Just USAmerica things

  • FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    When there is no legitimate opposition, it frees the wolves to do whatever they want. You’ve got to start voting for people who want more than to get wealthier off their government position.

    • JamesTBagg@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      When there is no legitimate opposition, it frees the wolves to do whatever they want.

      Voting helps, but white supremacists have a reputation of being armed. The cops are hesitant because they don’t hold the monopoly on violence. Perhaps other groups should establish such a reputation. It’d be nice if the Socialist Rifle Association was more organized and vocal.

  • Juice@midwest.social
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    6 months ago

    I mean, no? It’s highly dependent on the police force, the number of protestors, and how the protestors deal with being told to break up the protest/encampments, etc.,

    Many campus encampments were fairly successful, if not forcing actual divestment, then gaining many concessions from universities and getting a good foot forward to continue pressure toward the goal of full divestment. Other encampments and protests were violently and unconstitutionally repressed, and there’s not much the protestors could have done to stop that from happening. In my city, the campus protest encampments were broken up but the encampments had a lot of logistical issues and some leadership problems that may also have contributed, but maybe not, since our resident billionaire, deeply invested in the university, has literal mossad special forces guarding his compound. I’ve been to many protests where police kept a distance, some large protests where they never even showed up.

    Its not accurate to say they always break up protests. I work with organizers who insist against anti-cop slogans because in their experience sometimes protesters can get further if the cops don’t feel threatened by the protests. I’m much more in the F12 ACAB camp and argue with those guys but they do make extremely good points that can be backed up with historical examples. With organization and numbers a police force can be opposed logistically and defeated, or neutralized politically. We don’t have to be doomers. Messages like this just make people who are on the fence avoid protests when they are the people we need to come and get activated.

    Edit: okay, protest movements get broken up, individual protests may or may not, reading is hard

    • zaph@sh.itjust.works
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      6 months ago

      protest movement

      It’s not saying every individual protest. Sure not every protest got broken up but multiple protests in every peaceful movement does.

      • Juice@midwest.social
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        6 months ago

        You’re right I missed that distinction between “protest” and “protest movement”. I played myself yet again, ADHD - 1 / me not writing a long screed based on a misreading - 0

  • bassomitron@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    I think that has more to do with location and numbers vs a general rule of thumb applicable to the entirety of the country. I don’t think I’ve seen a supremacist protest with more than maybe a dozen or two idiots there, maybe 3 dozen max. And there’s very few places where they feel emboldened enough to actually do that without fear of retribution from fellow citizens. Jan 6th being the biggest exception, of course. That was more of a coup attempt than a typical protest, though.

    Maybe I’m out of the loop though and this is a growing problem and the news just isn’t covering it. Correct me if I’m wrong.

    • snooggums@midwest.social
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      6 months ago

      Jan 6th didn’t even get suppressed and broken up by police. The police gave a tiny bit of resistance that day compared to similarly sized peaceful protests against racism and Israel’s genocide until the Jan 6th protestors assaulted the cops.

      Cops responding to actual violence isn’t suppressing and breaking up a protest.

    • TranscendentalEmpire
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      6 months ago

      I don’t think I’ve seen a supremacist protest with more than maybe a dozen or two idiots there, maybe 3 dozen max.

      Did people just forget about Charlottesville? There were literally hundreds of them there, and the police pulled back so they could attack a group of counter protesters who were mainly made up of professors and clergymen.

      "Counterprotests began with an interfaith, interracial group of clergy who linked arms, prayed, and sang songs of peace,[158] such as “This Little Light of Mine”.[159] Later in the day, counterprotesters chanted slogans including “Kill All Nazis”[160] and “punch a Nazi in the mouth”.[161] The armed leftist group Redneck Revolt[162] posted on their website: “To the fascists and all who stand with them, we’ll be seeing you in Virginia.”[163] Harvard professor Cornel West, who organized some of the counter-demonstrators, said that a group of “20 of us who were standing, many of them clergy, we would have been crushed like cockroaches if it were not for the anarchists and the anti-fascists who approached, over 300, 350 anti-fascists”. West stated, “The neofascists had their own ammunition. And this is very important to keep in mind, because the police, for the most part, pulled back.”

      there’s very few places where they feel emboldened enough to actually do that without fear of retribution from fellow citizens.

      They don’t fear their fellow citizens because the police protect them whenever they bite off a piece a bit too big for them to chew. Even in one of the most progressive cities in the US, there were literally street fights between fascist and anti fascist for like 2 years. There’s a reason none of the cops who patrol Portland don’t live in the city, everyone knows they despise the place.

      news just isn’t covering it. Correct me if I’m wrong.

      I think it’s just one of the many things people have forgotten about the time prior to COVID. If you recall during the Trump administration, anti fascist were on the news cycle every day, mostly being portrayed as violent extremists.

      Racism in policing are inseparable and thinly veiled even from within the leo community. There’s a reason why black police officers have segregated “fraternal orders” all around the nation, even in “liberal” cities.