Peaceful protests make our points
There will be many peaceful protests around January 20. I hope to attend the Womens March although I may go to the march in Boston instead of the one in DC. These marches show our solidarity with each other and also remind politicians that they need our votes to keep their jobs. There are a few sociopathic conservatives and violent groups that want to interfere with our peaceful marches, especially during the inauguration period.
“So, we’re going for what I’d generally term a clusterf--k,” says Legba Carrefour, a local anarchist handling press for the more radical protest-organizing network DisruptJ20, which has more than 1,700 Facebook group members.
“We are planning to shut down the inauguration, that’s the short of it,” he says. “We’re pretty literal about that, we are trying to create citywide paralysis on a level that I don’t think has been seen in D.C. before. We’re trying to shut down pretty much every ingress into the city as well as every checkpoint around the actual inauguration parade route.”
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-12-15/anti-trump-activists-plan...
What happens if an elderly person has a heart attack and the ambulance cannot get them to the hospital? What happens if an apartment building is on fire and the firemen cannot get there to rescue the children trapped on the third floor? What happens if parents become worried about their baby with the 104 F fever and they cannot get to the pediatrician or the emergency room? Must the frantic parents sit in traffic behind a blockaded bridge while their baby goes into convulsions?
Carrefour says DisruptJ20 has no publicly announced plans to jump barricades along the inauguration parade route or throw projectiles at the new president, but that autonomous direct actions are encouraged.
“I can’t comment on specific stuff we’re doing like that, mostly because that would be illegal. But, yeah, it will get pretty crazy, I expect,” he says. "'Have fun!' I say."
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-12-15/anti-trump-activists-plan...
From their website it looks like the leaders of this group are only planning to commit misdemeanors which will not get them in any serious trouble. The problem is that some unstable, would-be hero may read their posts and commit some seriously violent act. Violent protests can cause serious injuries and sometimes even deaths, often to innocent bystanders in addition to the participants. Violent protests also make our causes look bad.
The Moral Monday protests in NC are effective because they are highly organized and nonviolent. The police were notified in advance and the arrests are not conducted in an adversarial way. (I heard that the Repubs in NC were foolish enough to try to cut police budgets.) If there is violence it must all be on the part of the government. The citizens at home need to see that THEY (THE 1%) are attacking our freedoms. We are citizen protesters, not hooligans. We represent our country and the values of our citizens; THEY are attacking our freedoms.
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/06/how-to-get-arrested-...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teqtb6Bcm-Q
In any violent confrontation we will lose; if we remain peaceful we win. When nonviolent people are clearly being attacked, people at home can identify with the protesters. Our government has been taking away our homes and our jobs and our privacy and freedoms. Occupy has had an ongoing moral effect because the optics of police attacking young people, especially unarmed young women, provides a visual shorthand for what the government is doing to all of us.
There are Repubs who want to damage our message that we want to include everyone in a peaceful society with good jobs, fairness and freedom. Ryan Clayton of Americans Take Action caught a James O'Keefe (Project Veritas) operative trying to pay a progressive group to commit acts of violence at the Trump inauguration. This is the same James O'Keefe who spread lies about ACORN and Planned Parenthood by editing tapes to create a false narrative. This is the same James O'Keefe who has attacked the campaigns of Russ Feingold, Hillary and Bernie.
O’Keefe’s “Project Veritas” (Latin for “Edit it together and make it look scary”) is apparently trying to infiltrate groups that’ll be protesting the Trump inauguration, only this time his “operatives” got caught on video themselves posing as representatives of a fictitious wealthy liberal donor . . . .
It’s also a good time to remind everyone that Young Master O’Keefe managed to pry at least $10,000 out of the Trump Foundation’s notoriously tight purse. Gee, Donald Trump wouldn’t pretend to ratf*ck himself, would he?
Just kidding of course he would.
http://wonkette.com/610302/trump-donee-james-okeefe-offering-progressive...
The O'Keefe thugs offered to pay $100,000 to have a liberal group to shut down a bridge and incite a riot at the Trump inauguration.
The counter-sting, carried out by The Undercurrent and Americans Take Action, a project of a previous target of provocateur James O’Keefe, managed to surreptitiously record elements of O’Keefe’s network offering huge sums of money to progressive activists if they would disrupt the ceremony and “put a stop to the inauguration” and the related proceedings to such a degree that donors to the clandestine effort would “turn on a TV and maybe not even see Trump.” To have riots blot out coverage of Trump, the donor offered “unlimited resources,” including to shut down bridges into D.C.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/counter-sting-catches-james-okeefe-n...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WDWLeRKc2Y
We have every right to peacefully protest actions, policies or positions we find offensive. We can call for Trump’s impeachment if he does anything illegal or unconstitutional (such as violating the emoluments clause of our Constitution). We must not let conservative thugs entrap us into even the appearance of being violent, antisocial lawbreakers. They are the ones who are violent and antisocial. Our fellow citizens need to see this so they will join our cause. When we commit acts of civil disobedience it must be to uphold the better values of our society.
Note: Thanks to gjohnsit and commenters on the excellent essay on potential protest violence which provided both information and inspiration. (This essay is really intended for TOP with the hope of discouraging hotheads from harming themselves and others.)
Comments
Hope they are all peaceful and massive
I believe that protests work. Otherwise why do the PTB try so hard to suppress them. I read once that Nixon couldn't bear having even one protestor marching with a sign in front of the White House grounds.
Good luck!
To thine own self be true.
Thanks! These are nonviolent marches with police escorts.
The organizers have gotten permits so there are not likely to be any problems. Marching is a good way to remind the politicians that women can vote and there are a lot of us.
Some of the women will be wearing pink hats with kitten ears. These are being called pussy hats. Nobody better try to grab any of them.
There are other issues for us, too. We are not just worried about choice; there is an effort to ban birth control. Some women are worried about the issue of gun violence. I understand you live in a civilized country where everyone can get medical care if they need it and you do not have a habit of mass shootings. Here in the USA we still need to march about these issues. Some days I really would not blame Canadians if you chose to build a wall on your southern border to keep us out. A lot of us are trying to improve though.
Once started protest violence is hard to stop
I saw considerable violence in the streets in Harvard square at an anti-war protest. The protesters, myself included, marched from the Boston Common to Harvard square over the Harvard bridge. The protesters were non-violent, but the police were not, charging the crowd, singing "God Bless America" and swinging their billy clubs. Lot's of heads got bashed in. The police ran dawn alleyways, pulling young people, not at all involved in the protest, off of their bikes and clubbing them in the kidneys and about the head. A young local element of tough guys showed up and stepped up the violence. They threw rocks through windows, set fires and overturned police cars. The violence lasted for days.
Now what exactly is being protested on Saturday in DC and in Boston? What change are you asking for? Who will implement this change? Is this part of the civil war of Hillary supporters v. Trump supporters? If so, what are the Trump supporters supposed to think as they watch this on TV, or worse, show up in force on the streets?
Are we protesting democracy? Do we want some elites to decide that a particular person can't be president because???
Are we protesting for Women's rights? Which rights? I'd like to see equal pay enforced and guaranteed maternity leave. I would like to see abortion rights protected.
We should protest against war and the war budget of $1T, that's an obscenity.
Are we protesting for Trump's impeachment if he breaks the law? You have got to be kidding! This would apply to all presidents ever elected and ever to be elected. This is nonsensical.
Why protest the day after Trump's inauguration? Sounds like a general protest against President Trump. Do we want civil war? Sounds like we don't believe in Democracy. The ballot box is where you protest. That's why this bullshit about Russia throwing the election to Trump is so dangerous. It feeds people an excuse to bypass democracy for what? Is this how we are going to decide elections in the US in the future?
Capitalism has always been the rule of the people by the oligarchs. You only have two choices, eliminate them or restrict their power.
Womens marches are being held in large cities
across the country. Apparently they are being held the day after the inauguration to avoid the traffic, the difficulty in getting a permit on Inauguration day, and the potential for violent protests on the Jan 20. Various organized groups will be focusing on specific issues that are especially important to women. These include reproductive rights, equal pay, preventing sexual assault, and respect for trans women. The issue of sexual assault, especially in the workplace, probably provided a lot of the inspiration for the marches this time.
Many of us will wear white to honor the suffragettes who were marching a century ago to get us the vote. I partly want to march in honor of my grandmother who was not able to vote when she turned 21. We will probably sing some of the old suffragette songs such as Bread and Roses, but I am not one of the organizers.
My first march was a Take Back the Night march. The mayor of my city was in favor of better street lighting but she need a couple more votes from the city council. We had a rally with a few inspiring speeches and we signed a petition. Then we marched to city hall to politely deliver the petition at the city council meeting. Many of us participated because there had been more rapes then usual in the neighborhood and we felt the extra lighting would be helpful.
I went to a large Womens March in DC years ago. The main issues at the time were reproductive rights and equal pay. A friend took her daughter who was in grade school at the time. We were not sure the kid would want to do the whole march, but she skipped and danced the whole way when she was not helping hold up a banner. These are peaceful marches which do not normally provoke any sort of violent counter protests. It was a wonderful day although the real impact came as we were going down into the subway to leave. I looked back up the escalators and they were all packed with people dressed in white. Most of us were women, but a few of our brothers had joined us for the march. At the time I was surrounded by conservatives and working in a male-dominated field, but I had just spent the day with people who shared my views on issues that matter to me.
Poverty is daily violence. Resist.
"What happens if an elderly person has a heart attack and the ambulance cannot get them to the hospital?" blah blah blah, etc..
Same thing that happens to poor seniors and people on the streets every day. They die. Without resistance many more people will die ugly deaths because inequality, I'm sorry more people aren't talking about that as the same old oligarchy hands off control of the masses to a reality tv star. People can't seem to resist enough, that's the problem in my view. Social media is not helping. Harping on right wing fomenters of violence is not much help either, but everyone has to do something.
Money corruption is acceptable for both Ds and Rs now. Bernie is spread too thin as always, berners split and scattered about. There will be no come together moment, divided we fall as the saying goes. At least show a little resistance as the band plays on, that's what I think. Don't abdicate that freedom too, what little is left of the Bill of Rights. I like the pussyhats, pink knitters unite!
Speaking of anarchists, just yesterday I found this interview somewhat enlightening, regarding use of violence: Anarchast Ep. 148 Rob Hustle: This is What Happens When You Call the Cops!
Thanks for the essay and discussion, asterisk.
Peace
Reply to: asterisk - Canadians are so lucky
Although right wing governments keep trimming our medicare, it's still very good. Isn't it hard enough to be sick, to need medical care without having to worry about how to pay for it?
And so far, I have not heard that our pharmaceuticals and drugs when used as prescribed have proven dangerous, too dangerous to export to the USA.
To thine own self be true.
Reply to: MarilynW
Drugs manufactured in the US undergo chemical changes when they are shipped into Canada.(/s)
This decreases their price considerably and makes them dangerous for people who do not have any right to health care. Peasants who take these Canadian drugs might get the uppity idea that the government should provide everyone access to healthcare.
People here might even get the delusion that we don't actually need to carry an AK47 around for protection. This decrease in revenue for gun manufacturers is a serious risk if we allow gateway drugs like Canadian blood pressure pills to pollute our population.
Using Canadian drugs might actually warp our mind into adopting the metric system. Think how hard all the metric math would be for our kids. Cheap drugs are obviously some sort of insidious Canadian plot that our fearless legislators are bravely saving us from.
"Legba Carrefour"? Really?
That has to be a pseudonym. "Legba" = loa of the crossroads (hat tip to Terry Pratchett's Witches Abroad for the name), "Carrefour" = "crossroads (hat tip to my old French teachers).
If you're plotting malicious mischief, a pseudonym is a good thing to have.
There is no justice. There can be no peace.