Sadly, when you publish information about folks in the upper right corner - never let your guard down, as they are quite eager to try violence even if they won't prevail. Antifascist activism benefits from staying anonymous.
This type of attacks aren't an isolated occurrence, sadly. I can name a few cases from nearby countries, including one where I live. I will start with the worst:
A catastrophe
Norway: the 2011 mass shooting and explosions by a terrorist named Breivik left 77 people dead. You can read about it from Wikipedia, since it reached headlines and set a precedent in terrorism in these parts of Europe.
Sadly, where the gunman caused most damage - a leftist organization's summer camp for children - had no defense at all. Any competent person with a functioning weapon (not even a firearm - a gunman with an arrow in them is harmless to bystanders) could have prevented great loss of life there.
A bad day
Finland, one year later: no prior instances of terror had occurred, so there didn't seem to be a reason to expect any. However, a new Nazi movement had raised its head. A book by some leftists was being introduced in the library of Jyväskylä. The book was titled "The Far Right in Finland". A Finnish account of the events can be found at the website of Varis, their local network of antifascist activists.
In short: three Nazis from the now-banned organization "PVL" named Sebastian Lämsä, Paavo Laitinen ja Sampsa Muhonen attempted to enter using force, bringing along knives and bottles. Some folks from the local anarchist scene confronted them with chairs. One nazi managed to stab a punk in the back. The nazis were forced to escape and police found them all. The punk was rushed to treatment and the event proceeded.
A smooth ride
Estonia, two years later: a presentation about far right organizations in Estonia was being held. Since we already knew that things can turn out badly like in Finland or worse like in Norway, we took some time to prepare. One person (yours sincererely) monitored the yard of the building involved from a remote location with binoculars, had radio contact with the people at the door, and was ready to intervene with a car. People at the door had more pepper than a van full of riot cops, and had a contingency plan to block the door with a good enough obstacle. Helmets were available in case fists, clubs or pepper would find use. Equipment was nearby which could be re-purposed to defend a corridor against a gunman.
Nazis did send threats. Some even convened in an opposite corner of the yard - but physical agression did not occur. Some folks came to the door and were denied entry after asking them questions. They obviously saw an unusual state of readiness and told their fellows not to try. Meanwhile, I had the privilege to observe a local city councilor (whose hobby at the time was railing about the autonomous social center in council) come to the yard, shake hands with the nazis and also try entering. Since he was a known person associated with the far right, he was denied entry. Nothing happened, all I got was photos of the city councilor shaking hands with nazis.
For those who don't know, Sudan has seen a number of wars during the past 70 years. The longest period of peace lasted about 10 years. Recently, war was mostly contained to southern parts of the country, with the armed forces and the Janjaweed cooperating against southern rebels (I recall hearing about the Janjaweed and their methods already in 2008).
Now the same factions fight each other. Several foreign countries have tried to mediate some negotiated settlement or at least a ceasefire. But some foreign countries have also supported some of the factions.
...and my take: when two or more authoritarian factions fight each other, and have comparable eagerness to violate human rights and commit war crimes, and there's not enough anarchists to make a faction or make a difference... an anarchist can either emigrate, go anonymous or go apolitical. The latter is not a guarantee against being targeted - if random non-combatants are targeted, then apolitical people will also be targeted. It might be best to preserve oneself and wait for warrring factions to burn each other out, maintaining a low profile and helping local people without raising any banners.
After the interrogation, Kozlov was “taken to see” other people detained on the same day: they turned out to be a transgender woman (presumably Mira Lushchaeva, detained in the case of the anti-war telegram channel) and her girlfriend. Kozlov was told that if he performs a sexual act with them he will not be imprisoned. The man refused, after which he was released as a witness.
Wow, what a brave woman doing immensely important work. It’s refreshing to see a new and different take on handling trauma and PTSD. We all need nervous system education after these past few years. I’m seriously considering that course of hers!
UVW’s account was suspended in December and deleted in early January. The platform ignored multiple requests to restore the union’s account. UVW is back on Twitter with the same username.
Two notes here:
One: I'm screaming into a pillow.
Two: Never let anybody tell you that left unchecked, competition will always land on the optimal outcome for a market.
I'm all for using all available resources to get your message across, but placing all your eggs into the same basket that was just blown up is peak stupidity.
They complain decades worth of posts were deleted, but instead of posting it somewhere else and just mirroring it to Twitter they went back to the same platform, with the same leadership and the same policies asking for the same to happen again.
They need to agitate where the people are
I would also argue that people you want to join and support unions are no longer on Twitter. It's owned by openly anti-union child, and operated by Linda Yaccarino, former NBCUniversal’s advertising executive.
Is "placing all your eggs into the same basket" really what's happened here? I don't see it.
I would also argue that people you want to join and support unions are no longer on Twitter. It's owned by openly anti-union child, and operated by Linda Yaccarino, former NBCUniversal’s advertising executive.
You think precarious workers are no longer on twitter because of musk and some exec no ones ever heard of?
You think precarious workers are no longer on twitter because of musk and some exec no ones ever heard of?
No, I don't think passive scrollers are no longer on Twitter. But I know active people that actually engage and support causes they care about are no longer on Twitter.
And secondary to that, unions are invisible on Twitter due to policies and algorithms set by current Twitter leadership. Best example of that being you can't even see posts without being logging in into an account anymore.
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