What are the rules of engagement for a mob of highly-equipped men, with layers of protective clothing, against a woman wearing no clothes?
That was the situation in Portland on July 18. The woman was as unidentifiable as the men, wearing only a mask and a knit cap. She appeared, danced, and then sat to expose her vulva to the men. Photo showing nudity after the fold.
The men shot pepper balls at her feet, in contrast to the rubber bullets and teargas they have shot at other protesters. About ten minutes after she arrived, the Portland Oregonian says, the men left.
What are the rules of engagement? We have seen the pseudo-military mob attack a man in sweatshirt and knee-length shorts for speaking to them about their presumable oath to the Constitution. We have seen them attack the Wall of Moms and Leafblower Dads, seemingly without provocation. A clothed woman who danced with flowers was roughly taken into custody.
The contrast between the heavily armored and equipped men and a woman covering only her hair and nose and mouth echoes the disparity between police bodies and black bodies that the Portland protests have commemorated – in particular, the death of George Floyd, who was wearing ordinary clothes while the armed and armored police crushed out his life and breath.
Clothing protects. Layers of Kevlar, pads for elbows and knees, breathing apparatus against the irritants they intend to deploy, rip-stop fatigues, helmets, and heavy boots and gloves protect easily injured human skin and bones.
Protection is necessary for anticipated violence. But anticipating violence often prepares the way for it. The woman’s nakedness said that she anticipated no violence, and those anticipating violence directed little of it her way.
Do the Rules of Engagement for the armed mob say anything about attempting to de-escalate tensions? To mediate where possible? Do they list appropriate and inappropriate actions in response to “the enemy,” aka citizens in the streets? Do they take into account the power difference between agents of the state and ordinary citizens?
The difference in physical power between a naked woman and men dressed for combat is absolute. But there are other kinds of power. The men left the area without assaulting and detaining her. Another photo, from two years ago, also speaks of a physically vulnerable woman’s power in contrast to heavily uniformed men.
In the older photo, the woman is lightly clothed and impassive. She seems in control of the situation. Her strength and lack of fear are similar to that of the Portland woman. She was taken into custody just after the photo.
The women’s legitimacy lies in their existence and their lack of fear. The men have a physical legitimacy in their gear: expensive, provided by the state, protective of their physical person. The legitimacy of their behavior has not been validated by the authorities, who have gone to some lengths to make the men unidentifiable and who have not made the rules of engagement public.
The Portland woman may be calling on another sort of legitimacy. Femininsts have rediscovered Sheela-na-Gigs carved in churches in the British Isles. They take the same position that she took toward the men, which may be a position of power and protection for those behind her. That is the interpretation that some feminists have taken of the Sheela-na-Gigs, but we don’t know their meaning.
Once again, the Trump administration has mistaken violence for effectiveness. The Portland woman reminds us there is another way. We need to ask whether restraint and mediation are any part of the protected men’s rules of engagement.
Cross-posted to Balloon Juice
Patricia Kayden
The two women in those photos is amazing.
Baud
“I thought she was armed.”
John S.
Wow. That is an incredibly powerful image of a woman warding off a squad of men armed to the teeth with nothing more than her lady bits.
Baud
Seriously, though, this is why we need more women in power.
Another Scott
Women will save us all, if we let them.
Thanks Cheryl.
Cheers,
Scott.
wvng
It seems that their only rule is to make great macho visuals for Trump’s re-election campaign. Or at least what they imagined would be great visuals. Beating the libs is the next obvious step in owning the libs.
catbirdman
Probably my favorite PJ Harvey song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AF3H-cG-sk4
jl
Native American folklore says there used to be teeth down there. The feds needed to flee for their lives, obviously, despite all the amour and guns. Barr will say she was a terrorist
Edit: looking forward to some Cheney saying that if there was a 0.0000001 percent chance she was a threat, she should have been nuked.
oldster
I’m glad it worked, once.
But it will not work many times.
When you win a battle by appealing to your enemies’ remaining shreds of decency, then on the rematch they will lose their decency rather than lose the battle.
And these particular thugs have very little sense of decency, honor, or scruples left to lose.
Ruviana
In 19th century southern Mexico Maya women lifted up their skirts in an effort to repel Mexican soldiers. First thing I thought of when I saw Naked Athena.
I’ve also seen some criticism that the protests began over Black lives but have become a site of white performance and Black erasure. I have my own thoughts about that but would love to get some other opinions
The pic from Baton Rouge in 16 is still to me one of the most powerful I’ve seen.
Ken
Reminds me of the confrontation scene in the movie The Public, directed/written by Emilio Estevez. Which is a bit of a spoiler, sorry.
jl
The combination of delusion and desperation is fascinating. I hope the sense of desperation is justified.
@swin24
“At one point last month, the president privately asked in a meeting if his people could organize more boater events and even inquired, “Are we polling the boaters yet?” as one of the sources recounted…”
https://twitter.com/swin24/status/1287821142070300672
artem1s
I think FYWP et my comment. Can someone check to see if it is in moderation?
Kay
My beef is with the leaders of the Trump police, not the individuals. Why are they there? Who put them in this impossible situation where they’re all dressed up in war garb but protesters are civilians.
Of course it’s a disaster. It was planned by idiots. None of the Trump people thought about how this was supposed to end. They were only going to be able to arrest a tiny slice of the protesters, for the simple reason that the vast majority aren’t committing crimes. Their presence has now quadrupled the numbers, so their problem gets bigger and bigger. They can’t arrest them, so what’s the plan now?
They somehow managed to create a quagmire at a courthouse in a US city, which is I guess what happens when you hire a lobbyist to run it.
BruceFromOhio
From the article:
A true show of force – the para’s and all their gear up against one naked woman who did not want to be protected. It almost goads the para’s into rational thinking.
Almost.
@oldster: I fear you are correct.
WaterGirl
@artem1s: It is not. Nor in spam or trash.
Haroldo
It’s been many, many years since I’ve read it, so my memory may well be playing tricks on me, but this evokes Tom Robbins’ Skinny Legs and All.
Baud
@Kay:
Sure they did. Trump would act macho, and his poll numbers would improve. That’s how it was supposed to end.
trollhattan
Here’s the CHP Commissioner meeting George Floyd protesters on the California Capitol steps in June. I’d prefer more of this.
LongHairedWeirdo
I’d say this is a Republican thing, and Trump is just as inept at using it as he is at everything.
When W was caught flatfooted, what did he do? Authorize torture and kidnapping and abuse. They’re sure that if only you call off the “rules” and stop “coddling terrorists” by, you know, not harming, kidnapping, or killing non-terrorists, and not relying on torture, which is barbaric, and won’t result in actionable intelligence.
By now, any of the Kool-Aid drinkers are convinced the only reason crime hasn’t been stomped out is that not enough force has been used, because of namby-pamby (air quotes, please!) “rules” and “civil rights”.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
I would love to believe that women will save us, but for the most part, suburban white women have been in the vanguard of leading American society down dark pathways. You don’t get Emmett Till, a shitload of Karen calls, rampant consumerism or a plethora of space/resource wasting malls without suburban white women.
Patricia Kayden
MomSense
The extended video of her effortlessly walking through the crowd before she did yoga in front of the stormtroopers was magical. It was like Moses parting the Red Sea the way the crowd moved as she walked through.
trollhattan
@LongHairedWeirdo:
Never forget Gonzo and John Yoo and Bush’s regime of torture, copying Nixon’s declaration that if the president does it, it can’t be illegal. Nobody ever paid a price for their crimes. Nobody.
RobertDSC-Work
I have to say that seeing these DHS clowns in Multicam uniforms has turned me off to that pattern in perpetuity.
MomSense
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
And WW keep voting for the assholes.
artem1s
@WaterGirl: hit submit and the page went all white. could not back out or resend. thanks for looking.
Ohio Mom
It might not be a particularly sophisticated reading of the image of the nude woman in Portland but my very first reaction was to snort and think, “They’re afraid of girl cooties! Bunch of wussies.”
Kay
@Baud:
Oh, they’re all so arrogant. Barging in there and jeering at the mayor. If there’s anything a mayor of Portland understands it’s protesters. They can’t fight these people! 99.9% of them aren’t violent and the most they could be picked up for is trespassing, and even that would require them to get beyond the fence. It isn’t going to work. It’s like fighting a parade.
James E Powell
A very large percentage of Americans – probably the same as Trump’s ~40.5% – always equate violence with effectiveness and strength.
Another Scott
@Ruviana: +1
That reminds me of a Mystic Britain show on the invasion by the Romans that wiped out the Druids. The Druid women fought with the men and apparently were quite fearsome – the sailors were afraid to come ashore because of their screaming and displays. Ultimately, it wasn’t enough, of course.
https://www.smithsonianchannel.com/shows/mystic-britain/isle-of-druids/1005751/3482682
I think our women will be more successful!
Cheers,
Scott.
Cheryl Rofer
@Ohio Mom: That’s a legitimate way of thinking about it.
WaterGirl
@artem1s: are you on a phone or a tablet? i wonder if it hung and you bailed before it could post?
Kay
A mediator would actually be great in this situation but as we all know there’s not a chance in hell the manly men of the Trump Administration would ever try just talking to people.
They’ll be standing at that courthouse “fighting” the dancing lady with the flowers until Trump leaves office, because their leaders don’t actually give a shit about them.
BruceFromOhio
More on Naked Athena, a.k.a “Jen”. She states the she is a “non-Black person of color”.
Cacti
This protest method will likely only work for white women. I can’t imagine Trump’s gestapo would show any restraint toward a naked woman of color.
And a naked man of any race would likely end up with several rubber bullets to the scrotum.
Ken
@Patricia Kayden: Don’t worry, I’m sure once the DHS troops arrive they’ll be able to reverse that. Once they’re out of quarantine, of course.
Baud
@Cacti:
Fixed.
MagdaInBlack
@Patricia Kayden:
Wow. 3 days is all it took to turn Chicago around. Who knew?
raven
And in support of this we cite Atlanta :
Cacti
@Baud: Can’t argue with that either.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Cacti:
To be fair, I’d probably have to pop off a few rounds at some dude’s junk just because. And I’d chuckle a couple of times as it happened even to somebody on my own side.
I mean, I might be pushing up at the end of my 50s, but that shit is still funny.
joel hanes
@Another Scott:
But remember that Marsha Blackburn, Virginia Foxx, Sarah Palin, Ainsley Earnhardt, Dana Loesch, Tomi Lahren, Chanel Rion, Laura Ingraham, Ann Coulter, Kaitlin Bennet, and others of their ilk exist.
On a couple of occasions I’ve dived down the Qanon/MAGA rabbit hole on twitter — about a third of the most fervently deluded seem to be women.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Baud:
“There’s always a chance” as an internal male phrase should be trademarked.
Rihilism
Thanks for sharing the photos and your perspective! Wonderful post!
Subsole
@leComte:
“I’m Johnny Knoxville. Welcome to Portland.”
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Subsole: EXACTLY!
I’d be like “dude, that’s brave and all, but what else did you expect? Let me find you a bag of ice while I see if somebody got video….”
bucachon
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: white women’s complicity in racism is as obvious as the inclusion of the identifier “white.” White society is flush with racism. The identifier Suburban however I think is a misdirection. It is also an urban, rural, exurban, island, etc issue.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@bucachon: Good point.
Ruckus
@John S.:
Those things are scary!
The reality is that these over armed over armored guys are there as a show of force to show how strong shitforbrains is. Notice that he does this thousands of miles away, almost as far away as he can get.
I just wonder how much of what he’s doing is suggested by one or two people who are probably more chickenshit than he is and work behind the scenes trying to prove how manly they are by getting him to deploy troops to harm peaceful people and create disorder and discord in the vain hope that their insane political views prevail? shitforbrains is gullible enough, dumb enough, insane enough, hateful enough to go along if it is sold to him in a deranged and insane enough way.
Enough of the possibilities, this is about as perfect a method to show how really insane our right wing really is. The world they want does not and can not exist, it’s been tried before and failed every time. It’s limitations are phony, it’s structure doesn’t account for real life, it’s methodology harms the vast majority badly, and it’s asininely stupid. This woman exposed them for what they are and that we do not have to be them to prevail.
And yes, I used that specific language for a reason.
Ohio Mom
Cheryl: My later thought was, What a intelligently presented reminder our our shared humanity.
We all started out at that same female portal; we came into this life naked and we will go out naked, in the sense that there is nothing we can take with us to the great beyond.
The woman’s slow, measured pace took her out of the frantic tempo of everyone around her, also a nod to the eternal truths of human existence. Those truths are always there if we stop to listen and look for them. Usually we are too busy to do so though — and who is “busier” than those silly soldiers?
But that is all really the flip side of “girl cooties, yuck!”
jl
@Cacti: “And a naked man of any race would likely end up with several rubber bullets to the scrotum.”
They’re open carrying a baton. Clear lethal threat. Shoot them balls asap is just common sense safety precaution.
Ken
@Ohio Mom: Pity she’s dealing with people for whom “intelligent” and “symbolism” are epithets.
Another Scott
@joel hanes: Yeah, there are more than a few horrible women, too. I should have been a little more specific. But as a general rule, I think it still holds. (COVID response, etc., etc.)
Cheers,
Scott.
Subsole
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
God, I can picture it.
Who do you think would actually do it?
I vote Dunn or Wee Man.
BruceFromOhio
@raven: Did you pay your tab before you left?
bucachon
First two stories.
a friend was flying back from Toronto to the states. Customs it turns out happened before you got on the plane and she and her girlfriend were late. Customs stopped them put their bag up on a table and asked “Were the two of you at the anarchist gathering [1988?]?” They said no, knowing full well that when the agent unzipped their bag the first thing he would see is various literature from said gathering. He unzipped it and my friends girlfriend reached in quickly and grabbed her vibrator. She raised it in the air and asked “Is THIS what you’re looking for?” They quickly closed the bag and sent them on their way.
a couple of friends were in Rome at the same time then president Reagan was and they went to the protest. As they got closer they were stopped by Italian military. They were stopping and searching everyone’s bag. My friend reached into her bag and found her tampons and raised them up and asked “Is THIS what you’re looking for?” They sheepishly let them pass immediately.
Ruckus
@Patricia Kayden:
Amazing what not creating a violent atmosphere can do.
Also in the second picture, the guy standing behind the chief, obviously a high ranking officer – the scrambled egg on his hat, but look at the number of ribbons on his chest. Yes I’ve seen military officers with a slew of ribbons, like they’ve been in every battle, in every war, for the last 200 yrs. This guy has more of them. He’s a cop. He gets up and goes to work at the same place every day and is decorated like a xmas tree at Macy’s. It’s obscene to me.
Jay Noble
I’ve been waiting for a thread to comment on Naked Athena!
She could have danced across the scene and left and the stormtroopers would have gone right back to what they were doing.
She stood alone in front of them and they shot pepper spray at her feet. She made them nervous.
But then she sat down and spread her legs. In effect sending two messages “You stormtroopers need a better target. Here ya go.” and “Come on, Pussy Grabbers. This is what you said get anytime. Come and get it!”
They turned and ran. Naked Athena Got up and walked into the night.
Cheryl Rofer
@Ohio Mom: Exactly.
And another encounter:
Cheryl Rofer
@bucachon: I have put tampons at the top of my bag for similar reasons
Salty Sam
That’s one way of looking at it. IMO there’s something much more powerful at work.
”Naked Athena” and the woman in Baton Rouge’16 are powerful because they are so vulnerable. They are the essence of non-violent resistance, and their action completely DE-legitimize the DHS goons. In Portland, they became temporarily powerless in her presence, I suspect because at some level, they realized how much they were being delegitimized by her. Same with Baton Rouge ‘16- look closely at that photo, those goons are rocked back on their heels by her powerful presence. And of course, there is always the Tienamen “Tank Man” standing down a long row of tanks in 1989.
As much as I have taken heart in the BLM protests since they started, I think the time has come to stand down. Trumps goons are being assisted by people who “just want to watch the world burn”, and it is playing right into his screenplay.
By no means do I think that forces of justice have “lost” if they stand down- but a change of tactics is called for.
Non-violent resistance is the most powerful tool there is to enact change, but it is not quick nor easy, and “warriors for justice” cannot let themselves be drawn into the violence- that is exactly what Trump and his goons want.
Ruckus
@BruceFromOhio:
The writer’s bio at the end is something else. Worth reading.
RonB
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: I have noticed this too with white woman being extremely racist and loud. It is not women savings us, it is learning how good men and women equally work together that will save us.
bucachon
The two photos are also different because of who they are.
One of the beauties of this years protests have been their ubiquitousness, longevity, and a societal wide movement. A protest for black trans lives with thousands? We are in different and exciting days.
but I worry that the protests in Portland right now have lost the narrative of black lives matter. We are now all responding to trumps secret police. Don’t get me wrong that’s bat shit crazy sadism going on. But the battles in the streets are now about the battles in the streets.
I heard a leader of the naacp of Portland shaking his head over Athena. He had a prudish tone I will admit. But he felt as if the movement’s message was getting lost.
don’t get me wrong rebellion is good. But we as white people are joining one already in progress.
trollhattan
@joel hanes:
Jesus, don’t list those all together in a single paragraph, it’ll summon the antichrist or something.
zhena gogolia
@bucachon:
I notice on our weekly church Zoom prayer session that there’s a white lefty guy who always has to say something like, “It’s bigger than BLM,” or “the struggle is many things, not just BLM.” Drives me CRAZY!
trollhattan
@Cheryl Rofer:
That would get you kicked out of a gun range in a heartbeat. “Not cool!”
Salty Sam
Bingo!
Salty Sam
Naw dude, it really ain’t.
catclub
@Kay:
My thought with the Vets Wall and the Mothers Wall was that they have probably learned a lot from the HongKong demonstrations.
Yutsano
@bucachon: The white coördinators of the various protest arms are working in collaboration with the local BLM leaders. That’s getting washed out of the news reports probably on purpose.
bucachon
@zhena gogolia: there’s this economic theory that if you ran the economy so that black women were doing good then as a society everyone does good. The truth it is bigger. There’s climate change, health care, working conditions and wages, etc. But if we look at those situations through the idea that black lives matter, I believe that theory holds up.
im trying to find the name of the economist whose idea this is. I heard her on planet money I believe. Will look for a link later
John Revolta
This brings up an interesting question. Where are the women among all these “peacekeepers”? Normally the cops would send female officers to arrest a female suspect in a case like this. If there aren’t any females in this bunch of ridiculous cosplay soldiers- why not?
Cheryl Rofer
@Yutsano: Yes. I’ve been following closely the developing Wall of Moms in Albuquerque, and they are working with the local BLM leaders.
The point of the “Wall of” groups is to protect the BLM people with their privilege – white moms, veterans.
brantl
@trollhattan: And that’s why the continue. If Nixon had gone to the slammer with all his “little fish”, I expect this never would have happened. Damn Gerry Ford to hell, a million times.
piratedan
@zhena gogolia: and I can really get why the BLM leaders are concerned, it’s a double edged sword… your movement is finally being supported by millions of people. Message sent, received and acknowledged and you have people making a tangible show of support by being there, with you… and what does the media do? They stop talking to you and start talking to the white people.
The interview with the Navy Vet summed it up succinctly in that he kept trying to shift the focus back to the BLM message and the BLM leaders and the media just pretty much behaved as if they’re not important enough to put on camera or record what they have to say. I want to be an ally to BLM, I do not want to subvert their message or their work and our media is fully complicit for how this is perceived and digested by a large part of the nation.
Cheryl Rofer
@John Revolta: I’ve been wondering that since DC. I think I’ve maybe seen a couple of women in pictures of the armed thugs max.
cmorenc
Trump & Admin are also mistaken thinking that it’s possible to sell normalization and re-opening when across the vast majority of the land, everyone in the grocery store, hardware store, bank etc. are wearing masks, which is a sharp daily refutation that the old normal is safely possible for quite awhile to come. True, Trump and his acolytes have huckstered an unfortunately significant minority to recklessly defy this normal, but it’s quite obvious that their efforts to spread discredit and disdain for mask-wearing aren’t working on the vast majority of the public.
Salty Sam
This.
joel hanes
@Cheryl Rofer:
I don’t think that’s going to work so well for me.
H.E.Wolf
A shout-out to Julia Chikamonenga, who famously used this traditional tactic in the 1960s in Northern Rhodesia (later Zambia), as part of the non-violent Cha Cha Cha protest movement against British colonial rule:
Vern Huffman, “Stories from the Cha Cha Cha”, in The Impossible Will Take a Little While: A Citizen’s Guide to Hope in a Time of Fear (2004).
zhena gogolia
@piratedan:
Yeah, it’s maddening.
germy
Subsole
@John Revolta: Because the soggy bastard who picked these troops cannot envision women busting heads. And that is all they are there to do.
Which shows you just exactly what these fuckers know of the world they aspire to rule.
gwangung
A) Naked Athena was Asian. That has its own privilege (which she took full advantage of). If it was a naked black woman, I almost believe they would have shot her, naked or not, woman or not.
B) The PARTICIPANTS I believe are properly deferring to black leaders. But in summoning a broader response (which both BLM and the 1960s civil rights movement have both done), there WILL be a focus on white participants…because both media and wider American society are trained to focus on white people. And THAT is a result of the pervasive white supremacy that infests wider society.
I offer no solutions to the latter, only that it exists, and it is something that needs to be accounted for
(Or what @piratedan: said).
Calouste
@bucachon: Black Lives Matter is for a large part about police brutality. These protests are also about police brutality. Of course, we shouldn’t lose sight that BLM is mostly about the police brutality that Black people endure in day-to-day situations, rather than dealing with the riot(ing) police, but the underlying causes are the same.
Ohio Mom
Jay Noble and Salty Sam:
This is why I said this piece was very intelligently constructed: it allows for multiple, overlapping interpretations — among which I count both of your sets of observations and assessments.
On another note, while even in my youngest, fittest years, I never looked like the Portland nude, I look exactly like all those lumpy, bumpy middle-aged moms. I feel such a camaraderie with them, that is my people in those yellow tee shirts.
Spanky
Can we conclusively say that these guys are not, for instance, Russian? I assume some are Americans just for communicating with the protesters/prisoners, but most, I would assume, never open their mouths.
Ken
You’re both right, by Mel Brooks’s definition: “Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you fall into an open sewer.”
Bill Arnold
@Salty Sam:
Yeah, these women are doing the the essence of non-violent resistance.
Violent acts committed by protesters give the fascist-types in control at DHS, and the POTUS and his authoritarian-wing supporters, something to talk about.
I’m fairly angry about the “protesters” who have been flashing green laser pointers at the eyes of cops and DHS para-cops. Green laser pointers can be extremely bright. That shit, if it does permanent damage, and it can if the lasers are strong enough, is roughly the moral equivalent of firing non-lethal projectiles at protesters and sometimes hitting them in the face. Gives DHS spokespeople something to talk about.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protocol_on_Blinding_Laser_Weapons
https://treaties.un.org/pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=XXVI-2-a&chapter=26
(Yeah, tear gas is a war crime too.)
germy
Scott Alloway
@bucachon: Back in the 70s put condoms at the very top of my carry-on on a trip to Canada by boat. Very quick look and go…
Had forgotten about that until now.
Bill Arnold
Compact piece by Timothy Snyder:
Twenty Lessons on Fighting Tyranny from the Twentieth Century (October 3, 2018, Timothy Snyder)
Mike in NC
Trump and Barr are trying to create an American version of the Ukrainian “Berkut” riot police that were used to attack protesters in Kyiv several years ago. The Berkut eventually started sniping at people at random to terrorize them. If somebody dies in Portland or elsewhere, Fat Bastard will deny any responsibility.
Salty Sam
I was reading an old favorite the other day, Heinlein’s “The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress “. There was a meeting of a revolutionary group, and the protagonist voiced an aside : “if you want to know who the police stooge is in your revolutionary cell, look for the guy who continually calls for violent tactics.”
The laser pointers, the fire starters, etc, may not be the cops themselves, but they are playing right into the cops game plan.
gwangung
That….is not going to work on the Black community.
Adam L Silverman
@Kay: Read this, then your beef can be with the actual personnel too!
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jul/27/trump-border-patrol-troops-portland-bortac
bucachon
https://www.npr.org/transcripts/883110397
The economist’s name is Janelle Jones
Salty Sam
Thanks Adam, good article.
I previously posted about a joint ICE/CBP raid on the harbor where I lived in 2017, to round up undocumented deckhands on oyster boats. This was in the first year of Trump’s term, and I have no doubt it was a “muscle flexing” operation.
The thing that struck me while I watched it unfold around me was the unfettered glee on the faces of the officers participating. There was the feeling in the air of “we’ve finally been let off the leash and can run wild”. It only reinforced the feeling I had the night Trump was elected, that this shit was going to escalate.
The rank and file personnel in Trump’s Brute Squad is as fully invested in this shit as their leaders.
Miss Bianca
@H.E.Wolf: So…uh…we need *more* naked women? OK…
John Revolta
@Salty Sam: This reminds me of what happened in NYC after Rudy got elected. People told about being beat up in police stations by gleeful cops yelling “It’s Giuilani time now, motherfucker!
Chief Oshkosh
@Cheryl Rofer: There’s another photo of the twerp with the shotgun, taken from his left, in the twitter thread you linked to. His left forearm has a hell of a tat. Surely the twitter sphere can identify this shitbird based on that. Looks like something I’d expect to see on a Russian mafia dude’s arm. Sure does not look like something a run-of-the-mill DHS employee would have.
H.E.Wolf
Well, I dunno. :) I was reminded by the Portland protester that this form of speaking truth to power has often been used in African protest movements.
It looks as though there’s an interesting recent book on the subject:
https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2020/02/dramas-desperation-book-examines-naked-protest-africa
Cheryl Rofer
@Chief Oshkosh: I saw that photo and noticed the tat. Certainly looks identifiable. I stay away from trying to identify individuals from pictures, though. Too much harm has been done that way.
Hopefully some folks at the ACLU or another organization planning to bring suit are doing that investigation and will bring it to court.
It is indeed quite a tat
patrick II
The CIA strip prisoners to make them feel vulnerable. To me, If there is one thing I admire most about Naked Athena, it was her purposeful self-determined vulnerability. She heightened the contrast between people ready to go to war on civilians and a clear picture of the physical not-threat but heroic nature of the civilians they would wage war on.
It won’t work twice, but it was a remarkable moment.
Aziz, light!
Forgive me if I don’t join the amen chorus for Portland’s middle-of-the-night rage-a-thon.
Last night someone painted “FEDS HIDE HERE” on the walls all around my workplace, the Portland federal building. For our safety, we employees are no longer allowed to enter the building. Yes, most of us are teleworking, but some still need to access our files and printers and mailroom. Some of our people have been hounded when they came out; last week someone threw rocks at the car of a clerical worker as she exited our garage. Almost all the people who work in this building are employees of the U.S. Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management (yes, the BLM), and the Internal Revenue Service. To the morons in the street, we public land managers and accountants are no better than Trump’s mercenaries. This will not end when Trump is gone. The vandalizing of everything in our city associated with government will continue, because now it’s a cultural meme, good for entertainment value. The more national attention, the more damage. I expect our local nihilism party to go on indefinitely. No, I don’t approve of the administration’s thugs, but who should prevent the Hatfield Federal Courthouse or the Multnomah County Justice Center from being firebombed? Are these institutions fair game?
On Saturday I went in and took photos of some of the many public facilities and private businesses that have been trashed in the downtown core, including numerous minority-owned food trucks completely smeared with spray paint. Cheryl, may I send you some photos to post?
Hey, no irony in painting “BLM” across the front of a Mexican or Arab or Thai food vendor’s menu board, right?
Mary Ellen Sandahl
I think a lot of the effectiveness of Athena’s and the African women’s demonstrations lay in instant shock and inducing shame or embarrassment. The British official was embarrassed to the point where he had to leave the scene. Suddenly seeing a naked person in public has an impact on people of a culture like ours, that has no normal social public sanction for nakedness, even in little children, that’s very potent and instantaneous. The astonished witness has no idea how to behave in response, and the sense of disorientation and loss of self-possession is overwhelming, plunging him or her into a paralyzing welter of embarrassment.
There’s a lot more than that going on in the Portland situation, but I think that’s at the core of it. And maybe at the heart of the Sheela-na-Gigs, too. One of the ancient Irish tales says that the women of Ulster used the same method en masse to snap the warrior hero Cuchulainn out of one of his savage battle-frenzies, to prevent his massacreing his own men.
Ohio Mom
Interesting to hear about other times throughout the world when women have used being naked to make a political statement, and sometimes even change the course of events. Maybe we can count Lady Godiva’s apocryphal ride too?
For me, seeing the nude Portland woman as the latest in a historical chain gives her performance added weight.
Finally, does learning she identifies as a sex worker change how we see her? I can’t help but wonder if she doesn’t have a certain amount of cynicism about men as a group.
Another Scott
@Chief Oshkosh: https://twitter.com/yfn_ratchet/status/1287799681368485894/photo/1
is the photo you’re talking about I assume (I doubt that it’s the original, but it’s what came up). Yeah, that’s pretty distinctive.
:-/
He must be sweating up a storm with all that gear on, breathing through that respirator, being stressed out by a young woman with a smart phone, etc.
Grrr…
Cheers,
Scott.
Another Scott
@Aziz, light!: Once the situation deteriorates to vandalism, it’s usually outside the control of the sensible protesters.
But sensible protests are needed to bring about the change that is needed now.
I’m sorry that you’re caught up in the bad parts of the protests. Fingers crossed for you and your colleagues. Hang in there.
Cheers,
Scott.