‘We need to build organisation to sustain LA uprising’

On the streets of LA (Picture: Alex Brittenham)

Is there a growing authoritarianism under Donald Trump?

We have to look at the local authoritarian structures that became deeply exacerbated after the George Floyd uprisings in 2020.

The response to the 2020 uprisings had been a fortification of the structures of state violence, including purging more liberal aspects.

Palestine was used as a blueprint to construct broader state mechanisms of repression. 

Trump is trying to create a perfect enemy in California. You will see it in the news and media—the spin. Local and national media in no way reflects what is happening on the ground.

Could the Democrats capture and tame the protests?

I don’t think that is possible because of people’s hostility to the Democrats. The Democratic establishment in LA is embedded in a regime carrying out public-private partnerships and privatisation by other means.

They can’t respond to the demands of the protesters—that is why you see outsiders out-seating Democratic incumbents in races in LA. 

What is the state of resistance to the second Trump resistance?

A larger number of people are protesting now than in Trump’s first term—some 13 million people were protesting last Saturday. 

People are protesting at airports over the new travel ban on people coming from Muslim-majority countries. But the media isn’t reporting on them.

The resistance was slower to take off this time because of the Palestine repression that happened under the Democrats. People are more afraid and reluctant, but it is necessary to push beyond this.

What is the dynamic between organisation and spontaneity in the protests?

People are talking about strategy and organising. Spontaneity is important. But even if you look at the more radical actions—such as the burning of the Waymo cars—they were all done by organised groups. 

In LA, the left is fragmented. To build a mass movement you need coalition building and coalition politics. It is impossible to have a single organisation that captures popular dissent, but the most successful are the groups that can actually bring people together. 

What are the next steps?

Protesters have been good at symbolic action but don’t have methods and means of alternative communication and channels. We need to do that. We need to break through the media blockade. 

You can build a structure that you need to sustain struggle in times of repression.

You saw that when the campus protests for Palestine happened—digital surveillance and repression smothered a lot of the movement. We have to avoid that.

We have to create and build organised structures. That has always been the task of the US left and continues to be. 

How do you make a list? How do you connect people? How do you build networks? How do you build branches? How do you build those structures?

In some ways, that’s what the anti-Ice rapid response teams are. We need to get more people plugged into those. How can you channel the symbolic politics into a common voice?

In the short run, the aim should be stopping the Ice raids in LA. And in the long run, it should be building a political movement that critiques the present moment of crisis and capitalism and offers alternatives.

It can be done and it is already being done physically at these protests. How does that grow into something more? That is when the organisation question comes in. You have to organise people.