R&I – FS
The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) bills itself “the largest socialist organization in the United States,” which indeed it is. If you think that means it focuses primarily on, say, wealth redistribution, well, you don’t know modern socialists. A gander at the DSA website on any given day reveals a panoply of left-wing causes. Currently, they range from the Green New Deal and “Ecosocialism” to “Justice for Trans People” and justice for Daunte Wright.
The reference to Wright, of course, was newly added this week after the awful accidental shooting of Wright by a member of the Brooklyn Center Police Department in Minnesota. The officer immediately resigned after nearly 30 years on the force and was swiftly arrested for second-degree manslaughter. The DSA responded to the shooting predictably: with renewed calls for defunding the police, which has been its vocal position since the death of George Floyd. And yet, their new April 12 statement regarding Daunte Wright ratchets up the rhetoric to a new level:
Not even a whole year after the public execution of George Floyd, the Brooklyn Center Police Department has murdered a Black man: Daunte Wright. The murder of Daunte occurring during the trial of the police officer who murdered George Floyd showcases how deeply entrenched this cycle of violence is not only in the Twin Cities area but across the country….
We know police violence is not incidental to the capitalist system, it is inherent to its operation, not only here but across the world. As we continue the fight for the world we deserve, we recognize that the police will always side with capital and wield their violence especially against Black people and all working-class people to protect those in power. Nothing short of the demilitarization, defunding, and dismantling of this system will lead to liberation.
We will continue to fight for a world where Black people can breathe freely, where people are given the space to grow old and with dignity, where communities are no longer terrorized. We commit ourselves to take greater responsibility for abolition, and the courage to pursue a just and liberated future.
Note not only the call for “defunding” and “abolition” but the odd socialist sentiment alleging that police violence is “inherent” to the “capitalist system.” Of course, anyone with even a remote understanding of socialist states, beginning with, oh, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, which gave the world names like the Cheka, NKVD, KGB, and the Gulag, would find perplexing the assertion that police violence is unique to capitalist systems.
Demented Old White Guy
Article URL : https://spectator.org/minnesota-protests-aoc-rashida-tlaib-socialists-defund-police/