******************** POSTING RULES & NOTES ******************** #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. *****************************************************************
Agree. Dan Dan La Botz See my books and articles at: World Cat <https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=%22Dan+La+Botz%22&fq=&dblist=638&qt=sort&se=$d&sd=desc&qt=sort_$d_desc> , New Politics <https://newpol.org/authors/la-botz-dan/>, Solidarity <https://solidarity-us.org/?s=dan+La+Botz>, Solidaire <http://www.europe-solidaire.org/spip.php?page=recherche&lang=en&recherche=Dan+La+Botz> , Jacobin <https://www.jacobinmag.com/author/dan-la-botz>, Solidarites <https://www.solidarites.ch/journal/d/artauteur/829>,MR Online <https://mronline.org/author/danlabotz/>, Counterpunch <https://www.counterpunch.org/author/8huyuvuvebredr7/>, CityBeat <https://www.citybeat.com/home/contact/13038890/dan-la-botz>. On Wed, Jun 3, 2020 at 12:23 PM Louis Proyect via Marxism < marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu> wrote: > ******************** POSTING RULES & NOTES ******************** > #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. > #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. > #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. > ***************************************************************** > > On 6/3/20 10:42 AM, Ron Jacobs via Marxism wrote: > > > > http://stillhomeron.blogspot.com/2020/06/in-defense-of-antifa.html > > > > "The unfortunate (for some) truth is that sometimes, you gotta’ fight > fascists if you want to fight fascsim. [sic]" > > The truth is concrete. > > At the outset of the Minneapolis protests, this meant arson. The Migizi > American Indian community center burned to the ground. When I brought > this to the attention of a riot fetishist on FB, he told me that the > center was not targeted. It accidentally caught fire from an adjacent > building. It took me a few minutes to discover that the targeted > building was a post office. > > Torching a post office means that people anxiously awaiting an > unemployment check or a medical report are shit out of luck. This > "diversity of tactics" business goes back to the anti-WTO protests in > Seattle in 1999. For the next decade, the black bloc showed up at every > one of these protests to fight the cops in order to breach a WTO meeting > behind a guarded perimeter. None of this had the slightest impact on the > WTO. > > Black bloc tactics have now focused on fighting the fascists and the > cops. Fascists might not get invitations to colleges nowadays but they > certainly are bigger than ever. My impression is that they figured out > rallies and marches don't work. I also believe that they are focused on > building up their ranks in the police and army. > > As for the cops, burning post offices or looting an Aldo shoe boutique > will never have any effect on killer cops. Here in NYC, stop and frisk > has almost completely disappeared. It was not breaking Starbucks windows > that had an impact. It was a peaceful, legal protest that helped to turn > things around. > > --- > > NY Times, June 17, 2012 > Thousands March Silently to Protest Stop-and-Frisk Policies > By John Leland and Colin Moynihan > > In a slow, somber procession, several thousand demonstrators conducted a > silent march on Sunday down Fifth Avenue to protest the New York Police > Department’s stop-and-frisk policies, which the organizers say single > out minority groups and create an atmosphere of martial law for the > city’s black and Latino residents. > > Two and a half hours after it began, the peaceful, disciplined march > ended in mild disarray. As many marchers dispersed, police officers at > 77th Street and Fifth Avenue began pushing a crowd that defied orders to > leave the intersection, shoving some to the ground and forcing the > protesters to a sidewalk, where they were corralled behind metal > barricades. After protesters pushed back, the officers used an orange > net to clear the sidewalk, and appeared to arrest at least three people. > > The presence of several elected officials at the march, including the > Democratic mayoral hopefuls Bill de Blasio, the public advocate; > Christine C. Quinn, the City Council speaker; Scott M. Stringer, the > Manhattan borough president; and William C. Thompson, the former city > comptroller, seemed to signal a solidifying opposition to the policy, > which has long been opposed by civil rights groups. > > Wade Cummings, 46, a teacher, attended with his 19-year-old son, Tarik. > Both said they had been stopped by police officers — once for the > father, three times for the son. > > “I’m concerned about him being stopped and it escalating,” the father > said. “I like to believe I taught him not to escalate this situation, > but you never know how it’s going to go down.” > > Police officers stopped nearly 700,000 people last year, 87 percent of > them black or Latino. Of those stopped, more than half were also frisked. > > The protest, which began at 3 p.m., followed recent remarks by Mayor > Michael R. Bloomberg that he planned to scale back and amend the > practice, amid escalating protests. > > “It’s clear that the mayor and police commissioner are hearing the > message,” said Leslie Cagan, one of the march’s organizers. “They’re > taking steps that might be small improvements, but what’s really needed > is a stopping of stop-and-frisk. Many cities have had significant > reductions of crime without it.” > > Mr. Bloomberg has argued that stop-and-frisk gets guns off the street > and reduces crime. The march, which stretched for about 20 blocks, ended > at East 78th Street, a block from the mayor’s residence. > > Demonstrators mostly adhered to the organizers’ call to march in > silence, hushing talkers along the route. Members of labor unions and > the N.A.A.C.P. appeared to predominate, but there were also student > groups, Occupy Wall Street, Common Cause, the Universal Zulu Nation and > the Answer Coalition. A group of Quakers carried a banner criticizing > the stop-and-frisk practice; other signs read, “Skin Color Is Not > Reasonable Suspicion” and “Stop & Frisk: The New Jim Crow.” > > As of Friday, 299 organizations had endorsed the march, including > unions, religious groups and Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Arab, and Jewish > groups. The turnout reflected the growing alliance between civil rights > groups and gay and lesbian activists, who in past years have often kept > each other at arm’s length. Last month, the board of the N.A.A.C.P., > which includes several church leaders, voted to endorse same-sex > marriage. The roster of support for the march on Sunday included at > least 28 gay, lesbian and transgender groups. > > Chris Bilal, 24, who is black and gay, said he had been stopped three > times, the last time while dancing with two friends in Marcus Garvey > Park in Harlem. “Sometimes I’m targeted as a drug dealer, sometimes as > someone interfering with the quality of life, sometimes as a gay > African-American man in a place I don’t belong,” he said. The idea for > the demonstration took root three months ago in Selma, Ala., after a > commemoration of the 1965 civil rights march there, said Benjamin Todd > Jealous, the president of the N.A.A.C.P., who met there with the Rev. Al > Sharpton and George Gresham, president of 1199 S.E.I.U. United > Healthcare Workers East. > > Mr. Jealous rejected the argument set forward by Mr. Bloomberg and the > police commissioner, Raymond W. Kelly, that stop-and-frisk policing > reduced crime and improved the quality of life in black and Latino > neighborhoods. > > “Stop-and-frisk is a political tool, victimizing one group of people so > another group feels protected,” Mr. Jealous said. “It’s humiliating > hundreds of thousands of people.” > > According to a report by the New York Civil Liberties Union, during the > 10 years of the Bloomberg administration, the police have performed > 4,356,927 stops, including 685,724 last year. Among African-American > males ages 14 to 24, the number of stops last year was greater than > their total population. > > One man who held a sign that read “Stop Racial Profiling” said he came > to Central Park to relax but decided to join the march because of his > own experiences with the police. > > “It happened to me about 10 times,” said the man, Bruce Fitzgerald, 48, > of the Bronx. > > Seeking a contrast to some recent Occupy Wall Street demonstrations, > organizers called for a disciplined, orderly march, with no clashes with > the police. Though protesters did not have a permit, organizers said > that their talks with the police had been cordial and cooperative, and > that they did not expect conflict. > > “This policy did not emanate from the rank-and-file police officers, and > we’re not protesting them,” said Mr. Gresham, who was arrested at an > Occupy protest in November. “We’re not going to the police > commissioner’s home. We’re going to the mayor’s home, because he is the > guardian of New York.” > > But along the mayor’s street, the police used metal barricades to close > the sidewalks and turned away pedestrians, including those unconnected > to the march. For the second consecutive Sunday, Mr. Bloomberg took to > the pulpit at a predominantly African-American church in Brooklyn and > defended the stop-and-frisk program, saying it needed to be “mended, not > ended.” > > Speaking at the Christian Cultural Center, he told parishioners that > violent crime had dropped during his tenure in office, in part because > of the practice. But he acknowledged that the police could handle the > interactions with more courtesy. > > “If you’ve done nothing wrong, you deserve nothing but respect and > courtesy from the police,” Mr. Bloomberg said. “Police Commissioner > Kelly and I both believe we can do a better job in this area — and he’s > instituted a number of reforms to do that.” > > At the end of the march, Mr. Jealous, who walked with his 6-year-old > daughter, Morgan, on his shoulders, said the silence conveyed the > seriousness of the demonstrators. > > “In this city of so much hustle and bustle and clamor, sometimes the > loudest thing you can do is move together in silence,” he said. > > But a few dozen voiced their disagreement with the strategy at the > march’s end, chanting: “We can’t be silent. We got to fight back. > > _________________________________________________________ > Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm > Set your options at: > https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/danlabotz%40gmail.com > _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
