Re: <nettime> So what's the use of art, theory, activism?

[Allan Siegel via nettime-l <nettime-l@lists.nettime.org>]

Hello
It’s not surprising that many mainstream media commentaries, about the 
apparent revival of Trumpism and its ideological appendages, 
effortlessly gloss over the historical roots of all that the MAGA 
movement represents. AND, the political movements that fought against 
this white nationalist vision of what ‘America’ is supposed to look 
like. Mainstream, so-called legacy media, and its corporate 
underpinnings, is basically ahistorical and anti-intellectual. This 
profile narrows the discursive political terrain to the kiddie pool. The 
results of this arrangement is a diminished and restricted public sphere.

Not surprisingly, within this distorted landscape, progressive movements 
in the U.S. frequently succumb to a false binary paradigm in which 
politics is a battle between Democrats and Republicans rather than the 
more complete picture; this effectively marginalises those progressive 
movements that have been historically responsible for struggling to 
enshrine democratic values and progressive institutions within a ‘civic 
commons’ that is embedded in the political landscape.

Within this very condensed framework of U.S. history, fascism, 
neo-fascism, or post-fascism (as described by G.M. Támas)  is an 
incipient historical element. Linking the roots of the KKK to Trump’s 
enabling of the Proud Boys is not that difficult.

If we examine the legacies, methodologies and practices of progressive 
insurgencies (not just in the U.S.), maybe we can visualize an 
alternative to what is now dominating the political and economic landscape.
*So what's the use of art, theory, activism? There is no alternative 
without art, theory, AND activism!*

allan

On 24/01/2025 10:26, David Garcia via nettime-l wrote:
> Trumpism and other autocratic strongmen of the new era of ‘the deal’ 
> routinely claim to be an insurgency displacing elites. But so far the 
> most impactful voice I have heard challenging this narrative has been 
> Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde, speaking in the post inauguration service. 
> She quietly but defiantly forced Trump and his acolytes to endure a 
> sermon asking for compassion and mercy for those individuals and 
> communities that are being targeted and living in fear. And she did so 
> in a manner that highlighted the key way in which Trumpism for all its 
> cheap religiosity contradicts the core of the Christian message, which 
> contains the weird and radical claim that it is better to endure 
> suffering than to be the cause of suffering. In simple language it 
> exploded all of Trump’s expedient and hubristic claims of being an 
> instrument of divine intervention. Maybe it opens up surprising 
> avenues of resistance that escape pocket book politics and the usual 
> sterile liberal pieties.
>
> David Garcia
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