What’s the difference between an ‘insurrection and a choreographed test run?
Hari Kumar, January 2021
Goethe: “Die ich rief, die Geister / Werd’ ich nun nicht los.” [“Those I called – the ghosts / I won’t get rid of them now.”] [1]
Having called up Trump, both many capitalists and sections of the Republican Party wish to be rid of him, but his ‘spirit’ or ‘ghost’ will remain. We dissect the events of January 6th on the steps of the Capitol – the nerve center enacting the ruling class edicts in the USA. Not merely a ‘riot’ – yet I doubt that it can be called an ‘insurrection’.
- The ‘Event’ of January 6 2020 in Washington DC
Within the first week of 2021 – on January 6th – came the Trumpite riot in the center of the USA government. The rioters stormed the Capitol Building that houses the US Senate and the Congress. They had been urged onwards by Trump himself, under the false pretext of preventing ‘the theft of the elections’. Trump having lost the elections, has been falsely accusing the Democratic party of theft, and already lost dozens of lawsuits to prove his case. Having been rebuffed by the courts – even those that Trump had stacked with pro-Republican judges – he has been nursing a wounded ambition and pride.
This event took place as the Congress was being presided over by Trump’s Vice-President Mike Pence. The Vice-President was in a purely formal role, doing the final tally of the votes in front of Congress – that would finally declare Joe Biden as the in-coming President elect for the term starting on January 20th 2020. The event stopped the tally, and members of Congress were taken into safe hiding places and it was only safe to resume by 800 pm that night – when they re-convened. This is what happened:
“On Wednesday afternoon, a thin line of U.S. Capitol Police, with only a few riot shields between them and a knot of angry protesters, engaged in hand-to-hand combat with rioters on the steps of the West Front. They struggled with a flimsy set of barricades as a mob in helmets and bulletproof vests pushed its way toward the Capitol entrance. Videos showed officers stepping aside, and sometimes taking selfies, as if to usher Trump’s supporters into the building they were supposed to guard.” [2]
This was an extraordinary event. What was it though? Was it an ‘insurrection’ – as many of the national and international press have labeled it?
Click here to download and read the entire article as a PDF.
[1] Goethe ‘Der Zuaberlehrling’; 1815; in ‘Johan W.Goethe Samtichle Gedichte’; Frankfurt 2007; p. 121.
[2] Logan Jaffe, Lydia DePillis, Isaac Arnsdorf and J. David McSwane, ‘Capitol Rioters Planned for Weeks in Plain Sight. The Police Weren’t Ready. Insurrectionists made no effort to hide their intentions, but law enforcement protecting Congress was caught flat-footed’; Jan. 7; Publico;
https://www.propublica.org/article/capitol-rioters-planned-for-weeks-in-plain-sight-the-police-werent-ready