Panic has started to set in. Over the past month we have watched as jackbooted immigration agents raid restaurants and drag children’s parents away. We have watched as the world’s richest and most arrogant man is given free reign to remake the conditions of our lives without any ability to push back. Above all, we are watching a much more organized attempt to seize and hold onto power than the vaguely planned out chaos of the first administration. For many, the situation feels hopeless.

In the midst of all of this, we have a Left that is rudderless. The traditional approaches that they have to offer, passive marches, rallies, symbolic civil disobedience, are wholly and completely insufficient for the moment we are facing. Yet, even with this being the case, even with there being no direction forward within their approaches, we see the new generation of aspiring movement celebrities falling over one another for followers and likes.  The loudest voices are also the ones running in no particular direction, with no particular goal except “resistance”, whatever that means within the narrow confines of activism.

It is imperative that we prevent this from happening, that we prevent a retreat back to the staid tactics of the antiwar movement and progressive organizations. If we are to have any chance to not just defend our communities but to go on the offensive against tyranny, it is going to look very different than the vision marketed in feel-good Instagram posts.

The game has changed, the terms are different, and the methods of mass activism, were not and, are not able to meet these changes. For us to start marking off new strategic lines of flight, we are going to need to understand exactly what it is that has changed.