Yesterday, a Trump-appointed judge threw out the entire classified documents case against Donald Trump, defying over half a century of legal precedents. This should give those who marched with signs reading "no one is above the law" cause to reflect.

What is law, anyway? And who does it serve?

Law is not an impartial institution that inherently serves to keep tyranny at bay. It is a weapon in the hands of the ruling class. It is chiefly used against poor people and activists; when it plays a role in internal conflicts within the ruling class, the outcome generally shows the balance of power between the factions.

In this context, promoting obedience to the law as a good in itself means accepting that might makes right. All the legitimacy that Biden and his supporters have invested in the legal system have only made it a more dangerous weapon for Donald Trump to employ, should he return to power.

As we move into an era in which the court system will serve the most authoritarian elements in our society, the argument that it is necessary to obey the law will be used to excuse complicity in more and more egregious crimes against humanity.

Instead of saying "no one is above the law," we should say, with Hannah Arendt, “No one has the right to obey.” 🏴

Our analysis on this subject from 2018 remains evergreen:

https://crimethinc.com/abovethelaw

The pressure to immigrate to the United States is itself the consequence of US foreign policy and worldwide neoliberal economic policies that have impoverished millions, forcing them to flee war zones and economic crises. Soon, we will see even more people displaced by environmental disasters caused by industrially produced climate change.

Again, these are the fault of the ruling class, not the poor.

By immiserating both overseas populations and residents of the United States while suppressing anti-capitalist protest movements, neoliberal centrists created a situation in which fascists can pretend to be the only ones offering an alternative. But the supposed alternative represented by politicians like Donald Trump will only speed up the process of wealth concentration that caused this problem in the first place.

Organize to resist fascism and abolish capitalism and the state.

More on capitalism:

https://crimethinc.com/work

More on the scapegoating of immigrants:

https://crimethinc.com/borders

¿Por qué detenerse en la destitución de Biden?
El centro no lo puede sujetar

https://crimethinc.com/2024/07/11/por-que-detenerse-en-la-destitucion-de-biden-el-centro-no-lo-puede-sujetar

Parecería una metáfora pesada si no fuera nuestra realidad actual. Un anciano patriarca, representante de un proyecto político centrista que se derrumba, se niega a dar un paso al lado incluso cuando es seguro que se enfrenta a la derrota a manos de un aspirante a autócrata. Esto resume las perspectivas globales de la democracia en la actualidad.

No es un político en particular el que se ha vuelto senil, sino todo un sistema político.

#Español

"How do you feel about people who would say that direct action, shutting off the streets to traffic and so on, is really not a democratic way to go on? What would you say to that?"

"I don't agree with democracy, anyway, because democracy is about handing your power over to other people, it's still about a minority of people controlling the lives of everyone. Direct action is really simple, it just means taking control of your life, taking your freedom, which comes with your responsibility and your self-awareness and your awareness of your impact upon other human beings."

https://crimethinc.com/ReclaimtheStreets

From the text about the collective defense against the J20 charges:

"Let us pause in awe at the stupefying hypocrisy of those who profess to believe in the 'rule of law.' How can it be that the prosecutor, the court bureaucracy, and two grand juries were permitted to terrorize two hundred defendants with multiple nonexistent felony charges for nearly a year? Surely, if anyone is still naïve enough to earnestly believe in the rule of law, they should consider those who are complicit in pressing nonexistent charges to be the number one threat to civil society. Prosecutors, police, and judges neither believe in nor uphold the rule of law any more than the most iconoclastic anarchist does. The difference is that anarchists are honest about this and propose an ethical alternative, whereas the professionals of the justice industry shamelessly pursue personal gain and little else."