Trump, Freedom of Speech, and the Future of Social Media for the Working Class
LOS ANGELES (USA)— “Hey, did you hear they banned Donald Trump from social media?” a coworker asked a comrade over lunch. “They are taking away someone’s freedom of speech. I don’t like Trump but to ban him completely off social media is wrong.”
“I’ve been having similar conversations since the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6,” reported the comrade. “Capitalist media and big tech corporations like Apple, Facebook and Twitter have decided that Trump’s incitement of violence at the capital was enough to ban him from their platforms. The people I’ve talked to had mixed feelings about it.”
What is being used in the name of protecting the public, will be used against us in the future. That is the nature of capitalism. If the tech companies really cared about Trump’s racist rhetoric, they would have stopped it years ago. They have helped create the atmosphere for more fascists to be open with their ideologies.
Social media is deeply sewn into capitalist society, largely due to workers not being able to socialize in more meaningful ways. As the capitalist crisis intensifies, so will workers’ need to survive. This means less time in person with friends and family and more dependency on social media for interaction. Covid-19 has intensified this.
Donald Trump’s ousting from social media shows that the tech companies can purge anyone from their services whenever they want. The problem with liberals is that they want the appearance of equality for all while still maintaining the status quo and the rule of law. We want to abolish all of these capitalist systems.
The fight against racist practices and ideology is critical to building class consciousness among students and others infected with the long history of institutional racism and segregation. Universities have frequently been used as a breeding ground for racist, sexist and xenophobic ideology. In this decade, Milo Yiannopoulos (now also banned from Twitter) toured campuses under the auspices of “free speech” to attack Blacks, women and Muslims.
We have fought hard against racist theories and theorists, showing how they serve capitalism. We have even helped chase these racists off campuses under the slogan, “No Free Speech for Racists!”
Due to the nature of our work, we, too, one day will be targeted by the bosses. Being banned from social media will be the least of our worries. We are organizing for revolution, and a communist society where we will have more time for real-life connections with people of all backgrounds while we will work to fulfill workers’ needs rather than for the profits of the few who make billions off our labor.
What can we do now with all of this information?
Gil Scott Heron once said, “The revolution will not be televised,” Today we say that “the revolution will not be tweeted.” The revolution will not take place on the internet despite what capitalist media says, but we can use it to our advantage while we have it.
We should always be working to build in-person connections so that when we can no longer use the internet, we will still have access to Red Flag and each other. Visit our website, write to us, help distribute Red Flag, and mobilize for a communism society—where racist and fascist ideology won’t be welcome.
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