The Revolution is Winning -- Tactics -- Charlotte, NC and Atlanta, GA

Please watch the embedded video from Storm Clouds Gathering.

I spent Thursday and Friday night watching live feed of the protest in Charlotte and the supporting protests in Atlanta, also following twitter, and FB feeds of supporters of the protests and the general flow of "commentary" on twitter, you-tube and so on. I would like to share my observations:

Although the killing of Keith Lamont Scott was the spark, the protests are not about Mr. Scott. The main stream media is trying its darnedest to make us believe that the issue is "release the video" and justice for Mr. Scott. Also that it is all about #BlackLivesMatter. They are covering up the most important element of the protests and that is that the protests are addressing corporate fascism as a whole. Disgust with an unjust and racist/classist system has risen to a critical point where the sparks and embers are igniting here, there and everywhere. The lies, cheating, looting and rapine of the governing corporate police state "party" (and their phony elections) are being exposed.

Mass media will not play their speeches, and promulgates nice sounding lies and disinformation:

--- Wednesday night's "violence" was state sponsored against peaceful protests, with a scripted reaction of looting, breaking windows and throwing tear gas canisters back at police (thank this tactic to my friends in the West Bank). This, along with a series of media and police lies, successfully painted protesters and our black and brown brothers and sisters as violent thugs.

--- Thursday Night the MSM live feed went off during the fifteen minutes when the militarized riot police sprayed peaceful, sitting down demonstrators with pepper spray and tear gas.

--- Friday night they went on and on extolling a small Jesus Choir as if this is the answer. the went on and on about how peaceful and therefore correct the demonstration was and issued warning after warning that the demonstrations should follow police orders. the "100 Men" (a group of community black "leaders") were sent out by the corporate government powers to keep the demonstrations peaceful.

This with the constant voice overlay trying to convince the viewer that the only issue is justice for Keith Lamont Scott. the live feed coverage consisted of "marching past Church St., oh how nice it is that the march is peaceful and bah blah blah. " The only place one could hear an actual speech by a protester was on live feed RT. In these speeches one could hear clearly in speech after speech that the issue was a universal protest against state/corporate power.

Thursday and Friday we saw some excellent choices in tactics.

1st) The marches were fluid, constantly moving, splitting and retreating, moving forward, reforming.

2nd) The short term blocking of the Interstate drew a huge amount of police state resources to the freeway, where, after a non-violent retreat in the face of pepper spray and tear gas (and what else we don't know) the police were left blocking the interstate while uptown became almost devoid of the forces of oppression.

3rd) Very importantly the protests on Thursday and Friday became multi-racial, and multi-ethnic. Listening to the speeches we know that the protests go way beyond #BlackLivesMatter" and Keith Scott and to the core of what amounts to a police state occupation of all the people.

4th) Also of up-most importance is that protesters went to great lengths to embrace the police and National Guard, engaging in conversation, even hugging. The police responded on Friday night by actually marching with the demonstrators, towards the front. OK, I don't trust the police, but having normally dressed police (and the press) in the front lines intermingled with the protesters is exactly what we need. In any non-violent revolution the only ultimate success is when the police, military and press refuse to follow orders and join the protest.

5th) The 12 Midnight curfew was defeated. No one followed orders, they fluid amoeba like protest continued to circle Uptown non-violently and the curfew collapsed even before the time it started. MSM went to great lengths to try and excuse this, while the white supremacists (of which there are many) called for "killing gorillas".

6th) Friday during the day Charlotte High School's and the local college also went on strike with die-ins and so on. In Atlanta, sympathetic protests were "organized" and carried forth.. As we know, the only way the revolution will succeed is when the central simple idea of justice to occupied and oppressed communities of color and the poor and middle class) are activated so that a protest in one city (or rural area) are followed by protests in all cities and many rural areas.

7th) Throughout Thursday and Friday the original police state version of events was debunked. For example: On Wednesday a still from the police showed a "gun". Friday this was debunked, it was one of a pair of black rubber gloves. What ever was in Mr. Scott's hands, if anything, it may have been a cell phone, a book, or whatever. he was sitting in his car waiting for his son and his wife was telling the police he was unarmed and begging them not to shoot. In another debunking story, two eye witnesses tell us that it was the white man in red who shot Mr. Scott, not the black police officer. I myself debunked the story that Mr. Justin Carr was shot by a "civilian" by showing that at that exact moment various other nearby protesters were being shot with rubber bullets.

It is highly important, as we know on this forum, to expose these police state lies and discredit them and thus, discredit their justification for power. In this we are winning as can be seen looking at the polls of the honesty rating of two corporate candidates and Congress. It has gotten to where only white supremacists and corporate cronies believe anything at all the government says.

It is highly important that the tactics of revolution are all-inclusive, with a dispersed and ever-changing leadership, and that, although we have s simply communicated core ideas "Whose Streets? Our Streets!" "This is What democracy Looks Like", "Hands Up, Don't Shoot" "I'm Black, Don't Demonize Me" that we remember, a revolution led by a leader at the top, be it Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders is most likely a recipe for an even worse sort of tyranny.

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Alex Ocana's picture

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From the Light House.

TheOtherMaven's picture

It requires a special insert for your cake pan (they used to be sold in sets, three pans and the necessary insert), but otherwise it's much like any other sort of cake.

You'll need either two boxes of cake mix (plain and chocolate), or a divided batch of scratch-made batter with chocolate added to one half (recipes are usually included with the checkerboard cake sets), and a bit of practice to determine how much of which batter you need. If in doubt, make extra - you can always make cupcakes with the rest. Batter for this type of cake should be fairly thick, as you will need to remove and clean the insert between pans.

First and third pans: chocolate batter in the innermost and outermost rings, plain batter in the middle ring.
Second pan: Plain batter in the innermost and outermost rings, chocolate batter in the middle ring.

Bake, assemble using a thin layer of chocolate frosting/filling between layers, finish frosting. Voila!

If you don't have the necessary set, you can make zebra cake. This is trickier and requires practice (your first few attempts may not be very neat). The idea is to use small ladles (about 2 oz.) to fill the pan from the center out, with each new ladleful pushing the previous one ahead of it. Depending on how much patience you have, this can be done with one, two, or three layers. Batter for this type should be thinner but not runny - about the consistency of waffle batter.

If you don't have the checkerboard set and you don't have the patience (or steadiness of hand), go ahead and make marble cake. It tastes just as good anyway.

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There is no justice. There can be no peace.

Alphalop's picture

Now I gotta go find one of those sets, lol!

I am very into cooking, but the only baking I tend to do is breads (My fresh Rosemary Focaccia is to die for. Wink ) with the closets thing to a dessert being my "Monkey Bread" recipe.

My wife's birthday is in a couple weeks and that looks like it would be an excellent reason to finally venture into making desserts.

(Here are a couple pics to make ya hungry, consider it my revenge. Wink )

Monkey Bread 1.jpg
Focaccia and Sweet Amish White
Focaccia and Sweet Amish White web_0.jpg

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"I used to vote Republican & Democrat, I also used to shit my pants. Eventually I got smart enough to stop doing both things." -Me

divineorder's picture

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A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

Deja's picture

I did, and can see the progression from one, to another, to another.

Sure wish you had been around earlier, though, when the shit slinger was around. Check out my comment history starting with one that says something like, 'Oh look! Alex has a hater/possible stalker n/t' if you're curious. You would have come in handy!

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divineorder's picture

and very inappropriate imo. This was not an open thread.

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A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

Deja's picture

No biggie. I just didn't see it as disrespectful to the author, since he's the one the other two were leading from. Maybe others see it differently. Won't be the first time for everyone to disagree with me. I certainly mean no disrespect to him or you.

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divineorder's picture

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A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

Alphalop's picture

I don't think you are reading this correctly.

I can understand the possible confusion if you are from TOP. (where recipes and such were used to trivialize a comment or diary.)

We are a friendlier bunch than that, and frequently delve into off topic conversation briefly in sub-threads and nobody has ever taken it as a sign of disrespect to my knowledge. I know I don't in my Essays.

As a matter of fact, quite often the side discussions in a thread have sparked a thought or idea that I might not have had, even if they are occasionally off topic, and I really enjoy that and wouldn't want to see it changed.

Perhaps in the future you may want to verify intent before leaping to the attack.

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"I used to vote Republican & Democrat, I also used to shit my pants. Eventually I got smart enough to stop doing both things." -Me

thanatokephaloides's picture

This one doesn't take special gear (but possibly more cake pans -- see below).

Bake several thin cakes in white/yellow and chocolate. You want the cakes to be as thick as the "squares" in the checkerboard will be wide.

Once baked and cooled, prepare icing/frosting and some simple sugar syrup. Turn cakes out and slice into square bars (same width as thickness). Cut to length to fit in one of the cake pans. Lay bars in pan, using the syrup as the "glue" to hold them together. Once assembled, allow to "set" for an hour or so and then frost.

I strongly suspect that this is the method used to create the cake in the original essay, but I could be wrong.

Wink

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

TheOtherMaven's picture

That's a wedge of round cake. The method you described is for square or rectangular cakes. (Hadn't heard of that one before, may give it a try one of these days.)

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There is no justice. There can be no peace.

GreyWolf's picture

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thanatokephaloides's picture

Disgust with an unjust and racist/classist system has risen to a critical point where the sparks and embers are igniting here, there and everywhere. The lies, cheating, looting and rapine of the governing corporate police state "party" (and their phony elections) are being exposed.

"Light a fire in seven places; you will have flames and smoke in eight!"

-- ancient Chinese proverb

Smile

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

Mark from Queens's picture

So much to break down in there, from the lazy lapdog media predictably forcing the same narrative over and over to the great tactics of the young and mixed protesters and the willfully overlooked signs of solidarity (perhaps even with some cops, which as you say is the linchpin to real Revolution beginning, but definitely between the races). Reminds me of the exciting #BLM marches in NYC that organically went in so many different directions that even the cops had to admit they were being totally caught off guard, as tunnels, bridges and highways were being shut down in succession.

Thanks for reporting back to us after following along on Twitter, which I find is one of the only reliable outlets, especially when a situation is fluid like protests. Periscope and other livestreamers allow us to see firsthand what's going on on the ground. And if you have a good reporter/narrator you really get a good feel. During Occupy when we couldn't make it we'd watch Tim Pool or James From the Internet or (can't remember his name, but can clearly see his face...) and it was usually excellent. Ferguson produced another batch.

It's up to us to push back on their retread narrative, dumbing the whole thing down to violence vs. non-violence. The brilliant passage in MLK's "Letter from Birmingham Jail" about the white moderates "concerns" always comes rushing to the fore for me in times likes these.

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"If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:

THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC"

- Kurt Vonnegut

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

good to report on the revolution and not just on the oligarchy!

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

Alex Ocana's picture

Reminds me of the exciting #BLM marches in NYC that organically went in so many different directions that even the cops had to admit they were being totally caught off guard, as tunnels, bridges and highways were being shut down in succession.

I was busy in Bolivia while Occupy was going on and not connected to the Internet (there wasn't one in my village). I filter most everything happening now through the Bolivian experience, which was mostly quite successful.

This tactic of demonstrations being ethnically diverse, fluid, organic and leaderless seems to be one of the most powerful of non-violent weapons. Even with all the police and news helicopters... and the reporters on the ground filming "agitators" to later arrest, there seems to be little chance for the police state to control the protest without the kind of police/military perpetrated massacre that topples the government. The main stream media, the police state has lost any semblance of veracity... The majority considers the whole corporate power structure a lying herd of corrupt maggots.

My main criticism is that the protests are happening in a series, each one isolated from the last or next. Also, the numbers are less than critical mass. I suppose we are in the stages of the battle of a thousand pin pricks. Sweat flies (and bees) circling around the monster here and there, tasting the skin and exhausting the enemy.

sweat fly 2.jpg
sweat bee.jpg

Caption: This is a sweat fly and a tear bee, dangerous looking but harmless insects that can literally drive a person nuts in the subtropics (not Dominica thankfully). I have camped at archaeological sites in subtropical woodlands where these flies and bees can cover your sweaty shirt by the thousands. They are just looking for some salty water. They don't sting at all, but like a cloud of mosquitoes they can drive you mad.

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From the Light House.

riverlover's picture

Multiple spp, some of later season bite humans and are allergenic, trust me. And this time of year add in horseflies, also mean biters of humans who use horse protection targets. I have no horse or unicorn.

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Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.

have not mastered the skill involved to post a reply consistently.

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"The justness of individual land right is not justifiable to those to whom the land by right of first claim collectively belonged"

hard to gain weight for the month blackflies are active and spend as much time as possible on gravel spits in creeks where it's too cold for blackflies to fly over. Mosquitoes are also culprits here.

I've been in the Porcupine Mountains of Michigan's Upper Peninsula and found it impossible to stay out amid the swarms of blackflies. Interestingly, if you walk five feet out into Lake Superior - no flies: They don't fly over 50F water.

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"The justness of individual land right is not justifiable to those to whom the land by right of first claim collectively belonged"

riverlover's picture

I think I still have a hat with netting, hub bought. He was also a target for bees and wasps due to combative movements. I chilled. Wink

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Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.

riverlover's picture

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Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.

Alligator Ed's picture

so that the protesters did flow, reform, flow again fluidly as you said. It seems that even MSM wasn't able to suppress the whole story, even though as you pointed out, the indies got most of the story out.

we remember, a revolution led by a leader at the top, be it Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders is most likely a recipe for an even worse sort of tyranny.

Revolution starts just like this--but as it grows, "leaders:" emerge for different factions. As things become more organized, if one may use that term about revolution, leadership becomes more consolidated, and eventually the whole cycle repeats.

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Alligator Ed's picture

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divineorder's picture

to Present day. Still rings true....

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A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

Alex Ocana's picture

This is what the revolution has to deal with. It may be easier to confuse 1200 cameras than a few dozen. What do you think?

1200 cameras.jpg
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From the Light House.

I'd think so - information overload is a real thing, after all. Rather like the multiple-agency surveillance of everyone all at once; can't spy on everyone at once, or see the trees for the forest.

Must say thank you so very much for your marvelous essay and that fabulous video which I will have to listen to several times. Must say that I spent almost the whole time hissing Yesssss! to myself and if my roommate, whose wall adjoins mine, heard me, she probably thinks I'm morphing into a snake, but it was both informative and heart-lifting and since I agree with virtually everything in it, obviously right, lol. Made me feel more hopeful than I have for a while, at any rate.

I do have a weakness for a strong central government, but then again, during my life, ours worked for us in many ways and in a more sustainable manner - until NAFTA and the increased corporate control over and corruption of our governments... the US has had a different and very unfortunate experience all along...

If the TPP is to be shoved through in November, there isn't much time. It must be made obvious that this is not 'legal and binding' upon the people but is unconstitutional and illegal as a traitorous act of a transient public servant sworn to uphold the Constitution handing over control of domestic law from the people to whom it belongs in perpetuity to hostile outside forces.

All hell will break loose if the traitors achieve their goal, and we'd all really rather not have to deal with that... but if they know it won't work and we, the people of the world, will not accept corporate serfdom, the spirit of self-preservation may belatedly rise even in the Greeds. They have most of everything and want it all, even if they destroy it in the taking, but if they have to risk paying a price themselves, mere luxury may turn out to be enough for them after all.

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Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.

A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.

Lenzabi's picture

It is past time for the Corporate States of Oligarchia to collapse. It is also best described as the American Empire. We need to remove the power from the Billionaire Oligarchs and their corporate lackeys so that they are regulated and answer to the people, right now we the people have been fooled into thinking they are the bosses and we answer to them.

The current system and course leads us merrily down to feudalistic rule and destruction of and for us, as they grow fatter and have more and more and us less and less.

Tear down the Corporate States of Oligarchia, one way is to vote 3rd party and not support the corporate scam of the "two-party"-system.

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So long, and thanks for all the fish