Revolutions, unfortunately, have a pretty bad track record. Most fail or lead to even worse conditions for the oppressed. In the ’10s, however, the internet complicated the optics of revolutionary activity by creating the false perception of success—as the world learned with Corbyn, defeated in the U.K. despite owning the Twitter algorithm. Casting off the internet’s powerful scope distortion, it’s clear the Left isn’t as strong as you might think and besides, the Right has all the guns. While taboo in activist discourse, “slow rad” (slow radical) is a thought experiment in non-revolutionary radical politics, seeking big changes through a purposeful, incremental program. With enough questions about logistics, a proponent of police abolition will admit it is a slow rad process. Reembracing “incrementalism” as a viable tactic is logical because it was a purposeful, incremental program from the opps that got us to where we are right now. That and wars and revolutions and stuff.
LIL INTERNET: Just to clarify, because it's probably not clear earlier, I am pro the very slow abolishing of police
Carly Busta: Yeah, incrementalist.
LI: Well, that's a bad word. But just a very slow revolutionary. I'm not an incrementalist. I'm a slow radical.
CB: And what's wrong with incrementalist?
LI: It's not radical enough. Like slow food, I'm a slow radical. And I support the very slow abolition of police. Just thinking of it slowly is everything. Because if we're talking about abolishing the police over 10 years, well, replacing it with something that's proven to work.
Daniel Keller: It sounds like classic Marxism. Because the end goal is a stateless society that doesn't have police.
LI: Right, I’m a slow radical supporting the slow abolition of police. But I would really like the ability for people to fucking survive in the nightmare world of America to happen fast.
CB: Well, yeah, exactly, local politics really matters. The best thing to come out of a TAZ [Temporary Autonomous Zone] is people finding their stride in some of these spaces and deciding to get involved in local politics. They realize they can organize or they can have a public voice. And then sitting in on city council meetings and running—
LI: We got so many people who listen to us who are cultural professionals, creative professionals. Just make a little friend advertising agency and help good local candidates. You could literally spend an hour a day working on someone's campaign and they'd win because the other people aren't even fucking trying.
CB: Totally. That's such a good call.
