Together, we must fight for our long-held values and work with people around the world who share them
There’s not a whole hell of a lot that’s new here, but it’s important to remember that if you’re not recognizing the country we’ve known, colonialist and imperialist as it’s been over the years, you’re not alone.
The nationwide free breakfast program for students was created directly in response to the black panthers free breakfast program. Prefiguring a better society through direct action and political education has proven more effective than engaging in electoral politics.
SBP (which is only one relatively small and highly means-tested example) was passed by elected politicians. BPP didn’t put it in place themselves, elected politicians in office who were in favor of it used the opportunity of national attention to push other elected politicians to pass it. And that is just one of many student food assistance programs, most of which were not passed due to attention created by direct action.
I’m not arguing against direct action, I’m just disputing that it’s been “more effective” than other means. It tends to facilitate the more effective means. The advantages that community action provides are around being highly agile and highly targeted. It can’t provide countrywide, uninterrupted assistance programs, because no community groups have the resources necessary for that. The BPP could never have provided free lunches for students nationwide by themselves, and they didn’t want or attempt to.
You are not logged in. However you can subscribe from another Fediverse account, for example Lemmy or Mastodon. To do this, paste the following into the search field of your instance: !politics@beehaw.org
In-depth political discussion from around the world; if it’s a political happening, you can post it here.
Guidelines for submissions:
Where possible, post the original source of information.
If there is a paywall, you can use alternative sources or provide an archive.today, 12ft.io, etc. link in the body.
Do not editorialize titles. Preserve the original title when possible; edits for clarity are fine.
Do not post ragebait or shock stories. These will be removed.
Do not post tabloid or blogspam stories. These will be removed.
Social media should be a source of last resort.
These guidelines will be enforced on a know-it-when-I-see-it basis.
The nationwide free breakfast program for students was created directly in response to the black panthers free breakfast program. Prefiguring a better society through direct action and political education has proven more effective than engaging in electoral politics.
SBP (which is only one relatively small and highly means-tested example) was passed by elected politicians. BPP didn’t put it in place themselves, elected politicians in office who were in favor of it used the opportunity of national attention to push other elected politicians to pass it. And that is just one of many student food assistance programs, most of which were not passed due to attention created by direct action.
I’m not arguing against direct action, I’m just disputing that it’s been “more effective” than other means. It tends to facilitate the more effective means. The advantages that community action provides are around being highly agile and highly targeted. It can’t provide countrywide, uninterrupted assistance programs, because no community groups have the resources necessary for that. The BPP could never have provided free lunches for students nationwide by themselves, and they didn’t want or attempt to.