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As I write this, late in the evening of June 7, Donald Trump has just ordered 2,000 National Guard members to be deployed in Los Angeles County “after federal immigration agents in riot gear squared off with hundreds of protesters for a second consecutive day,” per the New York Times. People in California are resisting ICE attempts to unlawfully arrest immigrants. Also according to the Times and other outlets, “In Paramount, about 20 miles south of downtown Los Angeles, law enforcement officers used flash-bang grenades, tear gas and rubber bullets as they clashed with protesters who came to the area, near a Latino-heavy residential neighborhood, which had been rumored to be the target of an immigration operation.” Only yesterday, the president of the Service Employees International Union, David Huerta, was injured and detained by ICE in LA.
I will leave it to others to explain the legal and political implications of all this in more detail. I do think it’s worth noting that Governor Gavin Newsom appears to be rattled, calling Trump’s decision “purposefully inflammatory” and one that “will only escalate tensions.” Newsom should realise that all of this is the consequence of his having turned his back on even his own milquetoast liberalism: ever since Trump got elected he, along with many other liberals and progressives, has tried very hard to mimic and even amplify conservative policies. In 2024, he personally helped workers clear out a homeless encampment and was proud of having taken part in the cruel act. More recently, he has been calling for further efforts to ban encampments entirely. For Newsom, and his rich donors, the way to end homelessness is to erase the homeless from sight instead of trying to find solutions to the problem of homelessness itself. A governor who makes it clear that physical threats towards and intimidation of the powerless are not just allowed but encouraged should not be shocked when the president sends troops into his state.
But there is more to this situation: signs of hope, even though mainstream outlets like the Time are allowing a familiar narrative about protesters to bubble to the surface by, for instance, quoting Mayor Karen Bass of Los Angeles “issuing a stern warning to protesters” that “violence and destruction are unacceptable, and those responsible will be held accountable.” Bass is doing the usual thing politicians do, in a city that has a long history of riots and protests, but the Times shows no proof that there is wanton violence and destruction. What we see, in videos taken and posted elsewhere is people refusing to let ICE simply sweep their streets and their city of fellow residents.
This is the part we should focus on: that countless people in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, and elsewhere have been willing to put their bodies on the line for complete strangers.
In the days and months to come, there will be many distortions of what the protesters are doing, and it won’t just be conservative platforms like Fox News implying—or baldly stating—that they are all criminals trying to loot stores and create unrest; neoliberal outlets like the Times will do the same. (You can find actual news here.) This is an astonishing, historical moment: vast numbers of people are turning up to protect the rights of strangers even as “law enforcement” ramps up the violence.
When people ask me what it takes to create a left utopia, something I firmly believe in, I draw upon familiar visions: parks, recreation, rest, a world where everyone has what they need to not just survive but thrive. In the last many weeks, I’ve been reminded that the world we want will not come from dreams alone, and that every stage of the utopia we want to build is marked by the sweat and blood of those who worked to make a different world possible. Often, in left organising worlds, we speak—endlessly—of kindness towards others and “community” and of doing good. But the most elemental part of world-building is that we fight fiercely for the ones we will never know. The protests represent the best kind of solidarity, in its most abstract and most death-defyingly beautiful form.
See also: “A Manifesto.”
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Image: Joseph Cornell’s “Untitled (Aviary with Yellow Birds)” (c. 1948) in “Revolutions.”
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