a premium. No more naked grifting and endless scandal. Qualified people will work together to fix problems and lead the nation forward. And now those people look more like America because Biden has assembled the most diverse team of advisors and cabinet officials in history.
It is truly brunch time in America.
In all seriousness friends, I do not begrudge you your celebration. It’s a good thing that Trump isn’t president anymore and I’m not going to argue against celebrating good things. And I also want to say that I will acknowledge the good things that Biden does as president. Biden is going to be a better president than Trump was. That matters. I get it.
But sanity didn’t return to the white house with the inauguration of Joe Biden. Normalcy did. And what was normal before Trump, wasn’t sane. It was just normal. What was normal gave us Trump. We cannot go back to normal.
Think of it like this, in years since Clinton’s third way takeover of the Democratic party, the party line has steadily moved to the left. Joe Biden’s political history is a laundry list of policy stances that the Democratic party has distanced itself from. Biden and his supporters will say that he has evolved on those issues and that may be true. Give him credit for admitting mistakes I guess, but it does demonstrate a trend of supporting bad policy.
So why should we trust him to get it correct now? Every time Biden’s political instincts were at odds with the progressive stance, he was proven wrong. When the left is saying that relief checks should be $2,000 and they should be given monthly, and he is saying that $1,400 one time is enough, shouldn’t we use history to determine who has the better idea. Remember, it was the limiting of direct relief to average people in the 08 financial crisis that created the largest wealth gap since the gilded age.
Enjoy this moment. Grab some ice and savor a tall class of conservative tears. Post your meme’s and your videos of that Amanda Gorman poem. But I beg you, don’t be complacent. I’m sorry but I’m going to have to ask you to continue to pay attention to the news. Biden will do good things, but if those things don’t go to addressing the causes of the problems we face, then they are not good enough. And we can’t afford half measures anymore. If politics won’t allow for real solutions then we must change politics. If for nothing else, than for the fact that in two years we will have midterm elections and if we don’t get this honeymoon period right, that might be all she wrote.
The party of the President taking a bath in the midterms is normal. We can’t do normal anymore. Normalcy got us Trump in the first place.
Happy weekend everybody!
Solidarity Forever.
“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.” — Abraham Lincoln...“Never express yourself more clearly than you are able to think.” – Niels Bohr (a Danish physicist and philosopher) Opening our minds to what was... not what is... Solidarity forever...