Disclaimer: I’m just some guy on the internet, so be critical. But not just of me, but of much of what you read and see online. Especially now with AI. Don’t think you’re too intelligent to fall for propaganda. No one is. Propaganda can seem like it is agreeing with you, yet still manipulate you by things like agenda setting, framing, or targetted encouragment of cynicism, inaction and voter supression.

Anyway, I see a lot of comments online advocating violence. I would advise caution.

Fascists love painting themselves the victims for propaganda reasons. Trump used the assassination attempt to get elected. Charlie Kirk was turned into a martyr for the cause almost instantly. In Nazi Germany, they made a song about the supposed martyrdom of Horst Wessel. Last I heard, it’s still uncertain whether the Reichstag fire was a false flag, but what is certain that the Nazis used it as an excuse to consolidate power. This is almost certainly part of the calculation behind ICE. If someone starts shooting at ICE, this allows them to portray them as martyrs. This means that even if you win a battle against often heavily armed agents of the state, you ultimately end up losing the war.

My conclusion from some of much of what I read, and from talking with family who have lived under fascism, is that you’re often better off working to rule, being a stickler, engaging in weaponized incompetence, malicious compliance, spreading gossip and dissent, and stuff like that. Less likely to endanger you or your family. Especially true if you’re in a full blown authoritarian regime. You live to fight another day.

For example, blatant sabotage in Russia would quite probably result in your premature death. However, doing a sloppy job on maintenance, scraping stuff by accident, putting too much pressure on tools or wearing out the head and thread of screws and bolts, forgetting to lock a door, not oiling stuff properly so locks or machines seize, ‘accidentaly’ giving the enemy the location of important facilities, over tightening or under tightening screws and electrical contacts, letting the rain get in where it shouldn’t, running engines full blast when they’ve not warmed up, and similar oopies might lead to a similar result without much of the risk. Stabbing tyres or caltrops? Dangerous. “Oops I dropped some nails and/or blocked a road?” Less dangerous. US example: deliberately leaking files? Possible jail sentence or severe career consequences. Pretending to be an idiot who doesn’t know how to properly censor stuff and simply uses a black highlighter or where they can easily be accessed? Likely you’ll face far less issues.

So, instead of self defense classes, consider organizing community groups, connecting with people who think like you, get to know your neighbours, find ways of communicating even if the internet is down, find ways of warning (whether it’s honking your horn, whistles, or something high tech like mesh networks) each other if ICE is in your neighbourhood so you can run or hide, learn how to be truly anonymous online if you need to be, share information, share resources, make plans, … hell, start with a book club, then weed out people who aren’t untrustworthy or support what ICE is doing.

And when you do protest, because you already know the people you’re protesting with, you can be more aware of agents of the state who act as provocateurs and attempt to incite violence. That strange guy who suddenly joins you? Walk away. Leave him on his own.

When protesting think about privacy and think about the imagery. Have grandma at the front, not some young guy in a balaclava. Dress in funny clothes so they can’t claim you’re dangerous. Wrap yourself in the American flag so they can’t claim you’re unpatriotic or foreign. Film where possible, covertly if necessary, and share the information.

Once again, this is just me spitballing. Make friends, get to know your neighbours, share information and tips with them, make plans, look out for each other. And don’t be too reliant on the internet. It’s being heavily monitored, it’s full of propaganda and bots, and it can go down quite easily.

Setting aside the cognitive dissonance of “everyone else is the problem” that generally erupts as main-character syndrome, there are communities such as Street Medics already on this. You don’t really want to spin something up in reaction.