Oh, and which countries are “free”? I’d like to know which state has liberated all its people. I’ll wait.
There is an ongoing pandemic and the global capitalist efforts to downgrade, downplay, and minimise this pandemic for " the economy" mean that it’s even more important to mask, not least to challenge the health supremacy and ableism of this current capitalist culture. Masking is one of the most easy yet powerful ways we can promote safety and engage in intersectional anticapitalism (in times of universal deceit, and all that).
Protests are not about “being seen” as individuals to gain clout or appear cool and edgy, not least with the increased assault on the right to protest.
To truly “believe in the cause” is to act, not attract recognition. Besides, if you want a revolution, you’d better start dressing for the occasion.
I am talking about countries where you don’t get punnished for protesting orderly.
Here in Sweden you won’t get arrested for protesting peacefully.
If you want to stage a protest you need permission from the police, they are required to grant it to you unless it can’t be done safely, then they can suggest a different location for the protest.
A year or two ago, the police did deny permission for a protest where a guy wanted to burn a quran, that was a big deal about it and the police was found to be at fault.
The US has long since lost the “land of the free” title in my oppinion, and I do not count them among the free countries
Here in Sweden you won’t get arrested for protesting peacefully.
If you want to stage a protest you need permission from the police, they are required to grant it to you unless it can’t be done safely, then they can suggest a different location for the protest.
Wow I hope Sweden never has any sort of rightward turn that would suddenly leave your “right to protest” (“peacefully”) (with mum’s permission) very much in the air. I hope you never have to fear they ID’d you at an event where the police kettled things from a protest into a survival riot. I hope you never have to decide whether to pop your phone in a faraday bag. Take the battery out. Never need to hide your face from a government fond of making lists. Never fear gait recognition following you home thru a hundred CCTV cameras. The raid that comes in the night when you realize your freedoms were quite illusory. I hope your protest movement isn’t demonized by the media or arbitrarily designated a terrorist organization.
Fuck your shaming. We don’t protest for glory and clout. We protest because we are human. And some of us land immediately in the crosshairs unless we try to protect ourselves. Am I being hyperbolic? Ask the environmental movement the UK branded as terroristic for highlighting how close to extinction we are. Ask Cop City protestors. Ask Palestinian supporters in Germany. Ask BLM protestors who did nothing illegal and ended up in black vans being intimidated.
Grow up. Freedom isn’t free.
Meh, in my experience, demonstrators wearning masks just want to riot or cause violence without consequences.
If Sweden falls into a dictatorship or similar, I’d gladly revise my stance on the status of Sweden as a free country.
Untill then, if you are protesting, take off you mask and show your face! Else I can’t take the protest seriously
Well that certainly is some words you just said. Enjoy your naivete while you still can. I hope Sweden is always so wonderfully safe feeling. That must be nice.
I hope your country get to this point as well.
Have a lovely evening!
