Lessons for Europe from a Surreal American Coup — Part 2
So US citizenship and organised civil society defended US democracy and eventually won the day, if only just. Where to now?
6. It only works if you have resources
Large scale orgnaising and campaigning is expensive. Building up the kind of public sphere that enables the can of identity creation that brings about democratic participation takes resources and investment. Movements across the US could deploy hundreds of millions of dollars to achieve their goals.
Of course the amounts of money in American politics are obscene and are in themselves a danger to democracy, how it got to where it is. Of course the need to organise in the first place is a product of intentional political exclusion and a history of suppression. These are things Europeans can be very glad not to have to deal with. However, as a result, Americans put a value on civic engagement and invest in it. If these organisations had to follow long bureaucratic procedures for piecemeal microgrants, they would not have succeeded. A vibrant democracy requires resources, and the investment pays off when there is a need to push back authoritarians. Europe needs to learn the lessons and find the cash.
7. You cannot replace education.
Having said all that, with all of the organising that has been done in the US, it is clear election campaigns are not and cannot be a substitute for education. If they US had more inclusive and higher quality civic education programmes, it may well be that the Trump phenomenon would never have happened. If there were digital citizenship and media literacy education programmes for all ages that could provide training on disinformation and how to deal with it, that could have prevented the deluge of conspiracy theories and racist hate speech that has burgeoned. It would have saved the lives and well-being of the children in cages at the US-Mexican border, and the many thousands of people who were infected with Covid19 as a result of the infodemic.
Investment in education has never been so urgent, innovation in education has never been as necessary. This is something for governments, the European Union, civil society and the private sector to consider together. If we do not provide high quality digital civic education, what will our democracy look like? What will our workplaces look like? Our societal well-being and common prosperity are at stake.
8. There are no such things as “identity politics” or “political correctness”, end destructive debates.
The horrific gut-wrenching video of George Floyd’s murder brought to the digital world of the 21st century an American tradition none of us had seen in this medium before — a lynching. This was a murder for the sake of murder, one so many black American had suffered, and we thought had been consigned to history. Not so. In recent years, we have seen dozens of videos and cases of black men and women being shot by police. Philando Catille was shot seven times in his car next to his girlfriend and his daughter. Breona Taylor was shot eight times in her bed, and then left to die on her apartment floor with no medical assistance. Stephon Clarke was shot twenty times for holding a mobile phone. This list of killings for which there has been no justice goes on and on, and that is only a list of those we know about.
This context is what makes the 6 January insurrection that much more horrifying as a display of white supremacy. As a violent mob carrying confederate flags broke their way into the Capitol, police officers at first opened gates and took selfies, they did not discharge a single weapon. A shot was fired only when rioters breached the Senate doors, and the woman who was hit was immediately rushed out for medical aid. Even as the rioters attacked and beat police, when lives were at risk, when a terrorist attack was clearly ongoing, Capitol police chose not to discharge their weapons and took a beating rather than escalate the violence. The heroic police officer Eugene Goodman, who diverted the mob from the Senate and saved Mitt Romney’s life chose to do so while running, rather than shooting. The same unspeakable force of white supremacy that put bullets into the bodies of black people who had done nothing wrong at all, protected these white people while they were carrying out a terrorist attack. This is not to say that US police force should shoot more people — on the contrary, it shows they can shoot less people if they want to.
There have been raging and outrageously silly debates in recent years about “identity politics” and “political correctness”. The latter is often treated as the greatest threat to human liberty, the former is treated as the ultimate obstacle to any attempt at serious policy making. If there is anything the Trump presidency has taught us is how futile these debates are.
Trump drew a repulsively clear connecting line between calling an ethnic group “criminals and rapists” and then putting them in cages. He showed that men who talk about “grabbing women” often talk that way because they feel legitimised to act that way. He showed that prevalent talk of Jewish space-lasers is also accompanied with murdering swastika carrying mobs on the street. So called “political correctness” is not about being offensive or not, it isn’t about being offended. It is about not inciting violence, and not getting anyone killed. It is about protecting society from violent extremists who want to do harm. It should not be called “correctness” at all, it should be called “preventing harm”.
There is no distinction between “identity” politics and any other kind of politics. If a person’s skin colour, and the historical and social circumstances that come with it, have any link whatsoever with the likelihood of being shot, that “identity” is not a matter of choice, but a matter of life and death. If a person’s gender determines their prospects in life, including, say, their wages and career prospects, then it’s entirely intermingled with how much tax they pay, or what their wage is. There is no distinction between a serious politics about taxes and spending, and a frivolous politics about identity — they are part of the same package, where different people from different walks of life require different policy solutions to address their needs and interests.
9. Wield power, not empty words. When you wield words, control the narrative.
The GOP have given the world a lesson in the shameless naked use of power, entirely stripped of any pretence, or fig leaves. They achieved the tax cuts they so desired, packed the Supreme Court, and cashed in their chips. All the while Trump entirely controlled the public debate with every tweet, news conference and rally.
Although they have become ever more detached from reality, the Republicans and Trump are always unified and on message. Whether the “Russia investigation was a witch-hunt” or there are “millions who believe that the elections were rigged” or “impeaching a former president would be unconstitutional”, they all parrot their lines to millions of Americans. Be in QAnon, or the Deep State or immigrant-criminal-gangs, whatever the lie, the story is loud and clear, and no one ever thinks twice about what “Making America Great Again” really means. The GOP have their story figured out, and they use it to manipulate their audience to shamelessly deploy power.
The Democrats on the other hand are never sure of what they are saying, or how they will use their power. They demand “Unity”, but half of the Democratic Party seem to believe that “Unity” means getting holding insurrectionists accountable, while the other half somehow still talk about “reaching across the aisle” to work with those who tried to burn down the House. In his speech immediately following the Capitol sacking, Chuck Schumer in one breath accused Trump of inciting violence and thanked the GOP leadership in the Senate for their cooperation and Vice President Pence for his gracious acquiescence in not trying to overthrow the Constitution. It was painfully clear that while GOP leaders used the cover of quaint Senate protocol as cover for total amorality, the Democrats used the out of touch decorum to delude themselves that somehow things were still ok, still normal.
While GOP Senators are terrified of their Trump-base booting them out, and they’re scared because they don’t control the narrative. Democratic Senators are holding America hostage to the filibuster or negotiations with the GOP. One or two democratic Senators hold the entire country hostage for fear of being outvoted from the right, and preventing the Democratic Caucus from exercising its power. The farce could not be a more painful mirror image.
10. Unity requires an agenda, and a compelling vision.
The call for unity and healing in the wake of crisis is admirable. However, Unity does not appear magically out of thin air. There has to be a successful unifying agenda that is delivered successfully. It requires a narrative and a vision about it is that has to be achieved and why. After 5 years of chasing after Trump, it’s time to change things up and set a new narrative. “Unity” begs a question that the Biden administration has not yet answered.
Millions of people across the US organised and mobilised in the face of a
