The United States Constitution provides for "the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances" in the First Amendment.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
As we all know by now, because of the usurpation of democracy resulting from the control of our system of government by supranational corporate cartels, our constitutional rights have been severely curtailed and weakened during the last several years, through the of of fear-mongering and propaganda.
Because of this, a certain type of systemic corruption has spread throughout the country; to towns, cities, states, and much of the federal government.
This type of endemic, widespread and systemic corruption is not too hard to understand. Corporate cartels and billionaires invested an unimaginable amount of resources to take over the levers of power, one city, and one state at a time. They formed very impressive think tanks, and a propaganda/public relations apparatus carefully-designed to infuse the entire political culture with certain ethos beneficial to the interests of these corporate cartels. In other words, they found a way to buy off the politicians one city at a time.
The components that makes up the increasingly oppressive American plutocratic ruling elite include the majority of city councils, state, and federal government officials across the country, as well as nefarious, and dangerous corporate business cartels who operate in the background, trying to remain hidden from public view, but who are actually the paymasters of the corrupt politicians.
There are lots of decent, honest and conscientious public servants that are incorruptible, like Senators Elizabeth Warren, and Bernie Sanders, among many others, but they are far outnumbered by the grotesque money-grabbing politicians of both wings (Republicans/Democrats) of the Corporatist party establishment.
So you have a situation where most politicians fall within three areas: they are either too stupid to realize what they are doing; they are purposely negligent and choose to look the other way for the sake of personal gain; or they are outright corrupt and take direct action to collude against the public interest. Either way, the immense damage the cause on the population is the same. So whether they are stupid, neglectful, or corrupt, shame on them! But I digress...
The Machine
So having accurately and indisputably defined the actual state of affairs across the country, what we are left is an increasingly oppressive, sadistic, and exploitative system designed to enslave the population.
It is within this context that I argue that the typical approaches to rallies and protests are highly ineffective.
When people show up a city council meetings to express disapproval about what are clearly corporate-sponsored policies (that are spreading rapidly across the country), regardless of the level of opposition, those policies will be implemented because there is already an understanding between the grotesque, corrupt, on-the-take city council members and their business/corporate paymasters. So basically, in the final analysis, it is kind of a waste of time.
When you organize a typical rally or mass protest, by and large, it will also be ignored by the grotesque on-the-take politicians in Seattle, Miami, San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Dallas, etc. It will also be ignored or misrepresented by the propaganda machine of the corporate state, the entire mass U.S. media.
In the face of this undeniable reality, good, decent, and passionate activists sometimes find it necessary to put more pressure on the system and they elect to engage in civil disobedience tactics, hoping to give their righteous causes more visibility.
Some activists also believe that by exposing instances of police brutality and outright torture, that that by itself will galvanize the public's support.
In the end, it actually does the contrary. When the general public sees police officers cum-corporate-goons punching people straight in their faces with impunity, or grabbing someone by the shirt who has a video camera recording the brutality and smacking them against the side of a patrol car, and then against the pavement with brutal force effecting an immediate bloody face, they just get more fearful. And with the colluding "media" demonizing activists 24/7, they buy into the power structure narrative.
When they grab an innocent activist that's not violating any law or regulation, and take him around a corner and beat him with batons mercilessly sending him to the hospital, or when they arrest women and put them in a paddy-wagon, leaving there for hours (on purpose), causing them to urinate and defecate on themselves, none of that really gets the public enraged enough to come join the barricades. Again, it does the opposite, with the help of the corporate own media/propaganda machine.
Whistler-blowers are suppressed, intimidated, persecuted, blacklisted and many times, incarcerated. Nobody is listening; the system is rigged. You getting arrested or beaten only weakens you.
When we take to the streets (I've been to countless rallies and mass protests), to petition for redress, think of the entity we are petitioning to as a giant jack-booted thug responding by slamming you on the ground and putting his boot on your face, pressing hard.
Violent armed revolution (at this point) is also not an option. Not only does the system keeps a very large segment of the population totally controlled by endless mind-numbing propaganda, but they have constructed themselves a total-information-awareness police state; they have also drafted a legal framework carefully designed to strip constitutional protections from the citizens.
When the pressure gets to be too much for certain people or segments, and they lose it and "go ballistic," well, they've also been preparing for that with a rapidly-growing private prison industry, and by helping create groups of armed right wing thugs which could eventually play a role in the intimidation of social justice activists.
Outflank: Murmurations Tactic
Given that the increasingly oppressive corporate state has put in place a system designed to accelerate the imposition of tyranny, mainly by taking down the proper functions of government and the regulatory frameworks, and by a carefully-designed strategy to strip the citizens of constitutional protections, I argue for a different type of approach when it comes to mass protest rallies and direct action. One that outflanks them: Move around the side of (an enemy) so as to outmaneuver them.
And so I came up with a street-level mass protest tactic I call "MURMURATIONS."
I have discussed this idea with a planning group made up of military veterans, former cops, and activists, and the feedback I've gotten from them has been very encouraging. But I'm really interested in getting this idea out there to the wider activist movement for consideration and evaluation...
First, we need to have a very clear understanding of what is the end-goal of the action. In my view, first and foremost, it has to be able to put some sort of pressure on the system. There has to be a propaganda/education/communications/outreach component; there has to be an intellectual/philosophical component; and there has to be a media component.
Tactics: To me, this is the most exciting part of the strategy. I call it MURMURATIONS. The biggest challenge, of course, is to get a large-enough number of people to give a try... Here's the scenario: It's 12 noon in the Financial District in San Francisco. All of the sudden, thousands of people flash-mob the district, seemingly to appear all at once. They would have agree to wear something that identify them as being part of the group (it could be a pin, a bracelet, a certain color shirt, etc.).
They would immediately begin to pass out carefully-designed flyers with very direct and poignant messages and information exposing corruption in the city. For example, in the case of San Francisco, for the last several months the Chronicle has been reporting on multiple corruption allegations. I'm sure that's a similar situation in many cities.
Before the day of action, a very impressive group of free-lance journalists, researchers, and activists would have conducted extensive research about the corruption in the city, naming names, corporations, lobbyists, etc.
Then based on this information, which must be accurate, a series of press releases would have been sent to all the local media outlets letting them know that the upcoming rallies are being organized to protest the aforementioned instances of corruption.
Emails would have been sent to each of the people we would be targeting, including the mayor's office, as well as lobbying firms and companies involved in alleged shady deals.
So, getting back to the Financial District... The sheer number of activists would be so large, that eventually the "authorities" will show up. And here's where it gets interesting. Do not engage in any type of law-breaking or violation of any regulation or ordinance. If an officer asks you to clear the street, you comply immediately. No insults or provocations of any type. No civil disobedience tactics of any type.
Once the police presence gets to be large, then everybody disperses, peacefully, and calmly, without provoking them in any way.
Then people connect with those wearing the identifier, and they can go to local coffee houses, or parks, etc., and get to know each other, talk about what's happening, share ideas...while checking their twitter and facebook feeds.
Then a coded message is posted on twitter by a certain account, and all of the sudden the flash mob appears at the Metreon area, and does the same thing. The police shows up in large numbers, and people disperse. Two hours later another location, then disperse, on and on.
The great thing about this is that all kinds of people can join at different times of the day and night, depending on their schedules and responsibilities. Maybe a guy that works at the Financial District got interested, and after a days' work, and having some dinner at home, and watching one of his favorite TV programs, heads out to one of the flash mob rallies, just to be part of the action.
Everybody involved will always emphasize that the tactics are not to include any type of law-breaking, violence, or violation of any city ordinance.
The peaceful nature of this tactic will likely attract a wider group of people. Also, if it works on putting pressure on the system, and on awakening the consciousness of the wider public, it could create a psychological impact and all of the sudden this could spread across the country very rapidly...
One important thing is that once people understand this very simple (but powerful, IMHO) tactic, it could take off with a life of its own, not needing any one leader.
This is important. For example, I know that I'm just some insignificant dude over here in the SF Bay Area behind a keyboard, but I know for a fact that if I were successful in making this happen nationwide, the powers that be would go after me. They would make something up to try to stop me.
In today's total-information-awareness police state environment, that's the way things operate. Leaders are targeted; the media demonizes activists; the FBI puts peaceful Occupy protesters on the terrorist watch list, etc.
So we can't have identifiable leaders; this thing needs to take off by itself, like MURMURATIONS (see the video below).
There are many, many, many more pages I could write; very detailed stuff. But I hope that that part if done by others. I just wish that if you are a social activist, if you're union, or a member of the Occupy movement, that you seriously consider this idea.
I'll be glad to exchange emails with people interested in discussing this further...
And for the FBI "consultants" out there, being paid $100,000 a year to entrap people, please stop sending me emails about "doing something real, something of impact, etc."
Peace!
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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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