4 ms·

> there are a bunch of different movements all using the "defund the police" moniker. That leads to a lot of disagreement about what it means, and the most extr

> there are a bunch of different movements all using the "defund the police" moniker. That leads to a lot of disagreement about what it means, and the most extreme types (who really mean eliminate the police) use it too. It might be worth checking the history there. I read that the anarchists who want to eliminate the police are the origin of the specific phrase "defund the police", and the less "extreme" types are the ones who attempted to expand/dilute the meaning. Saying that the anarchists "use it too" and "adopted it" is, I think, a little unfair. See also the discussions around r/antiwork a couple of years ago, where the subreddit had been pretty anarchist since its inception, before it suddenly got popular and watered down, and suddenly the original regulars who'd been there for years were being labelled as extremists who didn't fit in and shouldn't even be there.

master-lincoln 3y ago
lol, I checked out r/antiwork and nobody there seems to be rooting to abolish wage work altogether. Most are just complaining about their job and commenters tell them to fight for their rights or search another job. That seems pretty similar to people interpreting "defund the police" as anything else than "abolish the police in it's current form"
- Capricorn2481 3y ago
  From what I understand, that sub used to be anarchists and kind of exploded into just general distaste for modern working conditions and pushed out the regular anarchists. The death of that side of anti-work was probably when that highly publicized Fox interview with one of its mods happened
SauciestGNU 3y ago
The anarchist position is generally for the abolition of policing, and "defund the police" was a compromise position once it became clear the liberals would not join any coalition calling for outright abolition.
freedomben 3y ago
Fair, I haven't checked the history so I could have it backwards. I've read and studied a lot of anarchist stuff over the years (it appeals to me greatly on an emotional/philosopical level, though I'm unconvinced of it's pragmatic utility) and hadn't encountered "defund the police" prior to that, but it's a deep and wide field so easy to miss things. I would expect "defund everything" rather than "defund the police" though certainly they would agree that the latter is a great step toward the former.

master-lincoln 3y ago

lol, I checked out r/antiwork and nobody there seems to be rooting to abolish wage work altogether. Most are just complaining about their job and commenters tell them to fight for their rights or search another job. That seems pretty similar to people interpreting "defund the police" as anything else than "abolish the police in it's current form"

Capricorn2481 3y ago
From what I understand, that sub used to be anarchists and kind of exploded into just general distaste for modern working conditions and pushed out the regular anarchists. The death of that side of anti-work was probably when that highly publicized Fox interview with one of its mods happened

SauciestGNU 3y ago

The anarchist position is generally for the abolition of policing, and "defund the police" was a compromise position once it became clear the liberals would not join any coalition calling for outright abolition.

freedomben 3y ago

Fair, I haven't checked the history so I could have it backwards. I've read and studied a lot of anarchist stuff over the years (it appeals to me greatly on an emotional/philosopical level, though I'm unconvinced of it's pragmatic utility) and hadn't encountered "defund the police" prior to that, but it's a deep and wide field so easy to miss things. I would expect "defund everything" rather than "defund the police" though certainly they would agree that the latter is a great step toward the former.