Skip to main content

Anti-Fascist Lentil Chilli

I just made some Lentil Chili and right now it is in the slow cooker set to low for the next seven or eight hours. My friend Alex asked me to help her with supporting folks confronting the Proud Boys, Identity Europa (they have changed their name to something else now), and other assorted white nationalist fascists aligned with them. I wavered on what my commitment level would be for tomorrow. I was honest with Alex and myself, so I finally decided that the only support role I could see myself playing in this one was cooking up some righteous chilli, and picking up a couple baguettes at the new bakery that opened recently just up the street three blocks.

Yes, I am afraid of being seriously injured, but my even greater fear is being arrested by the cops on some trumped up charge when I try to defend myself from these goose stepping racist misogynistic homophobic wannabe gestapo thugs. So I knew right away I would not be on the front lines. And the more I thought about it, I truly did not want to spend my entire Saturday being a carebear inside a building removed from the action (yet likely seeing younger activists sustaining injuries). Furthermore, I still don't think I'm completely on board with the tactics of directly (often physically) confronting fascists in broad daylight with a horde of cops present. It strikes me as not very smart.

However, I am also beginning to recognize the value of confronting these hateful misanthropes as they continue to issue calls for utilizing lethal violence against vulnerable groups. These cretins and their followers flourish in darkness; when they are ignored. To ignore them is to fail in any real way to hold them accountable. And not only should they be held accountable -- they should be publicly shamed for embracing the most despicable aspects of humanity. The Proud Boys and their ilk praise the Nazis' final solution, and Chilean fascist dictator Pinochet's practice of dropping political opponents and journalists from high-flying helicopters.

Two weeks ago I returned from Canada. I was banned from our neighboring nation for 10 years due to a "Failure to Obey a Lawful Order" conviction in 2009. Now I was allowed to enter, visit my two younger cousins, and experience joy in exploring a few parts of Montreal. As I get older, I realize that I must choose more wisely what I am willing to risk arrest for and be held accountable for in a court of law. I continue to believe civil resistance is a powerful tool of transformative love. But there are only a couple precious causes I am willing to go the distance for, and only a couple activist groups I want to act with in that powerful and dramatic way.

I am glad there are some folks ready to directly confront the fascists when they hold public rallies. And I don't mind playing some sort of support role for these brave activists, but it just ain't my cup of tea to join them at the front. I have harbored rather violent ideas on how to deal with these folks' leaders, and it doesn't involve performative actions with the police as the audience. But, anyhow, I will reserve my practice of nonviolent direct action for those just causes I feel utterly called to act upon -- and it most likely will never be a counter protest.

My friend Alex has asked me a few times what cause would I be willing to die for. I really had trouble answering this because I truly do love life. There really is only one to be completely honest -- it would be in protection of the vulnerable immigrant children I have been recently involved with serving through two small Suburban Maryland groups. It is this direct service work that is giving me great joy.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Guantanamo put on trial -- May 27th

In eight days, Eve Tetaz, a 76-year old retired D.C. public schoolteacher, will enter a courthouse in Washington, D.C. and engage in the legal debate over the fate of America's detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The name of Noor Muhammad has never appeared in an American criminal court. On May 27th, Tetaz will change that. On that day, she will appear at the Washington, D.C. Superior Court as Noor Muhammad. Tetaz was arrested, along with 78 others, at the U.S. Supreme Court on January 11, 2008, protesting the denial of habeas rights to and the torture of inmates at Guantanamo. Like her fellow protestors, Tetaz took the name of an inmate during her arrest. ( See the January 13 Washington Post article "Activists Pose as Guantanamo Prisoners" ) Tetaz says she felt compelled to participate in the protest at the Supreme Court because detainees are being tortured at Guantanamo. "Torture is a terrible crime and sin against humanity," she said. Thirty-four ...
7 comments
Read more

The Sad and Disturbing Tale of Dustin Thompson

Wow, it has been a while since I have written a blog entry. In fact, it has been a year, and I have a lot to fill you in on. But let's get down to what I covered via Tweets recently -- the insurrectionist Trial of Dustin Thompson, of Ohio, who entered into the Capitol Building on January 6, 2021, and stole first a bottle of booze and then a coat rack from the office of the Senate Parliamentarian. Yesterday Thompson was convicted on all six criminal counts the Department of Justice had charged him with. There have now been about a half dozen January 6th insurrectionists (many call them rioters) who have been convicted following a trial. About 170 have already plead guilty. Growing up in central Ohio, Thompson was originally a libertarian with moderate political views overall. According to his wife Sarah, the two met when they were both students at Ohio State University, Thompson had a double major of history and psychology. Sarah, a democrat, was a fashion merchandising major an...
Post a Comment
Read more

Rev. Yearwood attacked by police, arrested, injured

This is American democracy in action. My friend, Rev. Yearwood, was jumped by these six power-tripping Capitol Hill Police officers. He was wearing a button which read "I love the people of Iraq." I have seen the video a couple of times, and while it is disturbing it will be useful in court. If it was me, I'd probably pursue a civil case for damages. Rev. in hospital after anti-war arrest Published: Sept. 12, 2007 at 11:28 AM WASHINGTON, Sept. 12 (UPI) -- An anti-war minister and U.S. Air Force veteran was treated in hospital after his arrest by Capitol Hill police outside this week’s Iraq congressional hearings. The Rev. Lennox Yearwood, president of the Washington-based Hip-Hop Caucus, was charged with disorderly conduct and assaulting a police officer after being denied entry to a House hearing room in which Gen. David Petraeus was giving evidence Monday, Capitol Police spokeswoman Sgt. Kimberly Schneider told United Press International. But a video of his arrest, post...
4 comments
Read more