We're all in the Popular Front now

We need a name for who we are and what we want. I'm going with the Popular Front. Let me explain why and what that means for us.

We don't want to be defined by what we are not or what we are against; that's always a losing proposition. Of course we all share that we are against fascism, autocracy, punitive capitalism, corruption, oligarchy, subservistocracy, and in general the scuzzball syndicate now in charge in the US, Hungry, Russia, Venezuela, Turkey, Iran, and plenty of other places. Duh.

Of course in the US right now we are in the opposition, but calling ourselves that implies that if we somehow eek out 51% in some future election and "win" and are "in power" then things change. That would be great, and let's hope that we do win some elections and are able to take some power, since those two things are less automatically connected than they use to be. But for most of us, it is important if we make that happen, after a brief moment of celebration, it's back to work. We are not a political party or a collection of political parties. Sure, in places with a two party system, it will likely be clear who we vote for, but we are not that party; we should not look to that party, or any party, for leadership.

Some more details about what this means. Let's start with "Popular". Most people support most of the things we support. But in the US due to this awful combination of the electoral college, which means some states are much more important than others in presidential elections and the most popular candidate nationally doesn't necessarily win, because of gerrymandering which lowers the power of our votes in terms of electing legislators, due to voter suppression, and most of all due low voter turnout....all these things mean that having more popular views does not necessarily mean we get our people in office. We have to make that happen and the bar is higher for us than for them. By calling ourselves "Popular" it means we need to be popular. We have to have discussions with people, listen, find common ground, promulgate, connect. That is different from doom scrolling, reposting another example of some unfathomably crazy thing they did, or staring glassy-eyed out the window thinking about how stupid they are. The name "Popular Front" gives us the responsibility to locate ourselves among the people.

And "Front" because we all have different views, priorities, policies, and things we don't agree on. No problem! Talk then over! Ideally face to face, over a coffee or a meal, or in a call. Maybe some minds might even change. But right now, those who we oppose don't have "policies" in the way we understand them. We think of policy as figuring out how the state, or a government, can do this or that to make things better or have some desired outcome. You look at the data, various examples, various experts, try this or that, see how it works, modify it, all that stuff. They don't do that. For them there is only dominance, subservience, power, money, and communication. Inviting a bunch of white South Africans to the US pretending they were fleeing genocide was not a policy, it was just a stunt. What they do, all they do, is just an endless series of stunts, a large portion of it simply destroying institutions or some form of corruption. And they are in complete control at the national level. For us to argue in public about the real grown-up things we care about, ie policies, is not just pointless now, it is divisive and dangerous. We need to have "a front" that is unified and focused on being once again or protecting democracy where there is once again consensus that policy matters. Because until we have that consensus, bitter internal policy arguments, as important as they once were and may once again be, is like trying to categorize the colors of the smoke while somebody's setting fire to your house.

And why "the" Popular Front; why the article "the"? Because we are on one planet. And as divided and discombobulated as we are, the bad guys (and they are virtually all guys) are largely the same and they coordinate very closely. Much more closely than most people realize, certainly Americans. This Scuzball Syndicate that we are up against is for all practical purposes one thing. We also need to be one thing, working together. I am not saying that each of us needs to take personal responsibility to rid the world of fascism, I am just saying that when somebody in Tulsa works to increase turnout among young people, they will be helping the people of Ukraine. They are part of the international Popular Front, not a Popular Front distinct from others, or the Oklahoma Popular Front.

And why capitalized, why not "the popular front"? Because it's an unfamiliar term for many people. We need to reach back in history, grab it, dust it off, draft it back into service, and shove it in front of everybody's faces. Capital letters serve that goal. And yea, I'm gonna capitalize the Scuzzball Syndicate too for similar reasons. Fuckers.

There's plenty of history to the term. I'd categorize any group a Popular Front that was promoting fairness and equality, didn't answer to a centralized political force but was pushing up against an unfair oligarchy: the Diggers in 1640's, Chartists in the 1840's, the reformers of 1848, the Paris communards of 1871, the national government in Spain in 1936, what was called the civil rights movement in the US, or as they called themselves the Freedom Movement, the broad based movements that united to support Macron in France and Lula in Brazil in 2022 in order to prevent Le Pen and Bolsonaro from winning, and most recently the broad coalition in Georgia that continues protesting the fake results of parliamentary election that the ruling party stole in October 2024. These were and are all part of the Popular Front. And of course in addition to these, countless indigenous groups and confederations who had been blocked from political processes and did what they could to get a more fair deal.

One of the things all these groups had in common was they were not really tied to any political party. They were tied to goals. One of the biggest problems in the US is that the millions of people who are in the Popular Front right now but don't know it yet, are waiting to be told what to do by the Democratic Party. This is because in the US, more than any other place in the world, people tend to look at elections as just a collection of candidate campaigns. They are that of course, but that is not the only thing they are. The Democratic Party is a party like any other. They have procedures, internal politics, people who want fundamental, some would even say radical, reform, others who just want things to be more calm and policy based, but are more or less comfortable with the system as it is, or as it was until recently. The party does lots of fundraising, identifies candidates it likes, helps them, but really unless there is an even year November, and therefore National, election soon.....it's really just fundraising, as much of habit and a sad lack of vision than anything else. Not only are they not up to the existential job now before us, you could argue that it is not even their job. In some alternative universe maybe it could have been but it is not now and won't be any time soon.

So it's up to us, the Popular Front.

Those of us in the Popular Front share the One Big Goal. That goal is a rule-based democracy. That may mean slightly different things in different countries, but not very different. It is always freedom, basic rights, the rule of law, cooperation with other democracies in the world, more transparency, less corruption and impunity. Everything else, ie the specific policies...are details. And details are important! But not as important as the One Big Goal.

So how do we get there? Well, that's a longer conversation for another day. But for now, here is a brief list to get things going,

1. recognize that you are a member of the Popular Front and stop waiting to be told what to do by the Democrats, or your version of that.
2. Be ready to commit to spending some time every day. Doesn't have to be a ton of time, but it needs to be a rock solid commitment,
3. Don't worry which issue you will work on, or which jurisdiction. Decide which is the community you will work with. Your neighborhood? Alumni group? Classmates? Your town? Professional group? Which do you feel closest too and feel you could better bring together?
4. Make a commitment to reach out to and connect with people you disagree with. This includes people you really REALLY disagree with. Figure out what you have in common, stick to that, and try to build on it.
5. Spotlight and isolate institutions that are fascist and let them know. Local companies or businesses supporting anti-democratic forces? Talk to the people there, try to find common ground, and let them know how you feel. Be nice and be persistent. Remember be nice to the individuals no matter how misguided. Focus, after a while, on spotlighting and isolating the institutions they may be connected with.
6. In general, have a plan, and, most of all.....
7. Work on voter turnout. The thing that predicts better than anything if somebody will vote in any given election is if they voted in the previous election. So get your people checking their voter registration and voting in every single election.

Welcome to the Popular Front, sibling. I'd say comrade for effect, but don't want to freak you out, because we're all in this brave new world together.

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