It's Time - Part II

Protest, to be effective, must be disruptive as well as universal...

"To sin by silence, when we should protest makes cowards out of men"

— Ella Wheeler Wilcox

“Either you are a rebel or a slave”

— Chris Hedges

Protest - the real thing; the kind that’s successful - is disruptive.

It throws a wrench in the gears of commerce. It lets government know that action is necessary to prevent escalation. Protest is the statement of people that they demand to be heard - and if they aren’t, they’re willing to take further, escalated action until their grievances are both addressed and redressed. We’re well beyond the era of the pink-hat-wearing brunch-protester. To be effective now, protests have to be big enough to shut things down.

Very few if any situations are binary, but government in this case has two fundamental courses of action open to it: Begin the process of addressing the issues the people have brought to their attention via protest, or attack/arrest the protesters.

What we’ve seen from the regime currently in power in the U.S. is that protest will be met with violence. They have created a situation where, in their view, the only course left to those protesting government overreach and corruption will be to respond in kind.

I’m here to tell you that we’re not there yet, but the window is rapidly closing to effect change by nonviolent, coordinated protest.

The Problem is Organization

In 1965, the psychologist and educational developer Bruce Tuckman proposed a series of developmental stages which affects every group organized for a common goal. Tuckman’s ‘Stages of Group Development’ are instructive here:

1. Forming: The forming stage is realized when a group of like-minded people initially gather as a nascent team. At this stage, the group only knows that they have a common goal.

2. Storming: The group discovers after initial discussions that the task is always harder than they expected; they wind up disagreeing over just as many items as they agree, many potential ‘leaders’ arise (and are discarded just as quickly) with vastly different ideas toward achieving the group’s proposed goals.

3. Norming: This stage sees the group coalesce around a core group of leaders; the group’s long term goals are codified, and they begin to assign themselves concrete short term tasks which work toward the accomplishment of those long term goals.

4. Performing: In the performing stage, the group is fully formed, organized, has completed its planning, have developed operating efficiencies, and are now ready to achieve its goals.

The current state of protest in the U.S. today is still at #2.

For all the bad press which the Occupy movement received, they hammered through the ‘storming’ phase rather quickly, and had a concrete, written set of objectives which were published in May of 2012, after the nationwide takedown in November 2011 of their initial protest. This was accomplished not through a centralized, top-down leadership structure, but by consensus through a series of General Assemblies. (It’s worth noting that the Occupy movement is still very much alive, and has resurfaced to lend its voice to the current nationwide protests against actions of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement [ICE] division of the Department of Homeland Security, as well as general U.S. government overreach). The organization of the Occupy movement should at least be examined by those attempting to add structure to the protests currently in play.

That said, there are several groups organizing protests - but as of this writing, none are working together, or have minimal contact/coordination with each other.

What Do We Do?

The first step is to get everyone talking to each other.

This will involve leaders of every organizing group contacting each other, and coordinating their efforts. Protests in Portland, Oregon need to be coordinated with protests in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Protests in Dallas, Texas need to be coordinated with those in Washington, D.C. You get the picture. Eventually, a nationwide protest will come out of this effort. So:

1. If you’re involved with an organization, suggest this process immediately. Point out the successes of the Occupy movement - it’s not for nothing that they were able to coordinate nationwide ‘occupations’.

2. Count on negative media publicity. The media is owned by that same handful of oligarchs who bought the government some decades ago, and which codifed their ownership in the infamous Citizens United case in 2010. The mainstream media is not your friend.

3. Count also on government pushback. Again, it’s not for nothing that the Feds used the FBI to coordinate with local law enforcement nationwide for a one-day crackdown in November of 2011 which cleared Occupy encampments, plus saw local General Assembly leaders beaten and arrested. Get ready for this. Be prepared.

The second step is to engage. Remember - an action after an action after an action is power:

1. Go out and protest.

2. Post about it on your social platforms. Ensure voices are heard.

3. Stay informed. Real news is important. So are social groups.

4. Read. Educate yourselves on world and local events (and the ways they’re connected).

5. Donate and Divest - donate as and what you can to real protest orgs, and divest from companies opposing your personal political goals.

6. Support local businesses - especially immigrant-owned businesses - and those whose owners align with your personal sociopolitical goals.

7. Talk with your friends, neighbors, and relatives. Ensure the conversation is civil, but don’t allow them to walk on you, either. Bearing witness to what’s really happening, and how it relates to history, is important.

8. For the love of everything you hold dear, call and write your representatives, both local and national. Make your voice heard.

9. Attend training. Several good organizations offering practical protest training are readily available (some are listed at the bottom of this article).

10. Look after your mental health. This process is not for the faint of heart and can tax even the strongest among us.

So You’re Going To Your First Protest….

You’re going to need some things, and you’re going to need a personal plan. In no particular order, here’s what you’re going to need to carry, arrange, and do:

1. Practice the buddy system - have a friend who’ll be readily available if things go south. Check in with that person frequently. Arrange a meeting spot/rally point if things turn ugly and/or you’re separated. Ensure you buddy knows when you’ll be leaving, if the protest has a definite end date/time. If it’s ongoing, ensure you tell your buddy when you’re leaving. Check in when you get home. Many protesters leave and return after getting some sleep - coordination is key to ensuring you stay visible. The government likes to ‘disappear’ protesters.

2. Carry your phone. Remember that landscape mode (holding your phone sideways) is far preferable than portrait mode (holding it straight up and down) when shooting video. Remember before you leave the house to deactivate any retinal scan or biometric (fingerprint) access; use a PIN. Remember - you are NOT required to give your PIN to authorities! Also, lock down your device to prevent GPS tracking, and carry it in a signal blocking pouch.

3. Wear appropriate clothing. You might be outside for a protracted period. Cold weather gear is necessary, just as a hat and water-based sunscreen is necessary if it’s hot. Remember your hiking shoes; you’ll be on your feet.

4. Do not bring weapons. That said, the government will most certainly have them, and have proven they’re not shy about using them, especially on people who they even suspect have them. Remember that the people recently shot by ICE agents were separated from groups. Stay together.

5. Non lethal devices, on the other hand, are an excellent idea. A battery-powered leaf blower with a fully charged battery can spell the difference between getting a face full of pepper spray/tear gas, or not. Most are lightweight and easy to maneuver. (A trick used in Europe for some years is also to carry traffic cones - they can be dropped quickly over a tear gas canister, rendering it useless).

6. If you have access to a gas mask, bring it. You’ll probably find you need one. An N95 will not help you.

7. If you wear contact lenses, leave ‘em at home. Wear glasses. If you wear neither, get a pair of safety goggles if you don’t have a gas mask.

8. Hearing: Recently, the government has been using LRAD’s (long-range acoustic devices) or ‘sound cannons’. Those can cause permanent hearing loss, illness and disorientation. The best advice at present is to use foam earplugs and a set of passive (not electronic) shooter’s ear coverings (‘muffs’).

9. Backpack: You may be arrested. The government cannot legally (yes; I know that term is broadly interpreted and ignored outright by authorities) take your personal possessions if they are necessary for your health maintenance. To that end, take a few days of your prescribed meds, if any, some personal care items, non-perishable food items (think camping here), some cash, and your state-issued current ID plus a passport card if you have one (if you don’t, it’s a good idea to apply for one; if you don’t have a passport, it’s a good idea to get one of those. Regardless, under no circumstances should you carry your full passport with you; it may be confiscated, and you may not get it back).

Conclusion….

Frederick Douglass said over 160 years ago that there were four ‘boxes’ from which the populace could effect change; the ballot box (voting); the jury box (litigation); the soap box (protest) - and when those failed, the cartridge box (revolution).

If you’ve read this far, I don’t need to tell you that the government has done its best to negate the first two; oligarchs now all but own the government and the electoral process. The attempt by several activists to litigate the government over the indefinite-detention provision of 2012’s National Defense Authorization Act was shut down by a Federal judge; even the attempts of other Federal judges to thwart the more-egregious actions of the current regime have been appealed (and won) by the government.

Yes; the odds are long. Our options, few. The window is narrow, and closing, for a meaningful, disruptive, nonviolent approach. Some heavy lifting has to be done, and quickly. The alternative, however, is revolution - something no sane person wants.

Again, Hedges said it best: “There are no excuses left. Either you join the revolt taking place on Wall Street and in the financial districts of other cities across the country or you stand on the wrong side of history. Either you obstruct, in the only form left to us, which is civil disobedience, the plundering by the criminal class on Wall Street and accelerated destruction of the ecosystem that sustains the human species, or become the passive enabler of a monstrous evil….To be declared innocent in a country where the rule of law means nothing, where we have undergone a corporate coup, where the poor and working men and women are reduced to joblessness and hunger, where war, financial speculation and internal surveillance are the only real business of the state, where even habeas corpus no longer exists, where you, as a citizen, are nothing more than a commodity to corporate systems of power, one to be used and discarded, is to be complicit in this radical evil.”

Again, decisions are rarely binary. This one, however, is as black and white as they get. You’re either on the right side or the wrong side of history. You are either a rebel, or a slave.

Further Reading:

Protest Organizations:

1. Mobilize U.S. (aggregator website for protest organizations)

2. NoKings (main website for the ‘No Kings’ protest organization)

3. ActionNetwork (tools for organizing)

4. 50501 (website for the ‘fifty states’ protest organization)

Protest Training:

1. Ruckus Society (Activist organization, specializing in organizing and training)

2. Indivisible (Activist org with excellent, practical online training)

3. Activist Handbook (Aggregator website with protest and organizational training)

4. Amnesty International (their online activist training site)

5. ICNC (International Center on Nonviolent Conflict training site)

(Check back often, as this will become a living document with frequent updates to the lists above).