As I reflected on the events of Minneapolis while shoveling snow this morning, my mind continued to return to the thought that we must use tactics that have proven successful in the past, but update them for today’s situation.
In that regard, let me offer a few modest proposals in the hopes that others of our resistance movement will read these words (and comments) and be inspired to lead us in action.
First, my understanding of our nation’s history is that troops of occupation being housed among them was a chief complaint in the days leading up to the founding of our republic. We have today, of course, a different sort of force of occupation being sent to the blue and purple cities of our nation.
These troops need to eat and sleep, otherwise they would have the much more onerous task of supplying their own food and tents. Our task, for those of us that resent their presence, is to make eating and sleeping and occupying much more unpleasant.
1. No ICE agent (from the half decent to the most deplorable right wing goon) should ever feel safe eating in a fast food establishment. Spit, laxatives, extra salt, etc. are easy ways to combat their presence in our cities. And the effort need not even result in that many people risking firing and punishment. All that needs to happen is the opposition needs to engage in a very public discussion of such tactics. I’m thinking signs at protests…. “Enjoy my spit…..” “I think I washed my hands ….?” “Sorry dude, I sneezed in your burrito” “Enjoy my special sauce!!” You get the idea. Get in their heads. No ICE agent should ever feel comfortable eating in uniform at a fast food restaurant again. Make them cart their own food to these occupations! This increases their costs and removes some of their local business support.
2. Similar idea for where they sleep. We have the internet, we have creative people, let’s exercise some First Amendment rights. What I envision is a national clearinghouse of businesses (hotels specifically in this instance) that lend aid and support to these forces. We should have a nationwide database that identifies those hotel locations that house these people and then economic boycotts of these chains/locations can be publicized. The issue here is the internet provides a far greater reach than we’ve ever had in history. We are not using it to our advantage! I do not have the technical savvy to undertake such an effort, but I think it is needed and would prove useful. The idea is to reduce and minimize the number of businesses that will elect to court the controversy. It needs to be done be some sort of trusted central authority to ensure accuracy, but it we need to do a better job of it!
3, Similarly, we should organize a constant presence wherever they rest and sleep. Let them fall asleep to chants of “That’s fine dude, I don’t have a problem with you.” Or “We Shall Overcome” or whatever. It doesn’t have to be loud, it doesn’t have to disturb the peace, but it needs to be constant. I think this happens already, but it needs to be publicized more diligently as a standard response in every place they travel. Chasing ICE around and confronting them on the streets has it’s place, but is dangerous. There needs to be a venue where the less adventurous protesters may express themselves and feel like they have contributed to the cause. And in each locale, local spokespeople should court local media for stories and interviews. Local media eats this kind of crap up.
I am sure there are lots of other ideas and I think we need to have a robust discussion and experimentation about what works best.
What other ideas are there?
