A prominent Dorset anti-racism protestor was suddenly given an unannounced visit by police last week. Without warning they came to his house and filming him, told him they had been asked by their sergeant to ‘introduce themselves’ and to ask whether the protestor had any ‘intelligence on future actions’. By response he told them he was off to Disneyland and that a former housemate of his lived in Argentina under the junta and knew activists to firstly be visited by police and then to fall out of helicopters into the South Atlantic. He was left quite shaken up.
Why did they do this? Is it a hardening on protest by anxious authorities seeing Austerity and environmental decay anger the mob, or could it be President Donald’s Trump’s visit to Portsmouth on the 75th anniversary of D Day? I would rather hope it was the latter, though there is new evidence of the former. Let’s look at splatting The Donald with a McDonald’s special first.
McDonald’s special introduced to Trump?
Given the rather amusing habit of anti-fascists of hurling milkshakes at far right activists, on a scale of 1-10, Trump would score the activist 100. It would make world news and show the world us Brits love to take the piss out of and humiliate the far right in our own special way. Getting his toupee sticky and white would make him the laughing stock of the planet (as if he isn’t already). There are other targets too – his family are coming too. These include the daughter so beautiful her father himself would like a one night stand with, and his spoilt brat son who ‘runs the Trump business while his dad is in power’ (as if Donald isn’t).
I rather get the feeling that the authorities are getting a bit twitchy on the matter. One can rather easily imagine commands coming down from Langley in Virginia to keep an eye on potential milkshakers. Known politically active people with mental health issues may well find themselves getting sectioned by the semi secret organisation concerned with keeping dangerous mentally ill people well away from Royalty and dignitaries. Activists harassed. It is better to prevent than to intervene.
If you are planning an action I’d watch your Facebook comments. I’d not communicate on Messenger. I’d only talk on my mobile phone, and send messages via WhatsApp. Emails via an encrypted email system like protonmail.com (make sure both sender and recipient are ready for 256 bit encryption). Better still? Tell no one, get close and get your name on the scoreboard!
The problem for you is the US government has no idea what a sense of humour is. You could be shot in the act or extradited to the States for a long stay in a Federal jail. They will have the last laugh.
The authorities were harassing the wrong bloke it seems. He’d long ago booked a holiday to Disneyland for that week and plans on tasting Normandy calvados until incapable of walking before crawling in a shaky state onto a ferry home on the 7th. All hotels and ferries booked. His interest is in taking a break from work – not being caged for life.
A more worrying thought
Could the authorities be starting a more general crackdown on protestors? Local chapters 
of Extinction Rebellion are forming and large numbers are interested. Such non-violent direct action could be used in a wide variety of circumstances as those royally fucked off with the repressive and unrepresentative government of today fight back. Could we be experiencing a preventative action against serious protest? Could the authorities be trying to mess with our heads to prevent any serious action by local activists on a range of issues from austerity to the environment?
Let’s look at an article published last week in the Guardian: On Friday the newspaper reported, “Police say they may seek to get charges brought against 1,100 Extinction Rebellion supporters they arrested last month as they warned officers would be stretched by a wave of environmental, Brexit and anti-Trump demonstrations this year.”
The paper continued, “Police are anxious to avoid being criticised for hampering protest in a democracy, but also know they have faced anger for “allowing” disruption to drag on.” Protest is by its very nature disruptive and designed to focus the authorities’ minds on the issue at hand. Sadly protest will often tread on people’s toes, whether coating far right activists in a McDonalds Special or stopping environmentally destructive commerce from happening to highlight the cost of that commerce’s activities on the planet. Sadly in the case of the environment, only if you hate your children do you put commerce first. The time has come to radically change direction and to force the issue.
One answer for XR and the other bodies planning action is that should mass arrests take place, the whole judicial system will be gummed up like Donald Trump’s toupee after a direct hit from a milkshake. If people demand a trial by jury the system has lost the game by being unable to prosecute genuine criminals thanks to thousands demanding to be heard by a panel of their peers.
This article is biased
Absolutely, but wrongs are being enacted by the authorities and they need to be highlighted. The far right needs humiliating, even its dog whistling global leader. The environment needs saving urgently. We are in a mess and our leaders have let us down. Let 2019 be a Summer of Love where Love wins over hate and control.
Peace Out.
The author wishes to remain anonymous.
