I’m sorry but I’m beyond fucking tired of Europeans and other non-Americans telling us to “just riot” or violently protest for our workers rights. Don’t you think we would have by now if we could?
There are so so so many obstacles in the way of a mass workers movement similar to that in France and to act as if we’re just being complacent is ridiculous. Only 11% of our workforce is represented by a union and about 30% of the population just doesn’t like them. We are far from united as a population in what we believe workers deserve so how can we riot if we don’t even know what for?
Not even to mention the pure ideological indoctrination that occurs growing up in this country. People either think there’s no problems or that the problems are unfixable. In either case, the platform for which a mass protest movement needs to stand on is non-existent in the US.
Plus, the amount of people who buy in to respectability politics here is insaaaaaaane.
I appreciate the suggestions and advice from folks outside the US, but the US labor fight is a uniquely American experience and one that can only be understood in that way. It would be nice if more people tried to see it like that.