Morning, Threaders, Threadheads, and all in between. Must have coffee.
Justice asks for courage first.
The courage to resist with all your might and show the world the power of your beliefs. To be on the right side of History is most times dangerous. It requires being smart and know when and how to resist.
The calls for marches, national days of protest, demonstrations and gatherings multiply as we move deeper into the present nightmare. Instructions on how to participate and prepare for them number the hundreds, maybe thousands. Among those I have seen one particular piece of advice struck me: wear a mask. Usually there’s a health concern involved, with the resurgence of Covid, followed by a more obvious reason: to remain anonymous. Big brother is watching.
My feelings about masked protests are well known among those who read me. Let me just say that if you believe a mask during a protest is going to protect you, you never read 1984. You probably go back home and back to work, after the protest, and resume your compliant little life. Then, maybe, a mask will protect you. We don’t need people who only show up for “demonstrations” while their everyday lives demonstrate the opposite.
If you are a true activist for Justice, Big Brother knows who you are long before you show up to protest wearing a mask. So all the mask does is cast a shadow of doubt over your purpose. On top of which, it provides the perfect cover for those who join these protests with nefarious intentions. Anonymity plays a role in the resistance. It serves us well when acting on private spheres, directly impacting our private lives, but it is short ranged in nature.
Take my own case as an example. At first glance, I am anonymous. Yes, I know. I am not a beagle with a typewriter. Shocker, right? It is meant to shield me (and my family) from local and familiar dicks whose grief I don’t need. We have enough shit to worry about. However, I have written enough and shown enough about my real self to be identified by a closer look, and I have no illusions that Big Brother knows exactly who I am.
If the shit really hits the fan, be sure the beagle will get a knock on the door and his typewriter will be taken away. My virtual mask is useless in the big picture, yet effective at a local level. That’s its only purpose. But going out on the street is different. Back in Portugal I was very active in public and participated in protests and demonstrations. Never wore a mask or concealed my identity in any way.
Where I live there aren’t many opportunities to be a part of such initiatives, on top of which I am a 24/7 caregiver who can’t just go out the door and risk being arrested. I have others to consider before engaging in such activity now. Still, at the height of George Floyd’s protests, I did join a local street event. Unmasked. I took the chance. The thin rope I walk on is not shared by many, but enough understand it. Despite these reasons to be careful, here I am.
Knowing my anonymity is an illusion when it comes to the government is always on my mind as we descend from chaos into full fledged fascism. The risk is real but I choose to fight, every day. Having said that, if there is ever a chance to join a street protest I will not be concealing my identity behind a mask and I will leave it if there are enough masked people around me. I am not into that kind of protest.
If you wish to demonstrate peacefully count me in. If you choose to use violence while marching alongside women and children count me out. Maybe there will be a time for violent uprisings but those yes must be clandestine and run by brave people willing to risk their lives. And there will be no baby strollers involved. That is courage. To go into the night not knowing if you’re coming back.
To go out in brought daylight, covering your face and using children and old people as shields is not courageous. It’s what cowards do. So unless you are planning a violent protest, in which case you’re dumb as fuck by advertising it, don’t tell people to wear masks on demonstrations. Only cowards do. These protests we so desperately need must be open and transparent as Justice is. And they must be peaceful.
Underground resistance is another animal. It has no public side, no street side. And its actions are not advertised. That’s not what the protests we need are. Those are very public manifestations of our dissent and our power. A power that requires the courage to show your face as you confront injustice. If the worst comes to pass, even completely peaceful demonstrations will be met with brute force. Keep that in mind.
Bringing children and disabled people to demonstrations is both stupid and irresponsible. I assure you they will not stop any bullets, rubber or live. Don’t do that. Even a peaceful protest can turn into a bloodbath by no fault of the protesters. Know this. We need to be on the streets but we must be smart and brave. And we must root out the cowards amongst us who don’t want peaceful protests and crave children in casualty lists.
The rules of engagement have changed. You are no longer protesting in a Democracy. You are facing Fascism now. There is no kumbaya marches or flower power that won’t be met by cruelty and violence. No need to provoke it. It will happen. I lived under fascism and witnessed my dad pondering participating in protests where people were shot at with live rounds. Pondering the risk of making me an orphan and my mother a widow. He never thought about taking us with him.
This is not a drill. This is not a possibility. It’s reality and we must face it as we choose how to resist. If you can, march for Justice; but do it as safely and peacefully as possible, show your face as a sign of strength and righteousness, and be ready to be met with violence. And if, like me, you are fighting online, have no illusions. They know exactly who you are. If that’s a problem for you, now’s the time to leave. For those who stay, thank you. Welcome to the resistance.
Power to the People.
