It’s educate, AGITATE, organize

edit: putting this at the top so people understand the basis for this:

You may well ask: “Why direct action? Why sit ins, marches and so forth? Isn’t negotiation a better path?” You are quite right in calling for negotiation. Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored. My citing the creation of tension as part of the work of the nonviolent resister may sound rather shocking. But I must confess that I am not afraid of the word “tension.” I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth. Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, so must we see the need for nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood.

Letter from Birmingham, MLK

  • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    What’s more ridiculous is when the so called “moderates” only criticize progressives and never conservatives.

    Like, one side wants full on fascism, the other wants healthcare instead of genocide…

    If you’re “in the middle” of those two groups, and you spend more time fighting for genocide and against healthcare than you do fighting the fascists…

    That says a lot about your personal values.

    It makes sense for both ends to work thru the middle. Which is of course why republicans skip the middle and attack the far left with moderates.

    It’s a 2-1 fight, has been since before they united to stop FDR from getting us universal healthcare 80 some years ago.

    • HauntedCupcake@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      I think a lot of it is that we’re in a group of people who are almost entirely left of the dems. Republican ideas are (rightfully) downvoted into oblivion and never seen. That leaves the only arguments being seen as within the left.

      It’s made worse by those on the left actually thinking and not just towing the party line, which leads to more fractures and disagreement. It’s not a bad thing that people disagree with “progressives”, it’s a sign that the left in general isn’t a pseudo-religious hivemind.

      What do you want a group of leftists to talk about? Homophobia bad? Trans rights good? Billionaires bad? Public healthcare good?