As Trump mobilizes the marines to quell an “insurrection” in LA, it’s essential to be clear about how the protests started and what actually happened.
As Trump mobilizes the marines to quell an “insurrection” in LA, it’s essential to be clear about how the protests started and what actually happened.
It is quite simple. Proportionate responsive violence is appropriate. Key is that the escalation by the government needs to be met with escalation by the people, not for people to escalate first.
Note that civil disobedience isnt violence. Disobeying curfew? You are not harming anyone, except the governments authoritarian authority.
Government goons beat up people? Beat up the government goons.
Government goons start shooting? Shoot back.
We have been conditioned by decades of propaganda, that only they get to use violence and responding to their violence would be wrong. But it is not.
Trump is good (only?) at “fixing” problems that he himself created by… stopping the thing that he did to create the problem. That’s the TACO way. Enough backlash and he’ll let go and claim he “brought peace to LA”.
The problem is that “clamping down on immigration” is actually too popular (or not unpopular enough). The backlash Trump needs is about getting him to look bad, not shooting on the police and compacting the fuckers who already think they are on the right side. Peaceful resistance might actually be more powerful and effective in showing exactly who the bad guy is.
On the other hand I don’t live in the US and I am aware how easy it is for me to say this from a safe distance…