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  • Showing only topics in ~talk with the tag "protests". Back to normal view / Search all groups
    1. Do you think there will be a 'silver lining' or any long-term results from these protests?

      I think the biggest effect of this will be that a lot of white suburban Klobuchar-ites will be more apprehensive of keeping the police as it is and a lot of progressives (like me, I always thought...

      I think the biggest effect of this will be that a lot of white suburban Klobuchar-ites will be more apprehensive of keeping the police as it is and a lot of progressives (like me, I always thought it was a class matter disguised as a race one) will take identity politics and racism more seriously and see themselves as privileged white people because it's become pretty hard not to. There will also be a lot of people in poor countries who will relate to the experience of being brutalized by the police and see the US as increasingly like them. I'm Brazilian and I honestly can't really see how is the US any better than my country anymore and in my state I scarcely see the police with more than batons and only in Rio de Janeiro (where drug gangs hide in the mountains and the state government is run by the party led by a former military officer) is the police really comparable.

      Organizers might see that strength in numbers does little against FOX News and other media outlets so serious organization (proper mottos for example) might be taken more seriously.

      Black people might be energized enough by this to turnout at an equal rate to white people despite the institutional barriers, which hasn't happened since Obama.

      17 votes
    2. Why aren't more leaders encouraging protesters to stay home?

      I can think of several good reasons why protesting is a really bad idea right now: The virus doesn't care if your cause is just. If you end up going to jail, that's another hotspot. It provides...

      I can think of several good reasons why protesting is a really bad idea right now:

      • The virus doesn't care if your cause is just.
      • If you end up going to jail, that's another hotspot.
      • It provides cover for violence.
      • The courts are going to do whatever they do at their own pace anyway.
      • The long-term work of police reform isn't even going to begin until the crisis is over.

      And yet, despite all these good reasons, I don't see leaders, black or otherwise, clearly saying that people should stay home. For example, Obama's statement is carefully neutral on this. It seems to be taboo?

      But I'm out of touch. What am I missing?

      11 votes
    3. General US protests discussion

      There's a lot of unrest in the US lately, with protests going on in several cities. How do you feel about the state of things in the US, regarding racism, police brutality, etc...? What's your...

      There's a lot of unrest in the US lately, with protests going on in several cities.

      How do you feel about the state of things in the US, regarding racism, police brutality, etc...? What's your viewpoint on the protests? How do you see the situation evolving? Some fear deadly confrontation between military police and civilians.

      Have you had the misfortune of having a negative encounter with police officers? Care to tell your story? Have you participated yourself in one of these protests? What was your experience like? If you haven't, do you keep yourself informed? Where do you primarily find news? What's the general mood in your neighborhood, in your community, in your city?

      We've seen protests pop up a lot more in recent years in various parts of the world - eg. Hong Kong, Lebanon, France, etc... Do you feel that this is symptomatic of a larger, global unease? Or can the US protests be considered wholly specific?

      36 votes
    4. Tildes, what are your thoughts on the "Earth Strike" movement that's currently being organized?

      for those of you unaware, the "Earth Strike" movement (see also: their Reddit, Tumblr, and Twitter pages) is an international planned protest movement that will ultimately culminate in a general,...

      for those of you unaware, the "Earth Strike" movement (see also: their Reddit, Tumblr, and Twitter pages) is an international planned protest movement that will ultimately culminate in a general, international strike on september 27th, 2019. as of today it's only been in planning for like a week and change (almost exclusively online, as a point of note) so a lot of kinks are still being worked out and i'm not even sure there's a centralized organization to it as of now, but among other things, it internationally seeks the following demands:

      An immediate start on global co-operation to reverse the damage done to the earths’ climate, through unambiguous and binding agreements, by both world leaders and corporate entities, following IPCC projections of halving carbon net emissions by 2030 and zero net emissions by 2050;
      International, unambiguous and binding commitments to halt the destruction of rain forests and other wildlife habitats, and
      International, unambiguous and binding agreements designed to hold corporations accountable for the greenhouse gases they produce.

      i think most of us can agree that ultimately, their current demands are not 100% feasible or are actively impossible (at least not without radical, extremely sudden societal change) and that the ship has most likely sailed on keeping climate change from having some serious impacts. but do you think that this movement has any potential of any kind to enact change going forward? is it destined to be another Occupy, where some of its goals are taken up into politics but ultimately the movement itself collapses due to infighting and external factors? can it even be truly successful at all, given its lofty aim of an international general strike? or is it likely to just outright evaporate into functional or actual irrelevancy given enough time?

      28 votes