Security was there in yellow vests with radios. Allegedly they were supposed to be local activists who were trained by Indivisible in safety and de-escalation, but they definitely looked more like either off duty cops or feds.
They were dispersed through the crowd, and at one point they got together in a huddle to discuss some stuff near the group I was with. We kind of eavesdropped bc they seemed so sheisty, and ended up overhearing them saying they had put detail on somebody in the crowd who seemed suspicious to them.
I’m not sure they were actually with any security Indivisible had trained, but maybe? They also could have been feds who just got yellow vests and were impersonating activist security, but they definitely weren’t “local activists.” I would be curious to know what kind of security people in blue states saw at their rallies/marches yesterday?
they definitely weren’t “local activists.”
Why not?
I find the reply you received entirely valid. They aren’t even denying you your POV, just pointing out that people helped identify astroturfed troublemakers, and what you saw might have been just that. And as they also said, remain vigilant by all means but not paranoid. Just file it under “awaiting more context or proof”.
Nah. It sounds like they wear their hair short and wash their faces. Very suspicious.
Well the first reply I received said that the security they saw looked like a “diverse group of college kids.”
Which would make sense for New Orleans activists, and why I specified what the group I saw looked like. There’s no one size fits all for what an activist looks like, however,
A. I have worked alongside several New Orleans activists groups providing medical care in different neighborhoods in the city. I find it hard to believe that every single one of the “local New Orleans activists” in the group I saw huddled, just happened to be 100% white, mainly men, all in their early to late 30s and 40s.
I know we have to watch what we say these days, but just to make sure nobody thinks I’m being “racist against clean cut white men” I am pointing that out as a white woman in my 30s who also doesn’t look like the average New Orleans activist.
These guys looked like law enforcement. More specifically, given they were all in pretty good shape, the age range they were, and all had the same close cropped hair, they looked like Feds. Not like big muscular bouncer types. Like very stereotypical feds or state-federal partners.
Given that other fusion centers were known to be planning surveillance for No Kings in other states, perhaps they could have been from one of the state agencies in the picture below who partner with DHS and the FBI via our state fusion center:
B. I’ve also done medical and de-escalation training. Maybe they also did some very intense special security training for this event, but it seems weird to have trained bystanders using teams of security detail to follow a protester around.
Feds have always conducted concerning levels of surveillance at government protests, even during normal times. I’m not sure why it would be so far fetched now to suggest there was something suspicious about a group of people that looked like Feds, were definitely not participating in the actual protest, and literally huddled together to talk about putting a surveillance detail on a protester.
However, I would love to hear from others about the rallies and marches held in other anchor cities. I saw some video from Chicago of their march, and I’m not sure if the people leading the march in yellow vests were coincidental or also activists who received the training, but they didn’t look like Feds.
I would love to hear from others about the rallies and marches held in other anchor cities.
Fair enough. I think you chose the wrong community though.
Regardless of who they were affiliated with, it would be pretty naive to believe that there weren’t officers, agents, whatever, at a lot of these protests monitoring people for better or worse. The expectation should be that they are trying to identify everybody there, which is why there are guides for how to protest safely. Things like don’t bring your phone or at least keep it powered off.
Powered off isn’t enough. Take recent iPhones for example, even when “off” they remain in a low power state, phoning home periodically to report location and see if “lost mode” has been turned on.
Bring a burner, or nothing at all.
But also maybe let people know they might just follow you home from a protest and physically surveil you for an undetermined amount of time afterwards.
Not to be rude, but that shouldn’t be news, and it sure as hell isn’t something new specifically under Trump or the Republicans. Talk to some old heads, or read what they’ve written. US cops have stalked people for less, and there’s plenty of declassified (and leaked if you’re not afraid of being put on a list) guides out there from US intelligence agencies and their numerous contracted training groups that also train cops on how to infiltrate grass roots movements, rallies, etc.
This is what a chunk of these people literally do for a living.
Exactly, idk if you’ve read the timeline behind the Kendrick consent and surveillance in Memphis, TN going back to before MLK was assassinated, but wildly inappropriate surveillance of American citizens is nothing new.
What I would like to know, is if they were actually there because Indivisible trained them, and stationed them there. If not, then the national organizers should be aware that’s the official story. Either way, when you see someone undercover posing as an activist, I feel like you should at least try to point it out.
these people just didn’t learn anything from already shooting a civilian to death, did they? the cop genes are inseparable from liberal organizers.
edit: wanted to add context for the people who aren’t aware https://www.ksl.com/article/51391962/its-frustrating-arturo-gamboas-mother-on-waiting-for-charging-decision-in-no-kings-shooting
I’m not sure that the organizers actually provided the security. I think just as easily the state could have intervened and said if you want to have a rally this is who you’re going to have to use as security.
The whole thing was so different this time. Like it seemed like so many additional people and groups were involved, but it was way less organic.
Last time we just marched through the quarter. It was kinda disorganized, but it was really simple and it was great.
This time they had everyone just meet on a big green lawn and stand in one place together in a pretty random spot in the city. They had a local musician play literally one song at the beginning, and then a bunch random people gave speeches about some things, but honestly the speaker set up was so bad you couldn’t hear anything being said even right up on the stage.
Since it was on a Greenway that runs through the city, I thought we would be still be marching but we just all stood around not really able to hear anything being said on the tiny stage. It was odd. Not sure if it was just a too many cooks kind of situation, or that was all the city would allow, but it felt way more contained and less authentic. That’s kind of how a lot of things in this city have been feeling over the last year. More uniform, less freedom of expression, less of what makes the city a great place to be. Kind of like it’s being slowly invaded by an outside force that wants to turn it into something bland and docile.
I’m not sure that the organizers actually provided the security. I think just as easily the state could have intervened and said if you want to have a rally this is who you’re going to have to use as security.
this is the reason why anti-authoritarians don’t ask for permits. not registering an official head of the movement means that you don’t have to become legible to the state. it’s also a form of harm reduction because the state always expects the problem to go away if the leader is arrested, but in anarchist circles a new head of the hydra just pops out to replace it
Given the murder last time out, it’d be gross incompetence if organisers hadn’t made sure of a robust security presence.
I honestly appreciate security, and there were also uniformed NOPD there moving through the crowd.
What is concerning to me is the idea of federal agents working undercover as activists.
I say that as someone who has kind of a weird view on law enforcement, and federal law enforcement in particular (DHS and everything post 9/11 aside bc that’s a whole other story). I’m definitely not the most extreme radical leftist when it comes to law enforcement, but I’m also a realist, and I can certainly understand why people feel the way they do.
My own mom grew up in Meridian, MS and witnessed some horrific nightmare inducing shit as a kid. The FBI came in and investigated disappearances and crimes that local police refused to investigate and sometimes had been directly involved in. Even when I was growing up, and until recently, the federal government was still going into small towns, and having to intervene when civil rights were being violated. So from that perspective, I do actually have a lot of respect for what they did.
At the same time, they were just doing their jobs. Or at least that is what they’re supposed to do. The FBI itself was created by a lawless authoritarian on a power trip who always tried to claim justified reasons for violating civil rights. He even targeted, and spied on one of the greatest leaders of the civil rights movement. The FBI also murdered Fred Hampton, and even before Trump decided we didn’t need federal protections for civil rights anymore, they were still violating rights and spying on dissidents and protesters.
So even if there might be good individuals among the organization, (or at least if there used to be), the organization itself has repeatedly violated the trust of the American people. Pretending that you can just blindly trust any police or government organization is and always has been naive and foolish, and there are too many examples to prove it.
Continuing to accept deception and surveillance by the government as a necessity to keep us safe, is exactly how we got into this mess in the first place. We cannot keep giving up our own liberties in the name of safety. If the threat level at the protests honestly required federal agents to be present, then it should have been an open and honest presence.
I’m not saying that people would have been happy about it, but if the government could give people a reason to trust them (for example, by just offering to be present as a safety precaution, without having to rely on deception, or to spy or gather intel on protesters) it might actually go a long way towards addressing what people were protesting yesterday. Or at least if there was credible evidence of a threat, then it could have been shared with national organizers who definitely have the connections, and should have been able to figure out some kind of an alternative to having the government use the same tactics that continue to deteriorate trust.
