zenosanalytic reblogged
Right now, the black bloc protesters from the D.C. protest are facing a decade in jail and a fine (each) of $25,000. No one was hurt during their protest, but Starbucks and McDonald’s had to replace some windows and a limousine, a symbol of America’s wealth disparity, burned. And meanwhile, liberals are gleefully making memes of a black bloc protester engaging in the great American pastime of punching Nazis. Lots of people secretly really like the black bloc. If you doubt that, just Google ‘Richard Spencer gets punched in the face’ to see just how fond people are of the black bloc’s direct action approach to stopping Nazis in their tracks. And that’s what we need to do right now. Many progressives have been raised to tolerate outlandish ideologies in the spirit of inclusivity, but the far-right is now exploiting the sanctity of safe spaces in order to advance fascism, which will destroy our democracy. You don’t hug and coddle Nazis. It doesn’t work. Fascists only understand aggressive defeat. Radical protest creates the space for actions like the Women’s March. By pushing the Overton Window left, the black bloc makes the Women’s March look like a hyper-reasonable movement. ‘We’d better deal with these nice white ladies,’ some in power might say, ‘They’re nothing like those crazy kids dressed in black.’ I promise you: the Nazis don’t fear peaceful liberal protests, but they may think twice about marching in public if the black bloc is there to meet them.
Allison Kilkenny on the Women’s March in D.C. and the dangers of fetishizing peaceful protests (via fuckyeahcitizenradio)
Right now, the black bloc protesters from the D.C. protest are facing a decade in jail and a fine (each) of $25,000.
If you want to talk about their tactics, talk about their tactics, but if you enjoyed seeing that asshole get hit in the face, put $5 into their legal defense fund or the NLG defense fund. Your meme hero could easily have been among the ones arrested.
(via fickleobsessions)
Every time you post Spencer being punched or the limo on fire or whatever, set aside a dollar to the legal defense fund.
(via aka14kgold)