Temperature today: 90C It’s going down in LA; shit’s getting real

There is an iconic photo of a young woman confronting a row of National Guards with a single chrysanthemum flower, which became a powerful image of the power of peaceful protest.

There is a new image, a video of this time, of a young man in LA speaking to a group of Guardsmen (who appear to be on duty but not actually doing or guarding anything), in which he reminds them of their oaths, of what is right, what is legal, and how they should be supporting the protesters and not the wannabe fascists. 

This is a vital part of what we need to do:  instead of confronting armed soldiers and police, we must be proactive about letting all of them know that we are on the same side, that they need to follow the Constitution and not illegal orders, and that when we meet on the streets we present no threat to them.

The events in LA are deeply troubling and were deeply foreseeable, as many have pointed out.  Trump and Co. want any excuse for escalating and for establishing authoritarian behavior, and they created this situation out of a much smaller situation that was also their own creation, the arrest of California Service Employees union head David Huerta while he was protesting.’’

Deeply angry and alarmed as I am, I am choosing to listen to those who continue to urge us all to stay calm, resolve to be engaged but nonviolent, and not to be intimidated.

“Parkrose Permaculture” points out that this is a tiny number of Guards (and even Marines) in a city and a state with very large populations.  They are not going to arrest everyone.  Also that stationing a few Guards in LA does not amount to martial law, but it is clearly illegal and is getting all sorts of pushback.  One of her repeated mantras is “do not give him power that he does not have”:  his behavior is a sign of weakness, not strength, and if we stay the course we will beat him. Do not obey in advance, do not give up your rights.

“Belle of the Ranch” reminds us that standard military teaching and extensive research show that overreach of this kind only increases the resistance, by effectively recruiting more people to stand against the armed forces.

I also saw a brief note, but can’t find the source, saying that the Guards were deployed with minimal support:  no real sleeping quarters, inadequate equipment, etc, and were dragged out and committed to whatever duty this is until further notice.  Most of the Guards in this group were already busy with something else and could not even be deployed.  They cannot be happy about this.