Mhairi Black MP was being interviewed and the interviewer laughingly said “well, if it’s at Balmoral, it’s out of the way so less protesters” and this was her response:
So Minnesotans showed the fuck up tonight (like we do) – thousands in the street protesting tr*mp’s latest executive disorders. And guess what happened? The old proverb “What if an emergency vehicle needs to get where it’s going” came to life, and the sea went silent and parted to allow it through (swiftly…literally the truck was going about as fast as, if not faster than, it would have been if there had been cars it needed to go around).
Please share this. This was a rare occurrence where an emergency vehicle needed to go through the route of a protest, when usually they have predetermined alternative routes, and it went completely fine. Also for the love of god, have more respect for firefighters/EMTs…they know how to do their jobs. They’re ready for anything, including working around protests.
So folks can stop using that tired old argument now (not that it was ever backed up by sources anyway).
Dude, I’ve seen an ambulance move through the middle of the French Quarter down a street of partiers at a snails’ pace, and nobody was horrified but me. Protesters are better than that.
I was at that protest and I take the bus down that street just about every day, and lemme tell you that fire truck was making much better time through the crowd than they would ever have made through traffic. They barely had to slow down.
I have seen an ambulance, siren and lights going, sit in downtown traffic for twenty minutes plus without moving. That’s not even because people were being dicks, it was just because every street is a one-way, there’s cars parked on one side and buses stopped on the other, and snow piles up on the edges and makes it hard to pull out of the way.
Protesters were out last night trying to help people. We wanted to protect them and make them safe. Not only do we know better than to block an emergency vehicle that needs to get through, blocking it would be the antithesis of everything we were trying to do.
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No no no no no. I wholeheartedly endorse punching, kicking and otherwise bringing the punishment to nazis. I live in a place that is full of plaques, statues and other
landmarks
that remind us all of exactly how important it is to do these things. Nazis were here. People were deported from here. I have no time for ideological waffling about whether it is ~right~ to punch a nazi
But
If you can’t punch a nazi. Because you’re puny and they’re big, or because you’re disabled and can’t run away, or because the risk of being arrested is too great/would potentially ruin you, or for whatever reason that is stopping you from standing up to nazis?
This is something you cando. You can stop them from being heard, and in the process really ruin their day. You can make your environment hostile to them. And you can send a message to everybody around you that nazi speech will get no voice, and that they do not have to stand there and be subjected to it. Who knows, next time you might have a bunch of people joining in.
And if you think blowing a vuvuzela is ‘tooting’ then you’ve clearly never had one blown at you.
Can I just say like… I’m not American so I can’t really know what it’s like out there right now, but I am really proud of you guys. Like, Trump – a man known to have sexually assaulted multiple women – is elected, so the women of your country not only turn out in their millions but they inspire women around the world to do the same in solidarity. He preaches anti-intellectualism, so your scientists host database hacking and saving days to preserve data. He bans government agencies from speaking the truth, so they create rogue social media accounts that spread facts even at the risk of their jobs. He brings in racist immigration bans, causing chaos in airports and huge uncertainties in the lives of real, innocent people, so protesters swarm to the airports, lawyers work pro bono round the clock to get people into the country, and people mobilise to destroy him in the high court in a day.
I know this is awful and it sucks and it’s only been one freaking week, but you guys are doing amazing right now and I am so moved and so proud. It’s gonna be tough and everyone will have to pick their battles and just keep fighting and pushing, and this isn’t how it should be but at least we know there are people with the guts and the gumption to do what they can.
You guys are the sand in the gears.
The collapsible ones are also portable enough that you can keep it in your bag in case you meet a hate speecher on the go. Whipping it out and treating his earholes to your weapon of mass disruption singing him the song of your people would be very satisfying.
Yes on the earplugs. If you’re going to do this, please bring earplugs, and bring plenty to share.
I’d like to add to please only deploy your vuvuzelas when there is something (like hate speech) to disrupt! Don’t just blast them at protests and become a general pain in the earhole to everybody around you.
The redemption arc of the vuvuzela requires closely targeted use.
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