npub1z0…4kyzg on Nostr: Thinking about the wave of repression targeting Palestine solidarity in southern ...
Thinking about the wave of repression targeting Palestine solidarity in southern Ontario...
Often, the police switch strategies when they believe movements have passed their crest. When struggles are growing, they do containment - they don't try to stop what is happening, they just try to keep it from being too disruptive. Think about the policing of demos and blockades in the first month or so and what folks got away with when numbers were high (the recent Hamilton arrests are examples of the police circling back around to repress this when the context is more favourable).
Around the time they believe a movement has crested, they might attempt to decapitate it by tying people it perceives as leaders up on charges -- this can either be for an action that "went to far" or for a vague conspiracy charge. This has the effect of demobilizing people and pushing them away from more combative tactics. The Indigo 11 charges are an example of this.
That dovetails with a thing that people in struggle usually do around the same time. When our movements have peaked, we start seeing turnout going down and less becoming possible. Often, we react to that by increasing the intensity of our own activity to compensate -- this leaves us with a smaller group of people going harder. Which is vulnerable to the kinds of charges described above.
After the peak, movements often have long tails -- there is a section of people that will continue protesting in more or less the same ways. Police deal with this by slowly shrinking the protest pen -- they add rules to restrict what you can get away with and gradually wear people down with charges and bad press. What is happening around the overpass protests is an example of this.
This perspective doesn't necessarily tell us what we should be doing, but i find it gives me tools to think through my own participation and what feels effective at a given moment in a movement's live cycle. We can't avoid repression, but we can understand what the police are likely trying to do in order to push when it makes sense to push and secure gains when there is less ability to win.
Often, the police switch strategies when they believe movements have passed their crest. When struggles are growing, they do containment - they don't try to stop what is happening, they just try to keep it from being too disruptive. Think about the policing of demos and blockades in the first month or so and what folks got away with when numbers were high (the recent Hamilton arrests are examples of the police circling back around to repress this when the context is more favourable).
Around the time they believe a movement has crested, they might attempt to decapitate it by tying people it perceives as leaders up on charges -- this can either be for an action that "went to far" or for a vague conspiracy charge. This has the effect of demobilizing people and pushing them away from more combative tactics. The Indigo 11 charges are an example of this.
That dovetails with a thing that people in struggle usually do around the same time. When our movements have peaked, we start seeing turnout going down and less becoming possible. Often, we react to that by increasing the intensity of our own activity to compensate -- this leaves us with a smaller group of people going harder. Which is vulnerable to the kinds of charges described above.
After the peak, movements often have long tails -- there is a section of people that will continue protesting in more or less the same ways. Police deal with this by slowly shrinking the protest pen -- they add rules to restrict what you can get away with and gradually wear people down with charges and bad press. What is happening around the overpass protests is an example of this.
This perspective doesn't necessarily tell us what we should be doing, but i find it gives me tools to think through my own participation and what feels effective at a given moment in a movement's live cycle. We can't avoid repression, but we can understand what the police are likely trying to do in order to push when it makes sense to push and secure gains when there is less ability to win.