We sometimes forget that every movement in the direction of dermocracy, equality, and social progress – not to mention radical democracy and socialism – is accompanied by – or more accurately generates – a counter movement in the opposite direction. Think, for example, of the election of Barak Obama to the presidency in 2008. In breaking a seemingly unbreakable racist barrier, it not only catapulted an African American into the White House for the first time, but it also triggered a fierce racist counter offensive that caught many of us off guard.
Such an understanding of the dynamics of struggle should remind us of the necessity of sustaining, broadening, and deepening popular coalitions in the wake of its victories as well as counter any sense of self satisfaction and complacency. Freedom, as is said, is a constant struggle.
