Let's face it, they've been accusing Dems(/Anitfa?) of planting people in protests, which means that they will *definitely* employ those kinds of tactics.
MILLIONS DIED while Gandhi was peacefully protesting & it took from 1915-47, 2 world wars & a bankrupt Britain before India was finally allowed their independence. Most think Gandhi & his peaceful protests were the reason, but if that was the case it took 32 years. We don't have that kind of time.
Even if everyone doing "violence" is a rightwing plant, the violent people are still among the protesters, so there's still an excuse for a crackdown. It seems like the effect of this would be to slightly reduce property damage at protests, and frankly I'm not convinced that's a desirable goal.
Think about the visuals. If the only people standing are the ones causing trouble, we show our opposition by peaceful means. Signs down. Sit down. It does work!
That's the bit I'm not convinced about: that protests should avoid trouble. I'm even less convinced we should be helping to identify the "troublemakers" (who are at least not ONLY agents provocateurs). But people with more insight than me have had this argument for generations so I don't know
Besides, if I were a rightwing plant I'd sit down with the rest of them, and start shit again when they got back up. And if they don't get back up, protest successfully sabotaged.
At some point, trump is going to use any excuse to declare martial law. He’s not going to rely solely on the military (trust). So he’s going to draw from his pool of former J6, proud boy, oath keepers and other scumbags in ICE. Whom do you think should start said violent acts? Volunteering?
No—as I said, I genuinely don't know the answers. But the best semi-informed guess/gut feeling I can do is that appealing to protesters to be less disruptive has never gone well.
True concessions to democracy have almost exclusively been made when the powerful felt personally, physically threatened.
Yes!! Do this! And watch out for these, too. There are also ICE agents in the crowds, now. They want any excuse to declare martial law. Don’t give it to them.
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True concessions to democracy have almost exclusively been made when the powerful felt personally, physically threatened.