anarchiddy

It used to be that nonviolent protest was intended to provoke a violent suppressive reaction from the state. It might be uncomfortable to some but I think the white moderate that MLK agitated against are the same people concern trolling over the optics of various forms of nonviolent protest now.

Agitation is the point. Provoking violence from the state is the point.

This seems a little begging the question.

Even if it wasn't, it's a little damning to liberals who now seem to only like a candidate if they think they are "charismatic", which seems suspiciously ill-defined.

You’re being accelerationalist

I'm not saying "I hope he keeps being a fascist", i'm saying "I hope he keeps being obvious about his fascism". If there's someone running around pantsing people, I'd rather them be doing it in broad daylight while screaming "i'm gonna pull everyone's pants down!" than them doing it in the cover of night where nobody sees what's happening.

Also that wasn’t Trump that was a local jackboot jacking off.

Lol ok, granted, but Trump's been boasting about the strength of his response this whole time, so then I guess I hope Trump keeps taking credit for the actions of the local jackboots? Is there a point to this?

Unlike back in the Weimar Republic, you e.g. don’t have a country full of judges considering law passed by parliament to not even be law because law must be passed by the Kaiser

What are you talking about? We have a ton of judges who have publicly endorsed the unitary executive theory, and Trump has been publicly threatening the judges who haven't gotten in line. They've unconstitutionally raided multiple courthouses against direct court order and flaunted their willful disregard of their rulings. Yea, the US governmental structure is different, but you're delusional if you think it's functioning as an actual check on executive overreach and abuse.

One of the first things btw that the Nazis did was to (functionally) dissolve the states and put them under direct federal control.

Yep. What Trump has been doing in LA with the National Guard is largely regarded as unconstitutional, since the 'legal framework' he's using as justification could be so broadly applied that State sovereignty and the constitutional restriction on keeping a standing army are functionally dissolved (similar to the Nazis who claimed there was a national emergency to dissolve their own parliamentary checks on power). It would basically be up to his discretion on what constitutes 'insurrectionist activities', and checked only by the judiciary (who would rule on its applicability and constitutionality) and congress via impeachment. It functionally does not matter if the judiciary rules it unconstitutional if congress refuses to enforce it, and congress functionally cannot impeach when a majority of representatives are complicit or otherwise held in line by threats of retaliation by the president and his capitalist collaborators. Basically - what the US is experiencing is a multi-layered failure of our constitution to render checks to the President, who is now abusing this failure to solidify his hold on power. Sure would be pretty pointless if we waited until it was a complete constitutional failure.

The fuck are you doing that as a black bloc.

Those are two things you absolutely would not be doing if you're concerned about the optics of a resistance movement, which was the point being communicated. And anyway, why wouldn't you be obscuring your identity while committing a felony?

And, see, suddenly we’re talking black blocs. An actual tactic. One that acknowledges the importance of peaceful protest, at the very least the necessity to separate yourself from the overall crowd, so that liberals can go to baby’s first protest because we want them in the street, actually seeing shit, feeling vibes, and not in front of the TV, watching propaganda.

Lmao, the intent of black bloc is absolutely not an acknowledgement of peaceful protest, it's an acknowledgement that violence is necessary against oppressive capitalist systems and state violence. But while we're on the point, weren't you just lecturing us on the bad optics of unruly protests, and suddenly you're singing the praises of the premier movement for openly violent resistance? Give me a fucking break. Black bloc is predicated on creating chaos, and famously referred to as 'piggyback' protest because they will embed themselves in larger demonstrations. I'd be happy to discuss good protest practices if you weren't whinging about the "bad optics" of broken glass and vandalized cars, especially while you're simultaneously claiming to support a tactic used to explicitly do those things at protests.

Fuck off shitlib, go concern troll somewhere else.

No thank you.

Stop posting and organise that shit.

Most of us do both.

For what you say to occur the overreaction has to not just be extreme, it also has to be obvious – like the Aussie journalist which got shot, that’s a good video.

Yup, and with any luck Trump will continue with the lack of subtlety.

Things don’t become more obviously an overreaction when cars are burning and shopfronts are deglassed.

Those things happen every day in the US. Hell, some sports fans will flip cars after a moderately good football game. Corporatized media will find footage of those things regardless of what the actual protestors are doing, and implicate them with it. Even when counterprotestors are actually assaulting peaceful protestors, Fox news and their many subsidiary channels will find the one shot with an angry exchange that paints the picture and use it to implicate the entire movement. And when they do, liberals will be right there to wag their fingers.

The good news is that Trump is such a dipshit that he'll send in fucking tanks for just about any goddamned reason, and those are really fucking hard to hide and even harder to justify with a few broken windows and lots of unarmed protestors.

What you want to do is obstruct the fuck out the feds so they fall on their face, that’s best done on a level of state and lower administrations

Yea, this is what i'm referring to by saying 'middling around the fringes'. There is no amount of legalese that will slow down an actual authoritarian. You can't run around screaming that he's going to fucking end democracy and then strategize on how to bury him in legal threats. Either he's a dictator or he can be obstructed by judicial paperwork. You can't have a dictator that politely complies with the judiciary, that's what makes them a dictator.

This is how liberals end up collaborating with fascists: they are so uncomfortable with extralegal resistance that they delude themselves into a belief that working within the structures that are actively being dismantled is the 'only realistic way' to resist against it. What happens when we get to the 'outlawing of rival political parties' part of fascism? We've already crossed over the 'no due process for criminals' line, how many more core democratic foundations do we have to lose before it's game over?

Not everyone can or should be in black bloc sabotaging ICE vehicles, but pretending as if the usual checks and balances are still functioning is willful ignorance.

Libs have never met a white male moderate they wouldn't vote for over any woman of color or socialist.

To justify themselves in the media, in the public eye? Yes.

No they don't. Just look at how often they use footage from completely unrelated events in their coverage. Anyone with even a slight predilection against protestors or a law enforcement bias will accept any willful misrepresentation as 'aesthetic' and condemn the whole group regardless.

But it’s the perception that exists among the population, you’re not going to change it by throwing stones.

Nothing the protestors actually do will move the needle - it's the extreme overreaction of the fed that will.

You know what people did to protect Jews from the Gestapo? Hide them.

Only after the Nazis had actually banned extra-party protests and clamped down on all opposition, and only after they had already carted away several million jews and political opponents off to concentration camps. You want to wait that long do something? Be my guest.

I’m arguing against it because, unless you start an actual insurrection with plans to take on and take out the military, it’s ineffective.

The goal of most rebellions isn't to take control of the reigns of power - the goal is to make it so costly to suppress that the state is forced to cut their loss, or else risk the resistance spreading. There is no version of resisting a fascist movement in the US that involves armed militias overpowering federal forces. Liberals are desperate to maintain the illusion of democracy by simply resisting at the fringes - if they don't piss Trump off too much, then maybe there will still be enough democracy left for them to vote him away without any real conflict! What a wonderful fantasy that is.

Liberals need to pick a lane - either trump is a dictator who must be removed before he solidifies his hold on power, or we need to conduct ourselves until the midterms so that we can vote our way out. It can't be both.

Frederick Douglass

The only law you should be breaking is refusing to follow a dispersal order

And that's the one they point to as an excuse to start shooting, you shitlib.

They don't need an excuse. They will escalate it long before anyone in the street does. It's also wild to me that 'throwing stones' is somehow seen as more violent than literal fucking munitions and chemical weapons. "Just stand there and let them shoot at you" is quite a take from someone who has clearly never been shot at by fascists in riot gear.

If this were an ordinary liberal riot guard we might be able to count on deescalation, but as libs have so been eager to point out when votemaxxing online, this isn't an ordinary liberal riot guard. Either bend over and spread for the next phase of american fascist policing or shut the fuck up about how people are choosing to resist it. Communities are fighting against unaccountable and un-identifiable gestapo pigs blackbagging innocent children - don't concern troll us about deescalation.

Oh fuck. They're gonna force Newsom for 2028 aren't they.

I hate being that cringe guy in the comments posting FD quotes, but this one is such a banger

Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress

Europeans need to be reflecting on what kind of leadership they want to replace the US now that they've started stepping out.

For all the chaos they're causing, especially in regards to this conflict, it's not a bad thing that the US is losing geopolitical relevance. I just wish I had any confidence that something better would come from it.

Now is really the time for people to be organizing.