Header: Secret Service agents deployed for a Trump rally in a pole barn off MI-53 in Washington Twp. on April 28th, 2018.
While the kidnapping by Federal agents at 7 mile and Greenfield today was the work of ATF agents, the disturbing part of the NDAA is that these agents can just as easily switch their patches to be deployed under Trump's orders, just like in Portland. Since the US has gone Full Gestapo, we'd like to share these tips for organizers and protesters alike to limit their opportunities to black bag us.
1. End the march where it starts, disperse all at once so they can't pick people off walking back from a second location.
2. Make sure someone who knows your legal name and DOB is aware of where you're protesting, when you should be back, and who is organizing. Organizers, we need to make post-action inboxes a top priority to monitor.
3. National Lawyers Guild Detroit & Michigan Chapter is your friend, if you see someone taken, make sure to inform the brave folks in the lime hats, and if we're following #2, they'll be in a position to coordinate with protest organizers and emergency contacts.
4. This may be controversial, but we'd recommend pausing the intentional arrest strategy. We still expect arrests to happen with militant action, but submitting to cuffs in mass numbers now creates the terrifying question "where will they be sent"? NDAA is a vicious law.
5. If you volunteer for action roles such as crowd safety or medic, make sure you can stay at least an hour past the listed action end time to allow for large group escorts back to demonstrators cars.
6. Bring a change of clothes to every action, make sure you have different articles of clothing that can cover up the physical attributes listed on your driver's license (hair color, eye color, etc.) DPD's facial recog matches people to licenses, so the emphasis must be there.
7. Cover your tats, with tape if needed. One bold anti-fascist that painted "Fuck ICE" on their Detroit HQ was only identified because of a match on an uncovered tattoo.
8. Keep your cameras on the cops or featured speakers/chant leaders at a demonstration. Only film the general crowd from the back or in large, quick sweeps.
Journalists: you've seen how they do you, lets protect each other and follow this rule together.
9. Do not discuss violent and/or criminal activity on Facebook or other social media platforms. This was true before the official landing of the Gestapo but its doubly important now.
10. When possible, use encrypted communication apps like Signal or WhatsApp. Telegram is fairly solid, too.
Burn action chats when they're over, set disappearing message timers, and burn chats immediately if someone in them was kidnapped.
A Wall of Moms cowed these jackbooted menaces in Portland. With numbers, disciplined and solidarity, we can defeat this menace.