Jul 27, 20
Filed under: Action, Analysis, Anarchist Movement, Featured, Police, The State, White Supremacy—It’s Going Down
Thousands took to the streets across the so-called United States in solidarity with the ongoing rebellion that began following the police murder of George Floyd and in support of those in Portland, Oregon who for the past two months have been resisting a brutal occupation by local and federal law enforcement.
Actions took place both in smaller and rural towns, especially in the Pacific Northwest, as well as in big cities, where massive clashes lasted into the early morning hours. Actions ranged from banner drops, marches, and rallies, to full-on riots and militant marches, often involving thousands, in cities from Seattle to New York. The size of the demonstrations shows that the rebellion that began in late May shows no signs of slowing down, as popular rage against the police over the death of George Floyd and federal brutality in Portland is only growing alongside anger at the burgeoning pandemic and increasingly visible class war.
Like the rising wave of labor and rent strikes, the actions on July 25th point towards a deepening sense of both proletarian militancy and consciousnesses that has yet to be dulled or recuperated by either corporate party. Despite an attempt over the past two months to divert #BlackLivesMatter back into the wider neoliberal project, its clear to many that the Democrats have largely no desire nor ability to either drastically defund the police or put up any fight against Trump’s attempts to flood cities with federal troops. On the contrary, as Ted Wheeler, the Mayor of Portland has recently shown, regardless of his harsh rhetoric against Trump, the police which he controls have been working directly with federal troops on the ground for weeks, while carrying out nightly acts of violence against protesters, journalists, and anyone unlucky enough to be caught in their crossfire. Meanwhile, other Democrats have embraced Trump’s “surge,” under the guise of “fighting crime.”
Garrett Foster, 28, was shot and killed by the driver of a vehicle which drove into a Black Lives Matter march in Austin, Texas. Foster was pushing his girlfriend’s wheelchair at the time. After the shooting, far-Right trolls online spread false information, that Foster opened fired first, which has now been debunked.
The actions over the weekend also highlight the continued deadly threat of the far-Right, as in multiple cities counter-demonstrations were organized in an attempt to push protesters off the streets, however, none of these attempts seemed to garnish any degree of success. However, in both Aurora, Colorado and Austin, Texas, vigilantes driving cars into groups of protesters in an attempt to murder them – and in Austin, they succeeded. In Eugene, “Back the Blue” counter-protesters also fired off guns and in one instance, an armed stand-off took place. While the far-Right has yet to successfully counter-mobilize against autonomous social movements in a real way, their ability to engage in one-off acts of violence and murder continues to claim lives.
Meanwhile, Trump, Attorney General Bill Barr, and Chad Wolf at the DHS all continue to double down on their “send in the troops” strategy, while Trump’s numbers continue to tank and polls show even formerly solid “red states” turning against him.
While much of this represents cracks in Trump’s suburban and elderly support base due to the coronavirus, there’s no question that there is growing anger over his response to the rebellion and his push to send in troops to Portland.
Those on the streets fighting have expanded this conflict and helped generalize the struggle; bringing in more and more sectors of the population. Trump is now in a strange position. If he withdraws, he looks weak at a time when Republicans are already plotting for a world without him and Fox News is even giving him a hard time. If he continues to double down, he also risks the rebellion expanding.
Just as with Occupy, the Prison Strike, or the fight against DAPL – when both corporate parties realize that social movements can’t be recuperated and defanged, they seek to shut them down and split them along lines that benefit State power and alienate the public from them. pic.twitter.com/7frjRYkaAO
— It’s Going Down (@IGD_News) July 26, 2020
![“If They Touch One of Us, We All Respond!”..¡Si tocan a unx respondemos todxs![deutsche/español/english/turkish]](https://thefreeonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/solidarity.png?w=802)
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