How North American liberals are attempting to co-opt the movement against police brutality
Highlighting the subtle ways liberals are attempting to suppress the momentum of recent protests.
Photo Credit: (Washington Post / Google Images)
Written by: Daniel Xie
The United States democratic party has been dubbed by activists, rallying against the American two-party system, as the “Graveyard of Social Movements”. This nickname, derisively given to the democratic party, recalls its history of subsuming social movements. It challenges the political establishment through co-opting the demands of said social movements to placate the moderates within them. At the same time, it isolates the radicals who desire more transformative change. This in turn maintains America’s capitalistic system and preserves the legitimacy of its political system from the threat of revolution. This is while the systemic injustices that these movements fight, continue to exist under a “human” face.
A historical example of the democratic party’s co-option would be the passing of President Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR)’s New Deal, presented as concessions to labour militancy during the Great Depression in early 20th century. While this led the foundation for the post war New Deal welfare state, it resulted in unions being defanged, putting their energy into supporting democratic candidates rather than push for far reaching changes that could challenge the legitimacy of the capitalist system. These defanged unions would later go on to purge their communist members in the wake of the Cold War. Additionally, the New Deal was racist. Blacks could not benefit from it as they were cut out of the expansions to social security, and housing policies were set up with institutionalized neighborhood segregation.
Now, protests have emerged across America in the wake of George Floyd’s murder by Minnesotan policeman, Derek Chauvin (and by extension the earlier murder of Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky by the Louisville police). Liberals in both the US and Canada are taking advantage of the backlash generated against police brutality, in order to co-opt the movement and legitimize police brutality with a human face.
The current wave of protests, in addition to former mobilizations by Black Lives Matter, have exposed just how deep systemic racism and police brutality run in America. Riots and solidarity protests have sprang up, not just in the US, but around the world including the UK, France and Palestine, throwing the Trump administration off-guard. The protests have raised the topic of police abolition and have made significant gains since May 25th. These gains include:
On May 26, four officers were fired for the murder of George Floyd. Across the nation, other policemen were also fired for police brutality. On May 31st, 2 abusive officers were fired for tasing a couple in Atlanta
On May 28, the University of Minnesota cancelled all contracts with the Minnesotan police. On June 1st Minneapolis public schools end their contracts with the police. On June 4th, the superintendent of the Portland Public schools district orders an end to the presence of armed police in their schools
On May 29, Derek Chauvin, who killed George Floyd was arrested. Through he and the other three officers was initially charged with third degree murder, Minnesota attoney general Keith Ellison, who took over prosecution on May 30, upgraded the charge to second degree murder on June 3
Confederate statues were removed or ordered to be removed in Arkansas, Virginia and Florida
On June 2, Minnesota’s AFL-CIO called for the resignation of Bob Knoll, the president of the police union affiliated with the AFL-CIO. Also on June 2, a Civil Rights investigation of the Minneapolis Police department was launched. On June 4, King County Labour federation ordered their police unions to admit and address racism or be disbanded
A majority of Minneapolis City Council (nine out of 13) have pledged to dismantle the local police department
The protests have garnered wide reaching public support. A survey on June 2nd indicates that 64 per cent of Americans are sympathetic to the protests, while 54 per cent believe that burning down the third precinct police station was justified or partially justified. During the protests, many bus drivers stood in solidarity with the protesters, refusing to transport protestors to jail or police officers to protest sites for the purpose of suppressing the protesters.
Photo Credit: (The Daily Dot / Google Images)
However, while the protests have raised the possibility of transformative change on the horizon, and have initiated ongoing efforts to do so, there are some that seek to co-opt the movement and use it as a means to reinforce liberal capitalism and maintain existing structures of police brutality In the United States, the democratic party has failed in its efforts to maintain influence over an increasingly radicalized progressive base following Senator Bernie Sanders’ capitulation. It is viewing the George Floyd protests and the backlash against Trump’s heavy-handed handling of the protests as an opportunity to assert influence and seize power in November.
This is done through their leadership, such as former 2020 presidential candidate, Kamala Harris, speaker of the house, Nancy Pelosi, and former democratic president, Barack Obama, claiming so-called solidarity with the protests. This is despite the democrats acting just as culpable in perpetuation of police brutality and racism against African Americans. The democrats’ attempt to co-opt the protests is also supported by so-called moderate Republicans, such as Mitt Romney, who seek to distance themselves from the Trump administration.
This false solidarity expressed by the democrats and the distancing of moderate republicans from President Trump often takes the form of exerting pressure on the protestors to “vote blue in the elections.” This is promoted with the false assumption that everything bad that has happened is the sole responsibility of Trump and the Republicans, and that everything would be magically fixed if the democrats were to sweep into power again. This is despite the fact that Obama’s tenure, as former president, also oversaw the murders of African-Americans by the police, like Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Michael Brown, Akai Gurley, Freddie Grey, Corey Jones, among many others.
For example, Kamala Harris has seemingly expressed support for the protests, but is herself complicit in the enforcing of police brutality. She is utterly failing to reduce the power of the prison-industrial complex in California as attorney general. In addition, it was a democratic governor who presided over George Floyd’s murder and who accused outside agitators of “co-opting” the movement when the riots started.
Even as the protests raise the possibility of police abolition, pushed by the Minneapolis city council, the leadership of the democratic party is rejecting any overtures for eventual police abolition or even weakening the ability of the police to brutalize the population through defunding. Joe Biden, for instance, has stated that he will oppose any efforts to defund the police. He also believes that officers should be trained to shoot people in the legs, rather than use lethal force.
This is despite the fact that, at the end of the day, this will still result in police officers injuring and potentially killing others, changing little about the racist attitudes present in American society. On Biden’s campaign website, he suggests using the power of the US Justice Department to address systemic misconduct in police departments and prosecutors’ offices, something that he spearheaded during Obama’s tenure. Yet, when Obama was president, his initiatives did little to prevent the killing of black folks at the hands of the police. The impotence of using the US Justice Department during the Obama administration offers little hope that the democrats would provide adequate systemic change under a hypothetical Biden administration.
Liberal Responses to Canadian Solidarity: Trudeau’s efforts to co-opt the movements in Canada
The movement against police brutality in America has drawn support and solidarity from movements worldwide. On May 30 in Toronto, thousands marched in solidarity with the protestors in America and in response to the suspicious death of Regis Korchinski-Paquet. In Britain, thousands marched against the systemic oppression of black people in America, tearing down the statue of slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol and throwing it into the river.
‘The police, rather than being defenders of law and order, have only been the enforcers of white supremacy and the oppressive brand of law and order championed by socioeconomic elites’
In Canada, Justin Trudeau knelt in solidarity with the protestors. Yet despite his supposed commitment to anti-racism, he has not taken any action to effectively fight racism in Canada. For instance, the Canadian government has no problem suppressing indigenous activists when they protested the installation of the Coastal Gaslink pipeline.
Trudeau has proposed reforms, such as the installation of body cameras on police, as some of the reforms to be implemented to curb police brutality. However, the policeman who murdered George Floyd had body cameras installed on him as well. This demonstrates that installing police cameras in an effort to reform the police is ultimately futile. It wouldn’t curb police violence, nor violence against indigenous peoples if the RCMP were to be deployed to suppress another protest.. In addition, more body cameras for police would mean more funding for the police as well, which could actually strengthen and reinforce police brutality in Canada.
Photo Credit: (CBC News / Google Images)
Mainstream media’s utter failure to analyze the cynicism of police officers who kneel
The elements of the mainstream media that are critical of the Trump administration are also complicit in the liberal attempt to co-opt the protests and turn it away from pushing for wide-reaching structural changes. This is carried out through the numerous screenings of police marching and kneeling in support of the protests. It is endorsing this as the police supposedly supporting the reforms that the protestors seek to implement. An example of the distorted media coverage can be seen in CNN’s favourable coverage of police in so-called solidarity with the protestors, with little skepticism or critical coverage, as well as hosting interviews with police personnel where they condemn.
In reality, much of so-called “solidarity” shown by the police is done only to save face. Many activists report the the police having a habit of feigning solidarity, only to turn against activists once the camera stops rolling and the media moving on. For example, on twitter, reports have emerged of protestors getting tear gassed or beaten after supposedly taking a knee in solidarity with protestors.
All of this demonstrates that any overtures the police make to the protestors are ultimately fraudulent. What the media is doing through providing positive coverage of the police is constituting a form of manufacturing consent in which the media obfuscates the violence the police unleashed on the protestors when the cameras stopped filming.
By clouding the violence unleashed by the police, the media pushes forward the message that police abolition might be something “too extreme.” just because the cops seemingly are able to show solidarity with the protesters. They argue that what happened to George Floyd was the actions of one.
It is saying as though the killing of numerous black people in America was due to a few bad apples in the police department, rather than the existence of police itself. This excuse is used to suggest that the police department should be reformed and legitimized, even though the structure that allows for police brutality remains intact.
Here’s hoping that the movement escapes co-optation
The massive mobilization in response to the murder of George Floyd has drawn significant solidarity and raised the question of police abolition. However, it has also spurred liberal politicians within the democratic party and the Canadian Liberal party into seeking to co-opt the protests’ message. This is done not only as a means to secure power, but also to water down the demands and the scope of the movement from seeking to address systemic racism.
The attempts to water down the movement and divert away from anti-systemic racism and police abolitionism in order to legitimize the viability of the police must be fought against at all costs. One way to do this is through pushing hard for, if not police abolition then, massive overhauls and budget cuts, and from there work towards police abolition and community policing models that could be implemented as an alternative to the police force. In addition, it is important to point out how earlier implementation, of the reforms that liberals are proposing right now, have done little to solve the problem and only reinforced police brutality.
The police, rather than being defenders of law and order, have only been the enforcers of white supremacy and the oppressive brand of “law and order” championed by socioeconomic elites. When this racist and oppressive institution is destroyed and replaced with community led policing initiatives, this will truly provide safety for the community and lay the groundwork for much more transformative forms of justice and policing.
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