Dissent is in the air. Many, many groups around the country are gearing up to engage in constitutionally protected protests against the criminal oligarchy that has taken over the levers of power.
At this point, given the fact that there have been many, many protests with hundreds of thousands of people, against illegal wars, and against the destruction of the environment, and against Wall Street criminals and their protectors at the Justice Department, which have gone largely ignored by the mainstream media, it may become apparent to some activists that it may be time to really, really get the attention of the criminal oligarchs--by shutting cities, and stopping the machine.
Now, before I go on, in case some readers are not sure why anybody would be talking about shutting down cities, I present this quote below, and I encourage them to read "Rise Up or Die" by Chris Hedges.
Corporations write our legislation. They control our systems of information. They manage the political theater of electoral politics and impose our educational curriculum. They have turned the judiciary into one of their wholly owned subsidiaries. They have decimated labor unions and other independent mass organizations, as well as having bought off the Democratic Party, which once defended the rights of workers. With the evisceration of piecemeal and incremental reform—the primary role of liberal, democratic institutions—we are left defenseless against corporate power.
- Chris Hedges
The emphasis is mine
How to shut down a city without going to jail
Organize: To get going, I'd said you need at least 100 people, but ideally, anybody that can put together a group of 1,000-plus people would be much more effective, quicker.
Set the rules: We already know... Peaceful, no law breaking, no breaking things, no trowing stuff at the police, no insulting the police or the authorities, no engaging in provocation of any kind, staying safe; individually, not given any reason to anybody to arrest you, detain you, etc.
Agree on a time and date: For example... What's today? Wednesday, May 22nd. Okay, so let's say somehow I'm able to motivate 750-plus people to show up at Powell and Market (in San Francisco) next Tuesday, May 28th (after the holiday weekend, of course). Oh, at let's say 1:00pm.
Engage: Everybody walks to the heart of the District, and everything stops, traffic, everything. When the police shows up and asks people to get off the street, or move along, individually you comply, immediately. You (individually) don't break any law, any regulation, whatsoever; don't challenge the authorities in any way.
Propaganda: In the meantime, everybody take pictures of the massive crowd, post them on Twitter, invite your friends to stop by.
Repeat: Use technology... Break up and expand the groups, appear at another nerve center of the city, do the same thing. When the police shows up, comply; don't put yourself at any risk whatsoever. Keep posting photos (remember, nobody is breaking any law, so the photos are going to show just large numbers of people together in solidarity). Propagate, expand, keep inviting others.
Psychology: It will take very little before the City normal operations comes to a halt. The authorities will be confounded, thinking through how they're going to deal with the situation. In the meantime, if there are arrests, they will be minimal, and since nobody is breaking any laws, those who are arrested as a means of intimidation, will have to be released soon thereafter.
Infiltrators, Agitator, Anarchists: Who cares? Let them do their thing. Just make sure you don't engage in any illegal activity, and you'll be fine.
I call it "Murmurations" (TM)
Connect with other activists in other cities, and spread the tactic. Think of having shifts, to keep the tactics going 24/7 for the foreseeable future until the Wall Street criminals are prosecuted, the criminal banks are broken down, Citizens United is rescinded, etc. We know what the demands are...
Easy enough; no danger; and yet, you're shutting the whole fucking thing down. See you on Tuesday!
Discuss...
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Some energy driving us... Murmurations
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The current state of affairs. Let's change it!
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There's a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part! You can't even passively take part! And you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels…upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop! And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you're free, the machine will be prevented from working at all!
- Mario Savio
"We see these voices as patriotic voices - patriotic in the best sense of the term - in that patriotism is not obedience to government, patriotism is obedience to the principles for which government is supposed to stand."
- Howard Zinn