Donald Trump wouldn't be the incoming president if not for the billionaire supervillain who spent $44 billion to buy the platform Trump got himself banned from and well over $250 million on private election canvassing.

This canvassing involved picking a daily million-dollar lottery winner out of those canvassed, essentially buying an advertisement in which a struggling working-class family had to gush about how grateful they were to their billionaire benefactors—effectively, a way of bribing working-class voters.

Though they campaigned on "the economy," Donald Trump and Elon Musk have no incentive to improve the lives of ordinary workers. The gulf between billionaires and workers is precisely what enables them to pull stunts like this.

Plutocracy has always been a fundamental part of real existing democracy. As long as resources are unevenly distributed, the rich can always buy others’ votes—either literally, or by promising them a piece of the pie, or else by means of propaganda and intimidation.

But today, it has advanced so far that one billionaire can singlehandedly change the course of an election.

If we want self-determination, we can't simply reform the system. We have to abolish capitalism, the process that concentrates wealth in so few hands.

https://crimethinc.com/resist2025

On day one of Donald Trump's first administration, a participant in the J20 black bloc punched the white supremacist Richard Spencer in the face in Washington, DC. The punching went viral, showing how popular sentiment was shifting in response to Trump's arrival in power.

Trump hasn't even reentered the White House yet, and something similar is happening in the way that the public is responding to the shooting of the UnitedHealthcare CEO.

Everyone understands that the billionaires are breaking off whatever remained of the social contract. The next several years are going to be a tumultuous time.

The fall of Bashar Al-Assad shows that no amount of force can freeze history forever. Every autocratic regime will fall.

But will they be succeeded by other authoritarian regimes? That will be determined by how they fall.

This is the reason to build multiethnic, horizontal revolutionary movements that can play a role in the changes ahead.

The more that ordinary Syrians from all backgrounds and walks of life participate in the next phase of the revolution—the less that it is dictated by money, weapons, and agendas outside of Syria—the less bloody it will likely be.

As the millions of refugees who were forced to flee Syria make their way home, we hope that they will play a part in this.

Tonight, we give thanks for every soldier who deserted rather than fighting for a dictator. May their refusals inspire others, in turn, not to kill or die for things that are unworthy of humanity.

Burn every prison.

Topple every oppressor.

Some background on the situation:

https://crimethinc.com/Syria2024

Queere Streifzüge durch das Andere Deutschland und die Anti-Nazi Unterwelt

https://crimethinc.com/2024/08/19/queere-streifzuge-durch-das-andere-deutschland-und-die-anti-nazi-unterwelt-eine-beschworung

Vor und sogar während des Aufstiegs des Dritten Reichs gab es einen florierenden homosexuellen Untergrund. Was können wir heute vom Queeren Widerstand gegen die Nazis lernen?

#Deutsch

"The revolt in Georgia points to a horizon beyond the choice between Europe and Russia, expressing a growing social anger at both the local authoritarian regime and the grip of foreign economic powers upon the Caucasus in general.

"Contrary to the dominant media discourse, this popular mobilization is not simply a demand for Georgia to be integrated into the European Union. From a distance, it may seem reminiscent of the 2014 Maidan revolution in Ukraine, but to grasp the deep tumult that this particular struggle represents, we need to look closer."

https://crimethinc.com/GeorgiaRevolt2024

Following up our earlier coverage of the protests in Georgia, we present this analysis from within.

Résister à l’autoritarisme locale et aux impérialismes multipolaires en Géorgie

https://crimethinc.com/2024/12/11/resister-a-lautoritarisme-locale-et-aux-imperialismes-multipolaires-en-georgie-lecture-approfondie-du-mouvement-de-contestation

Les manifestations en Géorgie vont au-delà du choix entre l'Europe et la Russie, rejetant à la fois le régime autoritaire local et la domination économique étrangère.

#Français