John Clarke, former major organizer for the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP), posted the following on Facebook a few days ago:
I just saw a Toronto Police Association ad pressing for even more funding to be diverted from community needs into the already swollen police budget. It shows someone lying hurt on the ground after what is supposed to be a robbery and would have us believe that everything hinges of how rapidly the police arrive.The ad is absurd on its own terms. What possible use is a rapid police response time to the person depicted here? They have been killed or wounded and left lying on the ground. If they are still alive, the timely arrival of an ambulance is their pressing concern and a hefty crew of state enforcers isn’t going to do them much good.Even if police response time is improved substantially, the great majority of violent incidents will be over by the time they show up. Until the police are able to rush off to deal with things that will occur in the future, the response time issue is a complete red herring.
The police recognize the importance of presenting their point of view and needs in a framework that hides the reality of the real nature of their work (for the real nature of police work, see for example Socialism, Police and the Government or State, Part One or Reform versus Abolition of Police, Part Two).
The left, however, often seems oblivious to the need to engage in ideological struggle against social rhetoric and the need to disclose the real nature of our social world; they often let pass such phrases, for exampe, as “fair wages,” “fair contracts,” “fair collective agreements,” and “decent work” without engaging in any kind of criticism of such rhetoric.
Should not the left be engaged in constant exposure of such rhetoric?
The Abolitionary 