Since the angry protests against the destruction of Tidemill and Reginald House on Tuesday night, some local politicians such as Joe Dromey, Paul Maslin, Paul Bell and Chris Barnham have been working overtime on the propaganda campaign.
Their main claims, many of them worn out old tropes designed to cause division in the campaign, are as follows:
- The councillors are noble defenders of housing for the poor
- The destruction of Tidemill wildlife garden is necessary to create new homes, this is a zero sum game as there’s simply no-where else in the borough to build them.
- Dromey and Egan were poor innocent victims of terrible violence by an evil mob.
They argue that the protestors were illegtimate because:
- They wore masks
- They weren’t ‘real’ Tidemill campaigners
- They probably don’t even live in the borough, these people were actually a rent-a-mob
- There actions were essentially far more annoying, embarrassing and effective than quiet protest or petitions.
Unfortunately, many campaigners have been engaging in debate with these fuckers on social media, with some distancing themselves from the actions that took place later on Tuesday evening, or condemning the ‘violence’. In particular, many people have unfortunately got sucked into discussions about masks, claiming that actually, very few people there had their faces covered.
WHO CARES WHAT WE WEAR ON DEMOS?! THIS IS ALL A DISTRACTION! DO NOT LET THE POLITICIANS DIVIDE US!
We have every right to protect our anonymity from the cop body cams, CCTV cameras and journalists, and it is often wise to do so. In ‘Why Cover up? The case for protest anonymity’, Netpol argues,
“It is important to remember that public order intelligence gathering by the police is carried out with a deliberate purpose: what some criminologists have called ‘strategic advantage’ and ‘strategic incapacitation’.1 Intelligence is used to understand the structures, sustainability and strengths of protest groups, in order to develop ways to undermine them.
This is why, in incidents of harassment we have repeatedly highlighted, so-called ‘domestic extremists’ have faced visits or letters to their homes. This is why Forward Intelligence Team officers have been known to follow individuals for hours, even days, sometimes when they are with their children or families and even to their workplace. This overt intelligence gathering is undoubtedly also used to identify possible targets for undercover policing and to help ’embed’ undercover officers.”
Those who condemn others who conceal their faces for very valid reasons fail to recognise how they are acting as useful tools of the politicians in shoring up the narrative of good vs. bad protestor, keeping protests inneffectual, and keeping us divided.
DON’T TAKE THE BAIT! WEAR WHAT YOU WANT! LET’S STAY FOCUSED & GET OUT ON THE STREETS!
Mask up!