I’d recommend you don’t sign anything at a protest, ever. No petitions, no signing up for orgs, not even if a goth baddie asks you to sign their tits. Do that stuff offsite before or after a protest on your own time where’s it’s a lot less likely to be an informational gathering tactic. You don’t want a record of which protests you’ve been to, especially if they’re the spicier kind where direct action might be happening.
Mask up and bloc up.
Yes, this. Phone at home, mask up if you plan on doing ANYTHING other than being an absolute boy scout. If a goth baddie asks you to sign their tits, use a fake name.
I might add that masking up is a good idea even if you plan on doing nothing but observing. Sometimes rightwing media personalities will photograph unmasked people at protests in an attempt to send online harassment their way regardless of whether they’ve done anything wrong. Additionally, there have been instances where innocent individuals have been charged with actions that other people in the crowd did, so even if you plan on being good, you could still get in trouble for the actions of others. A mask would add another layer of protection from identification and hopefully prevent you from getting wrongfully charged. I expect this administration to be particularly vindictive against protesters.
Showing up with a slung AR-15 in an open carry state. It is AMAZING how polite the pigs are when armed citizens are standing around. You might also note the lack if ICE activity in such states. Funny that.
What a lot of people forget is that for the vast majority of people, this is a progression. The reason petitions work is because they get awareness out there, which leads to more people showing up to the protest. The reason protests work is because that’s where you sign people up to the orgs. And the reason all of these things work is because the people on the other end understand that if there are enough people petitioning or protesting, some percentage of those people will, if pushed hard enough, resort to more direct action. A petition isn’t a plea, it’s a threat. A protest isn’t a complaint, its a show of strength. If people show up, those people can then be called upon for the next step, and the next. And when things go right, the steps further down the chain aren’t needed, because the threat is enough.
look man, i cant even schedule a movie night
