I actually believe it not always works in the long term, but it’s the only thing that works. State reaction can of course shatter the occasional direct action movement or mutual aid group, but it cannot do so against everyone, especially if people are cognizant of the state danger. And the fact that these actions actually improve the lives of people, is what causes more people to join in doing them.
The history of previous movements crushed only to have their goals implemented anyway at the height of capitalist power is just more evidence of what we’re saying it correct.
To actual falsify the idea that anarchist prefiguration doesn’t work you need to show that it either doesn’t improve the lives of the people practicing it outside of external factors (i.e. state reaction), or that when widespread it doesn’t actually lead to anarchism.
But I’m not trying to prove it doesn’t work. There are successful examples, like the one I mentioned.
If you go back to my original comment, it was in response to someone saying, “The US army won’t drone strike a community meal,” and “the heinous acts were only possible by othering the foreigners.” If you agree that the state does sometimes successfully employ force to stop peaceful community building, then we are in agreement.
You also still seem to be caught up on this “gotcha” of like, “The example that you said used our methods and succeeded used our methods and succeeded! Ha!” Like, yes, that’s what I said. You seem to think that I brought it up as some kind of cautionary tale.
yes and I directly responded to that argument with
If a lot of your society is practicing prefiguration (and not just protests), violence like that becomes counter-productive.
Which is my point in that state violence can repress one small community or movement like the BPs but cannot easily do so on widespread prefiguration.
And I pointed out that a lot of society is not practicing prefiguration. Meaning that you can’t currently treat it as a guarantee of safety while you attempt to reach the point where a lot of society is practicing it.