The situation in Baltimore is another example of the growing popular anger towards the injustice meted out by the repressive forces of the ruling class. Protests and riots against the police and their continuous killings; this time Freddie Grey.

Every time there is an expression of popular anger among the Black population in the United States, there is an outcry of denunciation against the violence used. Those who truly are against the liberation of the Black expose themselves when they advocate peaceful protest. The liberal contingent of the population cry out in defence of the property which is destroyed in the righteous anger directed towards an unjust system. The conservative sections of the population claim they have rioted over nothing. In this we see the two faces of reaction, the two sides of the same oppressive coin.

Of course we see this most commonly from the White observers who subconsciously feel as though they are being targeted. Those who don’t face the murder rate and oppression the police deal out against the Black population. Their White identity is tied up with that of the police whom they see as the protectors of the White population. The truly heartbreaking moment is when there are Black people defending the police and denouncing the rioters. We see them in the media all the time, those who advocate peaceful protest and complain about the violent rioters and their property destruction.

Those members of the Black community see the violence that is carried out against their young men. They are not blind to it, nor are they ignorant of it. It is confusing to me as to how they can advocate non-violence when violence is clearly being carried out against their community.

This leaves me asking questions about their revolutionary potential. Given the global order of oppression and exploitation; how can we expect such people to aid global revolution in defence of the Third World, when they aren’t even will to throw off their own oppressors? How can we consider them potentially revolutionary if they won’t even defend themselves? After the entire history of the oppression of the Black population, how can they with a straight face say violence is unnecessary?

I think this shows a real lack of revolutionary potential among the Black population. True, there is righteous anger by many Blacks who are willing to smash the system that oppresses them. Their numbers however are still too small. Not to mention the near entirety of the White population who also don’t support the riots. The same ones who support the police cracking down even harder against the Black population. That leaves us with how much First World “proletariat”?

First Worldists really need to take a look at this and reconsider their position that the First World has revolutionary potential.

“There are always risks in challenging excessive police power,

but the risks of not challenging it are more dangerous, even fatal.”

– Hunter S. Thomson