We were informed tonight that Indivisible found out about the anti-ICE action due to take place in Clearfield, PA—home to the Moshannon Valley Processing Center, the biggest ICE processing facility in Pennsylvania—on Saturday, January 17. They “claimed” the action, notified the local police department, and declared themselves “safety liaisons” for the protest. They even placed a time limit on it, as well.
These are moves that ultimately help the Trump regime and his army of undereducated fanatics that chose actual domestic terrorism in exchange for a sign-on bonus that barely covers a year’s worth of a living wage in the Trump economy.
Here’s why:
The myth that peaceful protest affects change is a narrative pushed by state power to manufacture consent among the populace for repression of civil unrest and disruptive protest. The civil rights movement was not won with peaceful protest, and neither were LGBTQ+ rights, two major things under threat by the Trump regime. If you believe otherwise, you have been successfully duped by state-funded whitewashing of history taught in public schools.
The laws surrounding protest are designed in the way that they are to protect public and private corporate property, as well as the continued flow of the economy. The disruption of these targets is what will accelerate the biggest favorable response. Remember that—although this is a more extreme example—after the murder of the United Healthcare CEO, claims denials came to a screeching halt, and another insurance company immediately reversed their decision to only partially cover anesthesia for what are already incredibly expensive surgeries.
We understand the fear that is conjured by the idea of martial law being declared by the U.S. Government in response to civil unrest. The military being deployed to U.S. cities to act as police, federal agents breaking into homes of suspected conspirators, the suspension of habeas corpus and penalties without due process are all scary things. And they’re all happening right now anyway.
There is a strange notion among Americans that martial law will stop resistance in its tracks rather than accelerate it. The people that are currently putting their lives on the line to effectively resist the U.S. empire at home and abroad are already aware of the risks involved with doing so. Those risks will become greater, sure, in the event of a martial law declaration. But the risks of allowing a fascist regime to continue are greater. Most real activists understand this. And martial law won’t stop them. Imagine the position South Korea would be in if they had just obeyed.
What becomes even more apparent when someone won’t escalate resistance because of the fear of martial law is that they will be the first to snitch on others when martial law is declared to get the heat off their own backs.
The people of 50501 and Indivisible, and organizations like them, are actively assisting the Trump regime in their efforts to terrorize U.S. cities and now kill people just for mouthing off to them. The president himself said that Renee Good was killed for being disrespectful to law enforcement.
They, too, are the far-right, the Nazis. Whether they realize it or not. Whether they call themselves that or not.
This is not confirmation that anything violent by the state’s definition was planned to take place at the anti-ICE action in Clearfield; there wasn’t. But the fact that an organization would step in and notify police, attempting to stifle any kind of escalation that may have been necessary in the name of community defense is enough to let us know whose side they’re actually on.
As always, anonymous, decentralized action is the key to success. It worked in Vietnam. It worked in Minneapolis in 2020. It will work in Venezuela. It could work here, now.
“We can handle one 10,000-person protest, but ten 1000-person protests throughout the city will overwhelm us.”
— LAPD Chief Michel Moore
7 responses to “Indivisible, 50501 Don’t Own the Movement, or Why Peace Policing is Right Wing”
These statements on nonviolence are not backed up by statistics. Non-violence is absolutely a tool in the toolbox that must be used. It’s true that trump is going to declare martial law if we protest. Looks like he will do it either way. Massive nonviolent sustained protests in the streets can be extremely effective and historically and internationally has ousted fascists. I easily could say that anyone encouraging violence is a tool of the right wing because that is what makes the left wing stay home instead of rising up into the streets in a disruptive, but nonviolent way. We must be ungovernable, but peaceful to have both the moral hight ground, and to win.
“lol who cares?” – U.S. Government in response to being asked for a statement on No Kings 2.0
Non-violently blocking a road or actually disrupting the economic flow without destruction and standing around on a sidewalk with a sign and a permit from the city are two different things. The issue is the police often escalate the situation into violent confrontation when they can’t clear non-violent protestors from the road (see: 2020 George Floyd protests). Collaborating with the police is Nazi shit. Sorry.
If it wasn’t for cops crowd-controlling people, the opposition to ICE would have already out-maneuvered them. However, because of peace policing, we are at a point where there is no longer a comfortable way out of this. Collaborating with the police is collaborating with the people that are actively assisting these terrorists all over the place, whether they said they would or not.
If you call the police to notify them of a protest, you are a snitch. You are a Nazi. You are right-wing because you are actively working with the enforcers of this regime on the closest level to those opposing it.
And if you want to talk statistics, the Bush Administration’s illegal invasion of Iraq triggered the largest set of peaceful anti-war protests in history, and yet those wars lasted about two decades. If walking around with “Trump is Dumb” signs worked, people wouldn’t be getting shot in Minneapolis.
I’d also imagine that the statistics you’re referring to are Chenowith’s, who defined throwing bricks at bulldozers as non-violent. We’re not talking about non-violence; we’re talking about collaboration with the state.
This sounds like a bunch of damn couch jockeys begging to get their asses handed to them by people who love this country, and are sick of the bullshit these misinformed morons are spewing.
I can assure you that Clearfield County is not Minneapolis, Minnesota geniuses. We support our friends and neighbors in law enforcement, and are sick and tired of the moronic tactics used by you and your ilk.
FAFO geniuses.
I feel dumber reading this. I can’t believe you people waste your time with this nonsense. Grow up. Get a job. Start a family. Participate in your community in a positive way. You’re not oppressed. Trump is going to kill you. Trump is only going to do things like the insurrection act if people like you keep attacking federal officers and putting them in danger. You’re actively pushing for the very thing that will lead to things like that. It is the job of the federal government to regulate immigration. The American people voted for the candidate who ran on mass deportation. You lost. Get over it. You don’t get to just assault people because you didn’t get your way.
I would hardly call Kamala Harris–or any politician, for that matter–being elected “getting our way.” But I wonder if Ashley Babbitt would have said the same as you.
I have read and reread your post. I am still unclear on your position, but it seems to state that only sabotage and violence will bring down a regime with a million soldiers and police who possess the most sophisticated weapons in history. Whose surveillance is near total and getting stronger. And that by stacking our dead bodies hundreds upon thousands, we will bring down a regime that regards us as scum that must be wiped from the face of the earth. An interesting argument.
Jose Marti wrote about the importance of anonymity when confronting an oppressive empire. That worked for him 150 years ago in an out of the way corner of a withering empire. Is it relevant today? I don’t know. I lived in the Deep South when Civil Rights activists were being lynched and murdered out in the open and with no chance of prosecution. Anonymity was necessary. Retribution was suicide. That is why the movement took up boycotts and endured brutal beatings in Memphis, Birmingham and Selma. Ask anyone who may still be alive about the Tulsa massacre in 1921. Ask MOVE activist s from Philadelphia about their massacre in 1978. Look at what happened in Gaza. Without an Army and an Air Force we are just cannon fodder in an armed insurrection. Even armed and trained, our chances are slim against murderous fascists.That’s my opinion, nothing more.
The idea that this opinion makes me a Nazi and a collaborator is not only incorrect, it’s offensive in ways you may never understand.
In conclusion, I disagree with you, but I support your right to state your opinion. From my standpoint, you are either someone so idealistic that reality is beyond your comprehension, or more likely, you are an agent provocateur working with ICE to goad us into actions that will get us killed for no real reason. Like many others in the last year.
Live your life, do what you need to, but please, never call people risking their bodies, reputations and futures, names you don’t understand. it’s beneath you and factually incorrect. I know actual Nazi’s, people I grew up with and no longer talk to. I have dealt with Shining Path Communist Revolutionaries. They are two sides of the same coin. Murderers who will eliminate anyone they disagree with. No one at Indivisible or 50501 is anything like that. Words have meanings.
Ghanaian brought the largest empire in the world to its knees. Martin Luther King got legislation passed that most thought was impossible. Lech Walensa helped destroy the Soviet Union. Che Guevara ended up tortured and killed in a far way jungle. I could go on, but I’ve taken enough of your time. Please think long and hard about your next actions and their consequences.
Your response highlights your lack of experience and education on resistance, centralized AND decentralized.
1) Dr. King didn’t get permission from the city and/or collaborate with the police, who were actively beating the shit out of people of color maybe as much as they are now. No one got permission from their cities to do sit-ins. Or boycott the bus system to the point of near-bankruptcy.
2) We obviously do not oppose sabotage, as that has been an effective tactic for ages, and was the primary reason for the government’s green scare in the early 2000s because the ELF and ALF were having an incredible effect by causing, sometimes unrecoverable, economic damage to people destroying our planet through deforestation and animal torture. But that’s not exactly what we are advocating for here. Economic disruption can be as simple as blocking a fucking road and not moving when the pigs tell you to, which is not something Indivisible or 50501 are doing. They are WORKING WITH THE POLICE WHO ARE ALSO ACTIVELY PROTECTING ICE IN AREAS WHERE THEY ARE DISAPPEARING BROWN PEOPLE JUST FOR BEING BROWN REGARDLESS OF CITIZENSHIP STATUS, AND THE PEOPLE THAT ARE SAYING THINGS OUT LOUD LIKE “REMIGRATE” AND “ONE OF OURS, ALL OF YOURS.”
I do not understand what is so difficult to understand about this with you liberals. All you give a shit about is optics. Looking good for the cameras. No one gives a shit about standing on a sidewalk, out of the way, holding a sign and moving when the cops tell you to, if they ever do, which is unlikely because you’ve partnered with them. You are just as brainwashed as MAGA because you are playing directly into their hands with your shit.
Also, “wah. wah. they’re way more powerful than us, and we’ll never win because of technology” never stopped resistance within Nazi concentration camps (see: Blessed is the Flame). You fight. There’s no guarantee of success. But you fight. It also didn’t stop fucking farmers in Vietnam from running off the world’s most powerful empire, who was actively dropping napalm on people. Good lord.
This is not resistance. It is a photo op.
P.S. probably not a great idea to harp on anonymity while putting your gmail in the comment form. Do you have any idea the information Google collects on you? Yeah, anonymous. And I understand you probably want a notification if we reply, but we can see your email, which I’m sure you’ve used to sign up for services and was therefore sold to data brokers, and therefore could be easily found. Obviously not going to pursue you like this, but just saying.