© R. A. Di Ieso
Six days before Donald Trump takes his oath of office, a group of activists met to plan how they'll voice their opposition
Six days before Donald Trump's inauguration, dozens of people — from college students to gray-haired hippies — gathered in a classroom at American University in Washington D.C. to listen a lawyer offer tips on how to handle getting arrested.
A woman in her late 30s raised her hand. She was worried that, since she's a teacher, an arrest could get her fired and maybe hurt her chances at landing another job.
"We've had teachers get arrested," the lawyer said. "It's not the end of the world." That's likely reassuring, since for many of those in attendance, the kind of disruption that could end in arrest is the goal.
The morning's legal training session was one of several classes offered by a group of anti-Trump activists calling themselves DisruptJ20 — "J20" standing for January 20. The event was a training camp of sorts for protesters aiming to "shut down" the nation's capitol during president-elect Donald Trump's inauguration on Friday.
The intentions of those gathered made the university hosting the event eager to keep the activists at arm's length — American made it very clear that it is not affiliated with DisruptJ20, and those who attended the seminar were asked to sign a waiver alleviating the university of any potential legal action that might stem from hosting a conference where people are essentially trained to break the law.
"American University is concerned that aspects of this program involve training participants to take actions at the inauguration that could potentially put them in harm's way and disobey the law," said Kelly Alexander, an American University spokeswoman.
Judging the day's agenda and the interests of its participants, her concerns — that laws may be "disobeyed" — seem well-founded.
"We're bringing widespread civil resistance to the streets of Washington DC through protests, direct actions, and even parties," said Legba Carrefour, a DisruptJ20 organizer who has been involved in what he calls "radical activism" for about 20 years. In a previous interview, Carrefour told Vocativ,
"We're not just organizing some boring-ass march — we want direct action."DisruptJ20 is not a single entity; it serves as an umbrella organization aimed at helping other groups and individuals organize against Trump. So far, at least
91 different groups have signed on to be a part of DisruptJ20, including several anarchist groups and anti-fascist organizations across the country.At 9:30 a.m. that Saturday, around 100 men and women gathered in the lobby of the university's School for International Studies building, signed a legal waiver and dispersed to various classes across the campus. They trickled back there for lunch, where "vegan potatoes" were served, and some of the older participants shared stories of actions and arrests at protests decades ago, seeming to impress some of the younger attendees.
Alongside the legal class, sessions looked at the effectiveness of road blockades, bystander intervention, how to deal with police if/when protesters are arrested, and "direct action training." When asked how they define that last term, an organizer pointed us to a Wikipedia page, where it's described as a protest method that "can include nonviolent and less often violent activities
which target persons, groups, or property deemed offensive to the direct action participants." (The definition on the DisruptJ20 website is a little milder — it doesn't mention "violent activities.") Nothing violent was suggested or planned in the sessions Vocativ attended, but nor was it explicitly disavowed.
In a another classroom, dozens of activists sat in on a seminar by blockade expert L.A. Kauffman about the effectiveness of past actions in D.C., like the May Day blockade in 1971 protesting the war in Vietnam.
Of that protest, Kauffman said that the organizers chose blockades because they "wanted it to be non-violent but they wanted it to have an edge to it." Approximately 12,000 people were arrested that day in 1971.
"Have your affinity groups, and pick your targets," Kauffman advised.
The morning's legal seminar took activists through the booking process in D.C. and offered advice on what to do if someone were to end up in police custody. Tips included carrying at least $100 in cash, having enough essential medications in their original bottles to last three days, creating password-protection for phones to protect against searches, and writing the phone number to DisruptJ20's legal resource center on your arm.
The attorney leading the seminar assured the activists that the D.C. police have a lot of experience dealing with protests and generally do good work. When confronted by police, the attorney offered a list of dos and don'ts — the "do" list included keeping your hands in plain view and videotaping the interaction with law enforcement. The don'ts include touching an officer and doing anything to escalate the situation like yelling or using profanity.
Several people in the seminar gave tips on how to continue to be disruptive even after an arrest. In previous cases of mass-arrest, activists have given authorities fake names, like the names of people detained at the controversial Guantanamo Bay prison facility, or all give the same name — for example, those arrested could each say "I am Troy Davis," a Georgia man whose controversial execution in 2011 sparked significant protest.
On Friday January 20, hundreds of thousands of people will gather in D.C. to see Trump sworn into office, along with Congress (minus the
several dozen who are boycotting), past presidents, and various other high-profile guests.
First thing that morning, activists will gather at the DisruptJ20 "staging area" at McPherson Square, just north of the Capitol Mall, where Trump will take the oath of office at noon. The activists have planned marches, permitted protests, and other unpermitted protests, including a 10 a.m. "anticapitalist march" on Logan Circle.
"Colorful disruptions will occur right at the Inaugural Parade Route," DisruptJ20 organizer Lacy MaCauley said. DisruptJ20 organizers, she said, "have identified twelve checkpoints that participants will have to pass through in order to attend the inaugural festivities." At each checkpoint there will be "issue-specific protest(s)" on issues ranging from racial justice and immigrant rights, to climate politics and drug policy.
The group also plans to create early morning blockades on the highways in D.C. with the hopes of causing as much chaos as possible.
Given the influx of people to the capital, there will be a significant increase in law enforcement presence. In addition to the Secret Service, the D.C. metro police, and other local law enforcement agencies, an additional 5,000 National Guard troops will be deployed to the city to keep the peace and disrupt the disruptors. Other law enforcement agencies, from as far away as Texas also have been dispatched to lend a hand.
It's not just the cops who are keeping their eyes on DisruptJ20.
About 48 hours after DisruptJ20's Saturday training camp, James O'Keefe, a far-right-wing journalist who uses hidden cameras to 'expose' left-wing groups (often with heavily edited and misleading footage), posted a video on Twitter claiming to show DisruptJ20 activists discussing their plans to detonate stink bombs at inaugural balls and other Trump events.
"Yeah, if you had... a pint of butyric acid, I don't care how big the building is, it's closing," a man who O'Keefe identifies as Luke Kuhn, a leader in the D.C. chapter of the Anti-fascist Coalition, is heard saying in the video. Another activist, who O'Keefe identified as Scott Green, added, "and this stuff is very efficient — it's very, very smelly, lasts a long time and a little of it goes a long way."
DisruptJ20 organizers claim they knew the person recording the video was working against them and that the stink bomb story was a "false flag."
"False plans were discussed with [O'Keefe plant] Tyler," DisruptJ20's Lacy MaCauley said in an email. "They spoke of false plans in order to protect themselves, and did not discuss any real intentions." She went on to call O'Keefe's actions "laughable."
In another secretly recorded video released by O'Keefe, activists associated with DisruptJ20 are seen talking about "throat punching" neo-Nazis if they get "very loud with their views."
If the things in O'Keefe's videos were a ruse, the organizers are still worried about right-wing opposition to their Saturday plans. After getting prior permission to attend from the event's press team, this reporter was removed from a session on Saturday and asked to leave.
DisruptJ20 organizers hope that their massive mobilization of protesters will set a tone of resistance for Trump's presidency — one where people don't simply stand by as he implements the policies he pushed on the campaign trail, many of which are controversial or borderline unconstitutional.
"In my 20 years of doing radical activism I've never seen an uprise, or a social unrest like I have with this," Carrefour said. "And for good reason."
Comment: It would be interesting to know how many of these activists protested the Western-conceived and executed destruction of Libya, the U.S. proxy war being fought in Syria, the coup in Ukraine, the mobilization of NATO forces in Eastern Europe, the antagonistic acts of the US Navy in the South China Sea, and the list goes on...
More on the protests and controversies:
Update: Last night, Trump offered
this message to his supporters:
'I'm going to be cheering you on. You're going to cheer me on, but I'm going to cheer you on,' Trump told supporters who gathered for a pre-inaugural concert.
After defying predictions throughout his unpredictable campaign, Trump even promised a 'beautiful' swearing in when he takes the oath of office on the West Front of the Capitol Friday.
'So I'll see you tomorrow and I don't care frankly if it's going to be beautiful or if it's going to rain like crazy. Makes no difference to me,' Trump said.
'I have a feeling it's going to be beautiful. But I will see you tomorrow.'
The crazies are out in droves, however. One
example:
During a live report on Thursday's "Tucker Carlson Tonight" on the Fox News Channel, a young man protesting in Washington, DC claimed to have started a fire in the street, "Because I felt like it. And because I'm just saying, 'Screw our president.'"
Bikers for Trump are there too, with a message of unity. However, they say they plan to make sure there is
no violence, and they're "absolutely" prepared for physical conflicts if the anti-Trump protesters turn violent. And that has
already happened. One Trump supporter (James Allsup, whose bloody head is pictured at the previous link) so far has been
sucker-punched by an "anti-fascist" protester.
Update: Ohio State is offering an Inauguration "
safe space" for people who just can't handle democracy.
"The purpose of this event is to foster a safe space for the Ohio State campus community to connect with one another, support aspirations, and empower growth and change," organizers state.
The "I, too, am America" event is set for 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and will include three concurrent offerings from noon to 3 p.m.: a screening of the inauguration festivities in one room; another room set aside to "pause, reflect and share"; and a third swath of rooms for teach-ins by grad students, faculty and staff.
...
According to organizers, attending the program will teach students how to "define social justice and identify at least two social justice issues," as well as "identify at least one lesson, idea, tool, or strategy to apply to their academic and personal experiences."
In DC, the National Park Service credentialed
28 protests, expecting over 350,000 demonstrators. Typical inaugurations see only 5 or 6 demonstration requests.
Protests kicked off in the nation's capital on Wednesday night, with an LGBT dance party in front of Vice President-elect Mike Pence's temporary home. That event was hosted by DisruptJ20, a broad coalition of far-left groups.
On Thursday, the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign hosted an anti-war rally, while another group demonstrated outside the "Deploraball," a pre-inaugural party to celebrate Trump's election.
Not all protests are against Trump though. Some people are rallying to show their support for the billionaire businessman-cum-politician.
...
The protests will culminate on Saturday with the Women's March on Washington. That demonstration was organized hours after Trump was elected and expects at least 200,000 people. It comes 100 years after women first participated in inauguration activities, marching after the second swearing-in of President Woodrow Wilson in 1917. That women's march, which had 5,000 participants, helped mobilize support for the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, giving women the right to vote.
They're even protesting in the UK: "
Build bridges not walls" says a giant banner hanging from London's Tower Bridge. Filipinos, too, 300 or so of whom chanted "
Dump Trump" and burned the U.S. flag outside the embassy in Manila.
The BLM and DisruptJ20 protestors
blocked Trump supporters from passing through a barricaded checkpoint in DC. The 'demonstrators' are
smashing windows and throwing objects. Pepper spray is reportedly being used.
Update: An
RT America reporter has been arrested covering the protests in DC:
"I was hit in the face with a flash grenade, it blinded me for a moment and my ears were ringing for a while," Rubinstein said. "By the time I was done being treated and I could see again, we were encircled by police and I was told that everybody present would be arrested. It doesn't matter that I'm press."
The National Park Police have surrounded the group, corralling them with riot shields, Rubinstein said. It's reported illegal to "cattle corral" protesters in this manner, and there is already talk of a lawsuit among the group.
"We're just waiting, the police are filming us, waiting for them to arrest us, surrounded by riot shields," he said.
Update: Politico on the media coverage of the inauguration vs. the protests:
For about an hour on Friday afternoon, TV networks' coverage turned from the inauguration of President Donald Trump to clashes between police and protesters in downtown Washington, D.C., just blocks away from the inaugural festivities.
Fox News correspondent Griff Jenkins had to abandon his live shot as riot police began charging protesters in downtown Washington in midafternoon. "We're media! We're media!" Jenkins repeated during the encounter, as his camera operator turned the lens toward the pavement. "We are OK," Jenkins assured viewers after the ordeal was over and he had crossed the police line. "Part of what that was, which was dramatic, but we just got ourselves caught."
The tense moment, which was aired on the cable news channel, was part of a largely improvised stretch of coverage for television networks and other news organizations, who rushed to cover the protests that occasionally became violent. MSNBC and NBC had correspondent Jacob Rascon on the scene to capture riot police storming protesters and setting off flash bangs and pepper spray, but a crewmember in charge of the audio was hit with pepper spray, causing problems with the audio feed, MSNBC's Rachel Maddow said on the air.
Vehicles being used by the media were affected as well. Former CNN host Larry King said on Twitter that his limo was vandalized. "Protestors in DC smashed the windows of my hired SUV & many other cars. I was working in-studio & am ok, but my driver is a bit rattled," King tweeted. A BuzzFeed livestream appeared to show a Fox News truck being vandalized as well.
All the networks were in the process of covering the inaugural festivities when the clashes between police and protesters broke out. MSNBC and NBC were among the first to switch their coverage, followed by CNN and Fox News. The other networks followed suit. Nearly 100 people were arrested in the ongoing protests.
More coverage on SOTT:
gets tit for tat...