Do you protest? Armchair or street and does any of it matter?

[Jackalope]

Yeah, I'm not gonna elaborate on that point.

[The Grand Nudger]

I will, lol. A company can send an armed man to force you to pay them with the full force of government behind them if you don't, or if you try todefraud them in some way. We say we don't have debtors prisons but this is only true based on legal technicalities, which we wholly manufacture to that very end. You, otoh, cannot send armed men to their corporate hq because they stiffed you, or sold you bad product. Our government has..or believes it has...a monopoly on violence, and they're renting out this monopolistic profit center to other monopolies at present moment.

People throw bricks through a starbucks window, and this breaks the state monopoly on violence represented by our for profit prison system? I think not. We should all be learning how to wage a guerilla war forever. We should be busting people out of concentration camps. Every attempted kidnapping by masked plain clothes law enforcement officers™ should turn into a fucking firefight.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

It seems like it's moved very quickly to the right in short order. 



With the tech media (social media) and just strait up propaganda networks like Newsmax and Fox in their prime, doesn't any distruction just allow them to label the protest as violent at best and domestic terrorism at worst? How does that move the needle in any direction other than right when they can point to video of "thugs" harming "small business" and shout it over and over?

That's when breaking the state monopoly on violence comes into play.  Does that move the needle?  It's sometimes been successful in the past.

I'm not advocating for anything, simply recognizing the inevitable when no other avenues for justice and change exist.

I’ve been arrested for ‘breaking the state monopoly on violence’ several times. The first couple of times is pretty nerve-wracking. After that, it becomes easier, as the cops, magistrates, and warders get to know you.

Torches and pitchforks might be your only hope.

Boru

[Thumpalumpacus]

Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.

‘The tree of Liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.’ - Thomas Jefferson

Boru

[The Grand Nudger]

Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest. - Denis Diderot

[Ivan Denisovich]

The first revolt is against the supreme tyranny of theology, of the phantom of God. As long as we have a master in heaven, we will be slaves on earth. - Mikhail Bakunin.



This is fitting I think. How people can be free when they're under the leash of celestial tyrant? Imagined and yet holding sway over millions and tainting human sens of morality with it's very "existence".

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

'A revolution is a state of violence. If a man does not want to accept violence, he will have to go back to slavery.' - Voltaire

Boru

[John 6IX Breezy]

The problem with protests is that they often don't have somebody behind them negotiating on behalf of the protesters. And even when they do, as in many workers strikes, that doesn't mean that person is actually any good at negotiating.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

The problem with protests is that they often don't have somebody behind them negotiating on behalf of the protesters. And even when they do, as in many workers strikes, that doesn't mean that person is actually any good at negotiating.

This is usually solved by the protests being significant enough to force the other side to come to the table. That’s the point at which protesters choose spokespeople.

As for workers’ strikes, labour unions have generally been successful in getting most of what they want.

Boru