Useful Protest Ideas (no names)

Remember for tomorrow: a thread.

1/

If you must have a phone, and you can swing it, bring the cheapest burner phone you can find. **Do not, under any circumstances, program a damn thing on it** in case it is lost or taken from you. Be willing to sacrifice it by damaging it. Fewer phones = better.

2/

DO NOT take pictures of people's faces if it can be avoided. You *must* assume that they can and will be using facial recognition software, and you *must* operate under the assumption that your device will be lost/taken. Paranoid? Yes. Unreasonable? Only you can answer that. [Reasonable to me]

3/

**DO NOT** under any circumstances, post videos or photos unedited. Obscure faces. @brobof.bsky.social, this is more your area than mine.

I will not be reposting images or videos with identifiable information or visible faces, and I urge everyone to do the same. Let's keep each other safe.

4/

Wear tight (but breathable and weather-appropriate) clothing. You do not want flowing hair or clothing giving anyone something to hold onto or yank. Conscious about your body? Suck it up and stay safer, sunshine. No one is looking at you and judging you. I promise. Because, y'know, fascism.

5/

Bring a water bottle to drink from, and a water bottle for tear/pepper gas/spray. Again, put on your paranoid pants and assume you'll be gassed. Sometimes, paranoia is healthy and appropriate. They're cute, but leave your tumbler at home, babe. Resealable and fully enclosed bottles only.

6/

If you have access to a respirator, bring it. Bonus if it covers your eyes. If not, a mask may be helpful (and help obscure your identity)

Which leads us into inflatable costumes. Have a plan if your costume's intake valve is gassed. Don't assume you're safe, ever.

7/

Have a plan B. Know your rally point, rally time, and secondary/tertiary rallying points if you have to scatter. Discuss what your red lines are. What will make you leave early? How will you know it's happening? What should you do if your red line happens?

This can be a back of the napkin--

7/ cont'd

Plan, and make sure everyone has a copy. And make sure it's cryptic.

If v [violence,] 1mn [corner of 1st street and main street]. Sec ashsgrave [Ash Street and Grey Avenue] ter [tertiary] h186collve [highway 186 and Collinial Avenue]

So: if v 2mn sec ashsgrave ter h186collve

--

7/ cont'd again

The only thing that matters is that *you* remember what the gibberish means. Your mess of shorthand should be a reminder if you're panicking.

People are disappearing. This is fact. It is SUPER important to know who came back and who may have been grabbed in a worst-case scenario.

8/

People of colour, you're entitled to sit this one out. You -- particularly Black women -- have shouldered the burden of activism in the USA for way, way, waaaaaaaay too long. As have Trans folks. Sit this out and keep your melanated/queer behind safe if you need to. You've earned a rest.

9/

Make as much good trouble as you possibly can.

Get out in such numbers that ol' Cankles McFuckface shits his depends.

Stand up and be counted.

Be able to tell your grandkids that when it mattered the most, you showed the fuck up.

Make Antifa class of 1944 proud.

And stay safe.

Love,

Spark

Oh, and #NoKings -- I'm Canadian and know that the USA made the biggest pot of tea in history because they were pissed they had a king. And they ain't gonna start liking one now.