Vicky Osterweil: Dispensing With The Arguments Against Rioting

This is a segment of episode #267 of Last Born In The Wilderness “In Defense Of Looting: Dispensing With The Arguments Against Rioting w/ Vicky Osterweil.” Listen to the full episode: http://bit.ly/LBWosterweil

Learn more about and purchase a copy of Vicky’s new book ‘In Defense of Looting’ from Bold Type Books: https://bit.ly/31zvqEn

In her book ‘In Defense of Looting,’ Vicky discusses the history of looting — the mass act of publicly and directly seizing goods — and the vital role this act of wealth distribution has played (and continues to play) in movements toward addressing injustices of and abolishing the state, white supremacy, and capitalism. "From slave revolts to labor strikes to the modern-day movements for climate change, Black lives, and police abolition, Osterweil makes a convincing case for rioting and looting as weapons that bludgeon the status quo while uplifting the poor and marginalized."

In our discussion, I ask her to dispense with, point by point, the various arguments that are made against looting and rioting. These arguments include that looters:

- “are outside agitators"
- “are destroying their own neighborhoods" 
- "are not protestors, and have nothing to do with the struggle"
- "are bad for media representation (bad optics)"
- "justify police repression"
- "are consumeristic, and are acting on false consciousness"

Vicky highlights the historical, economic, and social contexts that give rise to these arguments, and why they ultimately fail to address the legitimate reasons why looting and rioting is an integral and necessary act of direct action, and cannot (and should not) be separated from broader movements toward social justice and revolution.

Vicky Osterweil is a writer, editor, and agitator and a regular contributor to The New Inquiry. Her writing has also appeared in The Baffler, The Nation, The Rumpus, Real Life, and Al Jazeera America. She lives in Philadelphia.

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