Inspiration

Revolution Without Revolutionaries by Asef Bayat

What is your organization’s praxis (theory and practice) regarding poverty and inequality?

JSP regards poverty and inequality as fundamental mechanisms of capitalism without which it cannot exist. The neoliberalism of our era only intensifies these class inequalities. As an anti-capitalist, anti-neoliberal organization, we know that the fight against poverty is fundamental to any radical struggle. Bayat states, “The political clout of neoliberalism lies in its ability to serve as a form of governmentality, in its ability to structure people’s thinking to internalize the methods of the market society, considering them to be a commonsense way of being and doing things, against which no concrete alternative is imagined or needed. Treating it as “natural” is a key power of neoliberalism; when it is not talked about as a problem or as an ideology such as, say, communism, it becomes the natural way of life. Indeed, the change in people’s mentality is so crucial for neoliberal thinking that, in the view of Naomi Kline, it deploys the psychiatric method of “shock treatment” to erase memory and break resistance.” (23) This fight against poverty starts by combating neoliberalism in our everyday lives in order to mobilize ourselves and others against capitalism.

How will your organization deal with the neo-liberal city?

Asef Bayat says, “The neoliberal city is a market-driven urbanity; it is a city shaped more by the logic of market than the needs of its inhabitants, responding more to individual or corporate interests than public concerns.” (94) JSP is based in an (albeit small) neoliberal city and there is no escaping that. As previously mentioned, we do try to combat neoliberalism in our everyday lives but our current work as an organization does not explicitly involve us in urban subaltern and street politics, though we support the struggles of all groups and people engaged in that fight. 

How will your organization develop revolutionaries?

JSP aims to use political education and experience to equip members with both theoretical and practical tools to develop themselves and each other as revolutionaries. The goal is for members to take their experience within this explicitly radical group and use it in their everyday lives as well to make material improvements. In the Chapter “Revolution in the Everyday,” Bayat talks about how workers in a factory, changed by their experiences in the uprisings, began making changes to “revolutionize” their workplace. While obviously a very different context, this situation serves as an inspiration for JSP.

How does your organization answer the question of what it means to be a revolutionary?

Though Asef Bayat’s book was a big help. JSP is still trying to answer the question of what it means to be a revolutionary, and our current response is we don’t know. 

How does the Arab Spring influence your organization?

JSP is influenced both by the Arab Spring and Islamic Marxism. Islamic Marxism serves as both a companion and an alternative to Liberation Theology and as an explicitly Jewish anti-capitalist organization, these intersections of religion and politics deeply interest us. 

Does your organization use the vote, the strike, the square, the riot and why? 

JSP does not utilize the vote as a political tactic because we consider that to be reformist. We believe that electoral political campaigns, even seemingly leftist ones like the current “Our Revolution” campaign spearheaded by Bernie Sanders are not quite revolutions and would in fact bring about what Bayat would call a “Refolution.” If Bernie were to win the 2020 election we may see a result similar to what transpired in the Arab Spring. Bayat explains, “What came to fruition then looked like revolution in terms of mobilization but like reform in terms of change. These revolutions were reformist in the sense that the protagonists who spearheaded masterful mobilizations were unable to imagine forms of organization and governance that departed from those against which they were rebelling; they were unable, unwilling, or uninterested in directing the process of change within state institutions; they conceptually separated the economy from those aspects of the political order that they sought to topple; and they hardly offered any exploration of how state power worked or how to transform it.” (18) Bernie Sanders is hardly a protagonist of mass mobilizations so the outcome of a potential presidency would likely be even worse than this scenario. 

Does your organization identify as anarchist, capitalist, social democratic, socialist, communist and why?

JSP, following in various Jewish Marxist traditions, is a communist organization but we are not rigid in our ideology and welcome anti-capitalists from all parts of the ideological spectrum. We strive to be revolutionary and that leaves us no choice but to be unambiguous in our radicalism. 

What does it say to Americans who are fearful of socialism/ communism or anarchism?

JSP says don’t be afraid! As an organization dedicated to combating Zionism in a community whose collective fear of violent anti-Semitism is often what drives them towards such a hateful ideology, we have a lot of experience talking to people about things they are afraid of.