Stefan Simanowitz Profile picture
"Action, like a sacrament, is the visible form of an invisible spirit" (bell hooks) || journalist || campaigner || @amnesty || Easily distracte

Jul 19, 2020, 10 tweets

The #Portland mums have turned up outside the courthouse.

“A week ago it felt like the movement in Portland was dying. Large actions like this had become rare. Now there are several ongoing right now in the city.

President Trump & the feds revitalized this uprising.” @IwriteOK

"Trump admin has made antifa into a mythical entity used as a scapegoat to persecute activists. The designation of antifa as 'terrorists' will be used as a pretext to round up anyone they want. This tactic is common in autocracies." @gaslitnation
#Portland

The moms are being shoved & tear-gassed.

“They may label anyone who opposes fascism as being in antifa, which is short for ‘anti-fascist’. So if you oppose fascism - which you SHOULD! - then you may be targeted." @gaslitnation

Footage @LindseyPSmith7.

“Tomorrow there’ll be more of us.”
(#PortlandMoms placard)

Despite being tear gassed last night, the moms are back outside the Courthouse, #Portland.

Wearing yellow, they’ve formed a defensive wall to protect the crowd at a flash point. (via @IwriteOK)

“Silence = Violence”.

Like the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo in Argentina & the Saturday Mothers in Turkey, the #PortlandMoms are symbolically very powerful.

By risking their bodies to protect others, they help to reframe the “angry anarchists” narrative being pushed.
#Portland

"We are responsible not only for what we say but what we fail to say by staying silent."

The Nazis didn’t appear from nowhere

They were voted in & expanded their power gradually

Their nationalistic populism appealed to the many Germans who held imperialist, anti-Semitic views.

Date night at the #PortlandProtest (Day 53).

The #PortlandMoms - and other protesters - were pushed back away from the courthouse by police using flash bombs & tear gas about two hours ago. (Video via @MrOlmos).

New report by @amnestyusa finds the U.S. federal government, along with all 50 states and Washington, D.C., failed to comply with international law and standards on the use of lethal force by law enforcement officers. #BREAKING #BlackLivesMatter #BLM
amnestyusa.org/issues/the-uni…

A leaked document indicates that the intelligence community is being tasked with “collecting & reporting on various activities in the context of elevated threats targeting monuments, memorials, & statues."

Is the company doing this surveillance Palantir?
lawfareblog.com/dhs-authorizes…

This week we have seen the #PortlandMoms & the #PortlandDads
setting themselves up as human walls between protesters & police/feds.

Last night there was a new "wall" on the front lines: a Wall of Vets.

(footage & info via @ByMikeBaker) #Portland

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