The end of the neoliberal period has coincided with a symbolic reversal in politics: the torch of the partisan has passed from the insurgent Left of 1968 to the Qanon nationalists of today. This is a gigantic historical shift.
I'm thinking of the arch-conservative Carl Schmidt, who in 1962 published his entirely unexpected Theory of the Partisan. The thing is, Schmidt was a Nazi who saw the cultural inventiveness of war-making shift from the highly organized state-driven forms of his time to the Che Guevaras of postcolonial insurgency. Fast forward half a century. As the old neoliberal order crumbles we've seen that movement in reverse: a new disruptive force of social activism has arisen on the right, overtaking a territory of activism that was held almost entirely by the left just a decade ago.
You could see it on the screens last Wednesday: the populist right has seized the leftist toolkit of centerless organizing, extreme philosophical critique, freely alterable myths, and tactical improvisation in real time. But now these things have an entirely new meaning. A leaderless revolution can be fostered and unleashed from the top in a bid to change the system. The combination of organized hierarchy and molecular energy characterizes the networked fascism.
What's more, these people have a program.
A concise and ompletely operational ideology has solidified on the populist right, linking extractive industries and the military to gun ownership, safe communities, refusal of abortion and religious values. Qanon theatrical culture and armed assault are just the thrilling provocations. Behind them is a giant steamroller. Sure, this populist program is wrapped in a larger capitalist one, to intensify corporate expropriation. But the damage that the larger program does serves to enrage the populist base, and the whole thing lurches forward. In the absence of a powerful response, those combined forces will reshape society in their image.
Be certain that our side will respond over the next couple years. Be part of it.
Years ago, without giving up any of my fundamental choices, I decided to drop the old leftist toolkit of surprise and disruption, and try some exploratory research. The first really original thing that emerged was the chance to collaborate with a newly radicalized sector: earth system scientists. I thought by looking around in an area where actual change was sure to happen, more tangible possibilities would open. Now that people speak of the Pyrocene rather than "climate change," I want to go for much more immediate issues: environmental justice. Society can be materially transformed on that terrain. This is just one strategic place that anyone can occupy, within a larger "Great Transformation" type strategy that is increasingly coming together, in the face of incipient breakdowns both social and ecological.
I think we need a constructive strategy, not a disruptive one. If we can't put something together, the alternative is apocalyptic.
All of recent experience from 2008 to the pandemic has shown how fragile living conditions are, despite all the prosperity. In fact we depend entirely on social cooperation. In the US especially: Without thousands of mutualist organizations (including faith groups obviously) this society would already have exploded under the pressure of the pandemic. This is why radical tactics in the present are always centered around care, as far from the partisan as you can be.
The current state of warfare won't go away. But we can't fight with disruptive techniques and a partisan stance against enemies who exalt the use of loaded guns. The starting point of care leads to entirely different tactics and strategies. These can be developed, with force, in thousands of coordinated directions.
Qanon is for them. We have to invent something.