remembering 2 years ago when the people on this site were praising the looting and destruction of small businesses in the name of causing social change.
where’s the change? all I see is permanently shuttered mom-and-pop shops that are never coming back. insurance DIDN’T cover it. and I see people suffering in the wake of the resulting food deserts.
MAYBE if this violence resulted in SOME social change like you guys claimed would happen this could have been an argument worth having. but it DIDN’T. NOTHING. HAPPENED.
"The label of violence is something enforced by the state."
This is because a state is an area in which a monopoly of violence has been claimed by an occupying force. The implications are clear: who gets labeled a criminal or terrorist mostly depends on who is doing the labeling -- in this case the corporate-owned media, the police, the courts, as well as the citizens who are complicit with the state's definitions.
"The aggrieved party in a riot may have been incited by a particular incident, but their long-standing grievances include the maintenance of their poverty."
This is an incredibly important point! The media in particular has a nasty habit of presenting riots as these isolated incidents entirely separated from a history of oppression and social context. This allows the consumers of this content to ignore all of the actual causes of these events and assign total blame to the rioting individuals and not the systems that keep them impoverished and marginalized. This is an incredibly old trick that still works wonders today. It's like if a school bully decided the only important part of a story was the bit where you punched them in the jaw, conveniently leaving out the part where they threw mud in your eyes...every day...for 500 years.
"Riots occur when all other attempts at reaching a peaceful solution have failed."
This point connects to the last. We should never forget that there have been attempts to avoid direct conflict -- and they often do not work for a myriad of reasons. Red tape, lack of funds and accessibility, sabotage from reactionary groups, and so on. The history of oppression necessarily informs the tactics and goals of the people who are oppressed. If it were as simple as choosing the nonviolent option, provided it that it actually addresses these concerns in an expedient way, we wouldn't have riots at all. It's because of the failure of the social order to provide adequate peaceful solutions that address these concerns, that rioting becomes the means that are chosen. We'd only land on other conclusions if we don't take this history into account.
Fox News host Ainsley Earnhardt said the morning after the latest hearing investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection that Congress should also probe the riots that broke out during protests for racial justice across the country during the summer of 2020.
“There’s never an excuse for a riot, but remember the summer of 2020 when there were all those riots?” Earnhardt asked on Friday on “Fox and Friends.” “Where are the hearings for all those riots? For people burning buildings and burning businesses. You can’t pick and choose which riot is the good one and which is the bad one. They’re all bad.”
During Thursday night’s prime-time hearing on the events of Jan. 6, the last scheduled for July, several members of former President Trump’s inner circle at the time described the feelings and activities inside the White House during the Capitol attack, particularly Trump’s failure to act.
The testimony and exhibits painted a picture of Trump resisting telling the rioters to go home and his stubborn refusal to say publicly that the election was over.
“Everyone in that room, they’re all against Trump,” Earnhardt said. “They’re all anti-Trumpers. Every single one voted to impeach him.”
Radicalizing police corps by way of paramilitary training is leading to riots by creating trigger-happy cops. Rethink civic order. People shouldn't die for minor offenses.
"No-one disputes that refusing to stop at a traffic control is a serious offence, and that it happens too frequently. But on 13 occasions last year occupants of cars in such situations were shot dead by French police. That strongly suggests something is wrong."
PROTESTS560 by a Psychiatrist's view
Via Flickr:
After the death of George Floyd on May 25, protests and unrest have rocked Minneapolis and other cities. In cities across the United States, tens of thousands of people have swarmed the streets to express their outrage and sorrow during the day. That has descended into nights of unrest, with reports of shootings, looting and vandalism in some cities. East Village ManHatTan Photography’s new conscience linktr.ee/GlennLosack
ID 1: Screenshot of a post by @/key48return on Instagram. Background is of a globe with pinpoints of the israeli flag all over North and South America. Title reads in all caps, “israel is involved in oppression all over the world not just in Palestine…” A yellow arrow points right underneath the title. End ID
ID 2: In all caps, “ISRAEL'S INVOLVED IN:
THE RWANDAN GENOCIDE - 1994
ISRAEL EXPORTED SUBSTANTIAL WEAPONS AND ARMS TO THE HUTU MILITIAS WHO MASSACRED OVER 1 MILLION TUTSI CIVILIANS IN RWANDA ACROSS THE DURATION OF 100 DAYS.
WEAPONS USED IN THE GENOCIDE INCLUDED ISRAELI-MADE 5.56MM BULLETS, RIFLES AND GRENADES. THE RWANDAN GENOCIDE IS RECOGNISED AS THE WORST GENOCIDE IN MODERN HISTORY. ISRAEL HAS REPEATEDLY ATTEMPTED TO CONCEAL THEIR ARMS EXPORTS TO RWANDA BEFORE AND DURING THE GENOCIDE, FEARING PROSECUTION.”
Black and white photos below are shown of various Rwandan children in graveyards or in makeshift tents just trying to get by. End ID.
ID 3: In all caps, “ISRAEL'S INVOLVED IN:
APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA 1948 - 1994
ISRAEL WAS A STAUNCH ALLY TO THE SOUTH AFRICAN APARTHEID REGIME, PROVIDING ANTI-RIOT VEHICLES AND ARMS TO USE AGAINST THE NATIVE BLACK POPULATION, ASSISTING THE REGIME IN CREATING NUCLEAR BOMBS AND ISRAEL ALSO OPPOSED THE GLOBAL EMBARGO AND BOYCOTT OF APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA.
FOR DECADES, THE ZIONIST FEDERATION IN SOUTH AFRICA HONOURED MEN SUCH AS PERCY YUTAR, WHO PROSECUTED NELSON MANDELA FOR SABOTAGE AND CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE STATE IN 1963 AND SENT HIM TO JAIL FOR LIFE. (FOR WHICH HE SERVED 27 YEARS)”
Black and white photos below showcase a Black man being held in a chokehold by a white man, two Black people on their knees and hands up trying not to get shot, and a sign that reads in english and afrikaans “white area.” End ID.
ID 4: In all caps, “ISRAEL'S INVOLVED IN:
MAYAN GENOCIDE 1960 - 1996
THROUGHOUT THE GUATEMALAN CIVIL WAR FROM 1960-1996, OVER 200,000+ INDIGENOUS MAYANS WERE MURDERED BY STATE FORCES, AND OVER ONE MILLION MORE DISPLACED, IN WHAT IS REFERRED TO TODAY AS THE MAYAN GENOCIDE.
THE GUATEMALAN STATE FORCES RESPONSIBLE WERE ARMED AND TRAINED BY ISRAEL. WHEN THE U.S. GOVERNMENT SUSPENDED MILITARY FUNDING TO THE GUATEMALAN STATE FORCES IN 1977 IN THE MIDST OF THE MAYAN GENOCIDE, ISRAEL GAVE THEM OVER $38 BILLION WORTH OF ARMS TO FILL THE GAP. THE 'GALIL' ASAULT RIFLE, AN ISRAELI-MADE WEAPON, WAS STANDARD ISSUE FOR THE GUATEMALAN ARMY BY 1980, WITH THE STATE OWNED SMALL-ARMS PRODUCTION FACILITY IN ALTA VERAPAZ PRODUCING ITS AMMUNITION UNDER ISRAELI ARMS LICENCES.”
Below are multiple in-color photos of Mayan families mourning, one photo in particular which shows indigenous Mayans carrying a seemingly endless line of coffins off into the distance. End ID.
ID 5: In all caps, “ISRAEL'S INVOLVED IN:
SREBRENICA - 1995
ALSO KNOWN AS THE SREBRENICA GENOCIDE. IN 1995 OVER 8,000+ BOSNIAN MUSLIMS WERE MASSACRED BY SERBIAN ARMY FORCES ARMED AND TRAINED BY ISRAEL. SERBIAN FORCES ETHNICALLY CLEANSED OVER 250,000+ MUSLIMS IN TOTAL ACROSS CROATIA AND BOSNIA.
TENS OF THOUSANDS OF OTHERS WERE WOUNDED, STARVED, WOMEN WERE MASS RAPED AND MANY WERE INCARCERATED IN CONCENTRATION CAMPS. MANY OF THOSE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE GENOCIDE FLED TO ISRAEL, WHERE THEY WERE GRANTED ISRAELI CITIZENSHIP IN ORDER TO AVOID ARREST AND PROSECUTION FOR CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY.”
Once again, the in-color photos below show various peoples mourning. Two of the photos specifically show people reaching their hands out over extremely long lists of just names of people who have died. End ID.
ID 6: In all caps, “ISRAEL'S INVOLVED IN:
TRAINING U.S. POLICE
SINCE 1990, HUNDREDS OF AMERICAN POLICE OFFICERS, INCLUDING AGENTS FROM THE FBI, CIA AND IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT (ICE), HAVE EITHER BEEN SENT TO ISRAEL THROUGH POLICE TRAINING EXCHANGES, OR ATTENDED SUMMITS WITHIN THE U.S. THAT WERE SPONSORED BY ISRAELI LOBBY ORGANISATIONS.
THE KNEE-TO-NECK 'RESTRAINT' THAT DEREK CHAUVIN MURDERED GEORGE FLOYD WITH, IS OFTEN USED BY ISRAELI POLICE AND SOLIDERS AGAINST PALESTINIANS.
BLACK LIVES MATTER.”
Photos below are in-color and show various B.L.M. protests. End ID.
ID 7: In all caps, “ISRAEL'S INVOLVED IN:
ARMING INDIA'S VIOLENCE IN KASHMIR
INDIA IS ISRAEL'S LARGEST ARMS CLIENT, MAKING UP OVER 45% OF ISRAEL'S ARMS SALES. BUYING ISRAELI AMMUNITION AND AIR-TO-GROUND MISSILES, ON THE PREMISE THEY HAVE BEEN 'BATTLE-TESTED' ON PALESTINIANS IN GAZA. ISRAEL PROVIDES INDIA WITH THE ARMS INDIA USES TO MILITARILY OCCUPY KASHMIR AND BRUTALISE KASHMIRI'S.
SINCE 1989, OVER 100,000+ KASHMIRIS HAVE BEEN KILLED BY INDIAN FORCES. WITH OVER 7,200+ KASHMIRIS BEING MURDERED IN INDIAN POLICE CUSTODY, OVER 110,000+ KASHMIRI CHILDREN HAVE BEEN ORPHANED, AND MORE THAN 11,000+ KASHMIRI WOMEN HAVE BEEN RAPED BY INDIAN OCCUPATION FORCES. IN ADDITION, OVER 7,000+ UNNAMED MASS GRAVES HAVE BEEN DISCOVERED WITH THOUSANDS OF VICTIMS.”
The photos below show israel and india’s leaders shaking hands and various armed indian soldiers stopping Kashmiris for unnecessary checks. End ID.
ID 8: In all caps, “ISRAEL'S INVOLVED IN:
PINOCHET COUP - CHILE 1973
CIA BACKED DICTATOR, AUGUSTO PINOCHET TOOK OVER CHILE ON SEPTEMBER 11, 1973. OVERTHROWING ITS DEMOCRATICALLY ELECTED PRESIDENT, SALVADOR ALLENDE. THE NEXT DAY HIS FORCES BEGAN KIDNAPPING ANYONE THEY SUSPECTED OF BEING LEFT WING AND PLACED THEM IN CONCENTRATION CAMPS.
PINOCHET'S SECRET POLICE, DINA (DIRECCION DE INTELIGENCIA NACIONAL) RAN THOSE CONCENTRATION CAMPS AND TORTURE CENTRES, AND THEY FREQUENTLY ABDUCTED, 'DISAPPEARED' AND EXECUTED CHILEAN CIVILIANS. ISRAEL TRAINED DINA AND WAS ALSO ONE OF PINOCHET'S MAIN ARMS SUPPLIERS.”
Black and white photos below showcase various scenes of armed DINA officers, with one photo in particular showing them in a tank over bodies on the ground, presumably dead. End ID.
ID 9: In all caps, “ISRAEL'S INVOLVED IN:
ETHNICALLY CLEANSING ARMENIANS - ONGOING
ISRAEL HAS BEEN FUNDING AND ARMING AZERBAIJAN'S MILITARY SINCE 1988, ARMS WHICH HAVE BEEN USED TO KILL ARMENIAN CIVILIANS THROUGHOUT AZERBAIJAN'S ONGOING ETHNIC CLEANSING OF ARTSAKH. THE ISRAELI REGIME SUPPLIES AZERBAIJAN WITH OVER 70% OF ITS MILITARY ARSENAL.
IN ADDITION TO PROVIDING THE ARMS TO KILL ARMENIANS, ISRAEL ALSO REFUSES TO RECOGNISE THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE, COMMITTED BY THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE (TURKEY) FROM 1914-1923, WHO SYSTEMATICALLY MURDERED OVER 1.5 MILLION ARMENIAN CIVILIANS.”
Photos below show israel and azerbaijan’s leaders shaking hands, azerbaijan’s soldiers menacingly standing in front of someone wrapped in an Armenian flag, and Armenians mourning over a shrine with their flags all around them. End ID.
ID 10: In all caps, “THE PALESTINIAN STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM IS CONNECTED TO STRUGGLES ALL AROUND THE WORLD.
BECAUSE OPPRESSORS LIKE ISRAEL ARE NOT ONLY UPHOLDING OPPRESSION AGAINST ONE POPULATION, ITS ALWAYS INTERCONNECTED TO OPPRESSING MANY MORE.
FREE PALESTINE.” No photos at the bottom of this slide. End ID.
I think most human beings on average are as smart as amoeba dust so therefore the Democrats are right. We all should own nothing and be happy.
Human beings are meant to work like ants until we die. Give us all welfare and rental apartments. Give us bread lines of processed cafeteria food and uniforms. Give us assigned partners for marriage and boring puritan sex.
The Democrats are right. Us Americans can't think for ourselves. We are dumb grunts.
Happy fourth. I can't wait for the brilliant AOC to rule us in the future. I'm sure her bartender skills will come in handy. She knows just how to manipulate and intoxicate people for cash. We will willingly let her do it in a happy, drunken stupper.
Remember the Aftermath of George Floyd and the Kenosha Riots? You Haven't Seen Anything Yet
Remember the Aftermath of George Floyd and the Kenosha Riots? You Haven’t Seen Anything Yet
Everyone remembers Kyle Rittenhouse and George Floyd, the overturning of Roe v. Wade will be much worse
Recently Politico literally made the headlines by revealing that abortion may be overturned by the Supreme Court. This news of course spread worldwide like a wild fire fed with copious amounts of gasoline.
Politico recently obtained a leaked document authored by Justice Samuel Alito that…
Nazis, openly waving Swastikas and doing the Sieg Heil salute in Orlando, Florida
Not a single uniformed police officer in sight. I say “uniformed” because the odds are that some of the people doing the Nazi salute are probably in law enforcement.
Now, contrast that to how overly militarized police have routinely shown up at peaceful Black Lives Matter protests
Or how the police treat peaceful college students protesting for free higher education
Or how the authorities treated Black people simply walking in our own communities, after the murder of Mike Brown
Oh, and how about six months before the January 6, 2021 white supremacist riots, when National Guard troops were deployed to the Lincoln Memorial on June 2, 2020, during George Floyd protests held in Washington, DC? Where was this overwhelming presence on January 6, 2021??
And finally, Ron DeSantis, a leading Republican candidate for President of The United States(!), has a large following of Neo-Nazis, but he has yet to explicitly denounce them. I guess maybe he’s too busy banning books, or making sure drag queens aren’t reading books to children, or making sure that accurate Black history—aka American history—isn’t being taught in schools.
I could go on and on and on, but the police never seem to have that same energy for actual fucking Nazis, or the Proud Boys, or Oath Keepers, etc etc etc
Domestic terrorism by white nationalists is the biggest threat to social stability, justice, democracy and to America itself.
Okay! Time for some Glass Onion analysis bc I'm already obsessed with this movie.
GLASS ONION SPOILERS AHEAD READ AT YOUR OWN RISK
I've seen people saying that it was unnecessary for the movie Glass Onion to be set in May 2020 during the height of the pandemic, and that it took away from the movie, but I disagree. The specific setting is relevant because of all the movie's subtext about the Black Lives Matter movement and its resurgence in May 2020. Hear me out- there are several parallels between Andi's death/Helen's avenging her death by wrecking the mansion, and the riots in 2020 following the unjust deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and many others.
To begin with, there's the power dynamic between Andi and Miles. A mediocre, unexceptional white man stole the contributions of a brilliant black woman and got away with it because his influential friends closed ranks around him in a system designed to benefit him. He got the benefit of the doubt and weaponized the legal system to financially ruin her. Even though she was telling the truth, no one believed her, and Miles fully expected this pattern to continue once her sister Helen took up the cause.
Miles burns the incriminating evidence of his lies and flat-out tells Helen that no one will ever believe her with only circumstantial evidence. Even Benoit Blanc acknowledges that his skill as a detective can only go so far without the police and courts on his side.
In the case of police brutality, cops similarly weaponize the legal system and avoid accountability for their murders by closing ranks through police unions that invoke "qualified immunity" (aka shielding the cops from legal liability). The privilege of white men, compounded by their wealth and connections, makes it difficult for them to face actual consequences for the harm they do.
We see the concept of avoiding consequences again with Miles' crew of "disruptors", all of whom rely on his money to bail them out of trouble. Birdie was implied to have done blackface, made tone-deaf comments comparing herself to Harriet Tubman, completely ignored all COVID restrictions, and tweeted ethnic slurs to the point where her assistant had to take away her phone, but her line of loungewear still takes off thanks to Miles' financial backing. In response to the latest scandal, personal assistant Peg says "We will do what we always do! Deny, half-apologize, then go silent awhile." Despite her litany of offenses and half-assed attempts at accountability, no consequences stick to the privileged Birdie either.
However, Helen refuses to accept this unfair state of things. In a situation where she appears powerless, with her sister gone and the valuable napkin burned, Helen essentially goes "fuck that" and makes Miles pay for what he did anyway. If the law won't take her side, she has to take it into her own hands. This is where the parallels to the 2020 riots come in.
We see her smashing the symbols of Miles' wealth, starting with his glass sculptures, and at first the other characters don't mind. They cheer her on from the couches, even though they all just refused to testify for her in court. This parallels the performative activism seen in many celebrities, who would rather watch from the sidelines and say vaguely supportive things rather than do any meaningful action to change the system. The other guests are happy to break the glass sculptures alongside her, saying how cathartic it feels, but they get antsy when she moves on to breaking more valuable things instead of giving up after a short while like they did. The camera shots of Helen smashing things and lighting a fire linger uncomfortably long as it starts to sink in that this isn't just a momentary temper tantrum. The so-called "disruptors" wince and gasp and exclaim how a piano belonged to Liberace and so on, completely ignoring how THE DESTRUCTION IS THE POINT, because if Helen only broke safe, acceptable targets, then it wouldn't actually mean anything. Similarly, when people rioted in 2020, there was a huge amount of pearl-clutching by people saying rioting is going too far, and can't we all just be nonviolent and have unity and forgive each other? In both cases, there's a veneer of support from people who just want the victims of injustice to "get their anger out of their systems" and move on without any serious changes being made.
I find it very fitting that Helen burns the Mona Lisa with Miles' own unregulated hydrogen fuel cell, using the override switch that he carelessly installed. She exploits the natural consequences of his self-centeredness so they all catch up to him at once. In the end, Helen's acts of protest do disrupt things and lead to change, even as people tell her she is going too far. Once Helen does the actual work of tanking Miles' reputation for good, only then do the "disruptors" jump ship and promise to back her up in court. They're willing to take the side of justice only when things have shifted to the point where it's the better act of self-preservation. If there was any chance of still hanging onto Miles' golden titty and making his reputation their hill to die on, they would've done it.
Blanc, the protagonist of the movie, gives Helen tacit permission to burn everything down by handing her the chunk of hydrogen fuel. He stands by her the whole movie and takes her seriously, demonstrating a path to better (non-performative) allyship.
Glass Onion shows that lasting change has to be demanded, not wheedled, and that sometimes things have to reach an undeniable crisis point to do so. In other words: protest is necessary.