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Biden’s Great Moving Nowhere Show

In The Great Moving Nowhere Show, a text I thoroughly appreciated, Stuart Hall (10) writes: "It needs to be clearly said that a project to transform and modernise society in a radical direction, which does not disturb any existing interests and has no enemies, is not a serious political enterprise." 

This reminded me of Joe Biden’s pledge to wealthy donors that “nothing will fundamentally change '' when he became president. While he has shattered numerous campaign promises, this is one of the few that remains unbroken. 

My first question relates to this critique of insipid status-quo supporting centrism and asks: 

If dominant political parties such as The Democratic Party (U.S.) and Labour (U.K.) are beholden to corporate interests and actively oppose “fundamental change”, where is the energy of left wing activists best harnessed instead? (Rank-and-file labor unions and tenants unions, alongside abolitionist and mutual aid groups, spring to mind)

“The Great Moving Nowhere Show” is an apt description of the Biden administration, which has chosen to respond to devastating crises (COVID, cost of living increases, unaffordable rent, exploitative private healthcare) with typical Democratic apathy: “unfortunate 'facts of life' which folks must simply put up with,” to quote Hall (11). 

”Can’t the states fix COVID?” cry the party leadership, blaming groundhog day-esque legislative failures on the month’s flavor of rotating villain. “Just you wait till we primary Machin!” “We need to vote HARDER against Sinema in 2024!” 

As the government chooses to sacrifice lives “on the altar of jobs and growth” (Hall, 12) by coercing people back to working in person during a catastrophic pandemic, my second question asks: 

If, like now, institutions such as the federal government and UI’s Board of Regents want to pretend the pandemic is over, how can we organize ourselves to keep our own communities safe?

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