Thread by @CommPdx

No-violent protests, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Direct Action, a thread (tl/dr Be water, spread fire):

Without doxxing myself, let's just say that old Simon has some letters after his name he earned learning a little bit about counterterrorism. (1/

Like many my age, I've been in more than a few marches. So when all the #BlackLivesMatter "stuff" started in Portland, I was all over it. Awesomeness and Awesomesauce.

As time went on, and the feds came, it was cool to confront the feds, cause they're the fascists. (2/

Then they left, ish, but the protests continued, and the direct action continued.

Antifa rabblerousers. (BTW if you aren't against fascism, well, fuck you).

They do graffiti on buildings. Throw water bottles..taunt the police. Light fires in trash bins. (3/

These are bad protesters. Right?

Wrong!

@tedwheeler and the @PortlandPolice want you to believe these are violent people hell bent on destruction and violence.

I've seen it with my own eyes. Experienced it first hand.

Here is the unvarnished truth: (4/

1. The point of Direct Action is to elicit a disproportionate response. In this case, these protests and the graffiti and water bottles happen to show how the police respond, and they ALWAYS respond with overwhelming force and aggression. (5/

2. These specific protests illustrate how the @PortlandPolice has no respect for the rights of the public. When they beat white folk, gas residential neighborhoods, assault the press, on camera, maybe the narrative of abuse and harassment of Black folk is truth, eh? (6/

3. THE DIRECT ACTION PROTESTS ARE NON-VIOLENT! How can that be? When the @PortlandPolice strike, batons swinging, gas choking, rubber bullets flying, THE PROTESTERS DO NOT HIT, GAS, OR SHOOT BACK. The Police riot, and fight, violently, the shield wall stands and takes it. (7/

4. #TearGasTed and the Police are trying to control the narrative. They want you to direct your ire elsewhere, against some nebulous threat to the public called racism. They NEED to deflect from themselves to maintain control or power. (8/

So march, cheer, speak, make signs, and "good trouble" , provided it's not directed at them.

Finally 5. When you get past day 90 of non-stop protests, and no member of the general public has been sent to hospital by a protester, but many have been by the @PortlandPolice (9/

When it's day 90, and @tedwheeler and city council have done nothing to denounce the police violence, when the mayor says protests are "bad for the brand", when helpers with food and water and medicine are assaulted, when the press is shot, bullied, mocked (10/

This is the face of authoritarianism. It is not hyperbolic to call it fascism. Yes, here in Portland. Power acting and existing to protect and serve itself at the expense of the electorate is fascism.

Direct Action confronts this head on. Casts light on the ugliness.. (11/

Being upset at the footage, feeling awful about the conflict is the point.

Not because the protests or protesters are violent, but because the police, law enforcement act violently, aggressively, indiscriminately, and cruelly.

If we don't speak out, they have no check (12/

If we don't call them on their atrocities, then our silence is complicity, and our inaction is tacit approval.

Grafitti, water bottles, laser pointers and dumpster fires does not equate with broken bones, pierced eardrums, gassed lungs, and a police force acting like a mob.