Summary of How Elites Ate the Social Justice Movement by Fredrik deBoer

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Summary of How Elites Ate the Social Justice Movement by Fredrik deBoer

 

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In 2020, the US experienced a surge of political discontent following the murder of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement. Major corporations and nonprofit groups joined in protests, but the movement failed due to lack of tangible goals, established institutions, and grassroots movements. Fredrik deBoer's book, How Elites Ate the Social Justice Movement, suggests that society's winners can contribute to social justice movements without taking them over, and that activists and organizations can become more resistant to the influence of elites, nonprofits, corporations, and political parties. By organizing around class rather than empty gestures, we can begin to change minds and drive policy.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookRix
• Release date: Sep 10, 2023
• ISBN: 9783755452508

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Summary of How

Elites Ate the Social Justice Movement

A

Summary of

Fredrik deBoer’s book

GP SUMMARY

Summary of How Elites Ate the Social Justice Movement by Fredrik DeBoer

By GP SUMMARY© 2023, GP SUMMARY.

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This is an unofficial summary & analysis of Fredrik deBoer’s How Elites Ate the Social Justice Movement designed to enrich your reading experience.

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Copyright 2023. All rights reserved.

INTRODUCTION

The author, a part-time organizer, has been involved in activism since becoming politically conscious as a teenager. Over the years, they have witnessed the same dynamics play out again and again, with dedicated organizers falling into the same sad patterns that obstruct progress. One example is the University of Rhode Island (URI) student activists who committed to a political action in 2010 when there was no real LGBTQ+ center for students on campus. They occupied a section of URI's library for eight days, refusing to surrender the space until their demands were heard. After several rounds of negotiation with the school's brass, the activists declared victory, including the creation of a new LGBTQ+ center.

The author has also been a young activist once, helping organize around gay rights issues in high school. When he got to Central Connecticut State University (CCSU) in 2002, he organized against the Iraq invasion and joined the organization Connecticut United for Peace (CutUP). By 2004, he was punching the clock every week, organizing against the war. One particular march through Hartford seemed to take an almost impossible amount of time and effort to pull off. The city government in Hartford made it harder for the activists, as they had to pay Hartford cops at overtime rates to provide security. Eventually, a lawyer from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) made inquiries into the constitutionality of the city's requirements, which led to the city dropping their absurd requirements and giving the activists permits. The author was delighted to have their name appear on the permit, and the march ended with several hundred people demanding an end to a senseless war.

The author reflects on the failures of the anti-Iraq war movement, which focused on a domestic conflict instead of the brutal one on the other side of the world. They experienced factionalization, accusations of racism and bigotry, attempts by fringe groups to control events, and bitter disputes about goals and tactics. The author believes that protest is necessary and righteous even when it achieves nothing tangible, but they saw failure everywhere.

The author moved to Chicago after three years of antiwar activism, feeling emotionally spent and despondent. They found themselves in the recession after the 2008 financial meltdown and went to grad school, where they found themselves on campus during the URI student occupation of the library. The author admired the actions of young activists, but was disappointed when they asked about their next goal, the Four Loko ban.

In 2020, the American progressive movement drifted from the essential to the inconsequential, material to the illusory. The Covid-19 pandemic exploded out from China and across the globe, rocking the world economy and sending people into a micro-depression. The presidential election year further fueled this sentiment, with Donald Trump facing an emboldened progressive movement and dissent within his party and political ideology.

On May 25, the simmering tensions were brought to a boil when George Floyd was killed by Derek Chauvin and