Let\u2019s play compare and contrast. Before we do, I\u2019m talking this week about all sorts of horrible things: police violence, xenophobia, racism, etc. so if you\u2019re not feeling up for that feel free to sit this one out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last week there was a lot of \u201curging\u201d going on in the United States. Biden \u201curged nonviolence\u201d<\/a> in anticipation of the release of a video of Tyre Nichols being beaten by police after which he died in police custody. He also said he \u201cwas really pleased\u201d that Nichols\u2019s mother RowVaughn Wells called for nonviolence, the way you would praise your kid for keeping their elbows off the dinner table. Governors and attorneys and mayors urged nonviolence<\/a> as they shut down transit hubs and declared states of emergency, preemptively chastising their constituents for action they urged us not to take.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Two days later, those same officials were pleasantly surprised that people did not resort to violence, and like, of course they fucking didn\u2019t. People are hurt, they are mourning, they are upset but protests for Black lives have never<\/em> been violent. Protestors have burned cop cars and tagged walls but crimes against properties are only violence if you give property personhood. The violent offenders in these protests and the murders that trigger them have always been police. So what had Biden & Co. so worried?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yesterday evening I passed a group of protestors blocking Aungier St. to protest against the housing of asylum seekers in a nearby building. In a news briefing, local councillor and human pustule Mannix Flynn<\/a> said the protests weren\u2019t about not wanting asylum seekers, but that the neighborhood wasn\u2019t consulted in advance of the refugee housing being established. \u201cI hope that the far right elements and those who are hell bent on racism do not hijack this event and turn it into some sort of circus.\u201d Flynn said, \u201cThey are not welcome.\u201d<\/a> As I passed by the protest I saw a sign reading \u201cNO UNVETTED MEN,\u201d in reference to the asylum housing system in Ireland which stupidly groups people in shelters for \u201cwomen and families\u201d and \u201csingle men.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Later last night on the other side of the Liffey a building caught fire near the Royal Canal. A false rumor had spread that the building was being refurbished to house refugees and, to add to the confusion, Twitter user @BligheDerek mistakenly identified the burning building as a refugee housing facility in Artane as he celebrated the act of arson. In the replies one user pointed out the mistake, saying \u201cWe are the Artane Coolock community peaceful protest group and don\u2019t associate with that. Thanks.\u201d Another person replied with a gif of Light My Fire<\/em> by The Doors, captioned \u201cThings you love to see\u2026. #CommunityActivism.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The self-identification of these anti-asylum protestors as \u201cnonviolent\u201d and \u201ccommunity activists\u201d is infuriating to me, but I\u2019m not sure it’s inaccurate. Given my earlier categorization of burning cop cars as nonviolent, setting fire to an empty building is the same\u2014the owners will still get their insurance check. No, what really upsets me is nonviolent action being used to mask violent ideas. I have to imagine that when folks like Flynn and the ArtaneCoolockCommunityPeacefulProtestGroup, which I assume goes by ACCPPG, say their protest is about the housing crisis or democratic decision making they do so while putting on a rainbow wig and a big red nose. These clowns, even the most accelerationist of them, couch their bigoted beliefs under the guise of #CommunityActivism and it works. Property owners are more hesitant to contract with the government to house refugees, especially single men, because of this \u201cnonviolent\u201d backlash.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So why is Biden so scared of protestors? It isn\u2019t because of the actions, nonviolent or otherwise; it is because ideas are powerful and protests, especially ones with burning cop cars, make people think. Protesting refugee housing is easy because it attacks parts of the state that support vulnerable people and serves wealthy folks, property owners, and those who aspire to that station. Protesting police violence is difficult because it attacks parts of the state that violently enforce hierarchies in order to better serve vulnerable and marginalised people. If Biden really wants nonviolence he must recognise that ideas, including his own, are the most dangerous kind of weapon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Let\u2019s play compare and contrast. Before we do, I\u2019m talking this week about all sorts of horrible things: police violence, xenophobia, racism, etc. so if you\u2019re not feeling up for that feel free to sit this one out. Last week there was a lot of \u201curging\u201d going on in the United States. Biden \u201curged nonviolence\u201d… Continue reading Attacking the State<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[14,19,15],"class_list":["post-733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-digestable","tag-democracy","tag-ireland","tag-protest","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=733"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/733\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":734,"href":"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/733\/revisions\/734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}