Trump’s Fascistic Use of Federal Agents Provokes Resistance
By the Editorial Board
Contempt is the only appropriate word to summarize the feeling of the
people with regard to the increased federal repression against
protesters in Portland and other cities across the US. Ultra-reactionary
President Donald Trump is making good on his fascist speech delivered last month at Mount Rushmore,
deploying federal agents under his executive order which authorized the
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and other federal agencies to
provide “troops to assist in the protection of federal monuments,
memorials, statues or properties.” Trump has concentrated these agents
in cities which he sees as swinging too far to the left.
US Border Patrol and Customs have been documented arresting
protesters on public streets nowhere near federal property, and worse,
they have done so secretly, kidnapping protesters and forcing them into
unmarked vehicles. Border Patrol has long deployed fascist tactics
against undocumented workers along the southern US border, and similar
tactics are now being utilized in this interest against documented and
US-born working people in the context of the May Uprisings and the
movement against police.
In spite of numerous arrests in Portland during the first wave of the
May Uprisings, Trump considered the local Democrats too soft on
suppressing the rebellions and ordered in the federal agencies.
The increased repression from the highest levels of the US
imperialist state has not quelled the protests, in fact, it has only
intensified them. Over the weekend, the Portland Police Association
office was broken into and set on fire. Protesters were also successful
in dismantling the fence erected by federal officers only hours after it
was set up to protect the federal courthouse. In protests throughout
the week, several fires had been set close to the courthouse. Many have
used umbrellas, shields, fireworks, leaf blowers, and other items to
protect themselves from teargas and projectiles fired by the federal
officers.
Solidarity actions with the Portland protesters have been called for
across the US. The action of the federal government is throwing gas on
the fire. It is an unstable and desperate attempt to snuff out the wave
of rebellion following the murder of George Floyd, which was the spark
that ignited the great May Uprisings across all major US cities as well
as many smaller towns. Trump hopes the federal police will strike fear
into the hearts of the people, but it is only pushing them further
toward rebellion.
Federal police, including the Border Patrol, US Marshals, and
Homeland Security have made a concerted effort to crush the protest
movement with brute force. Even the ruling class monopoly media outlets
have drawn similarities to the activity of fascist regimes who kidnap
dissenters. The news has covered the use of tear gas, the unmarked
vehicles and unmarked agents in military fatigues who have detained and
arrested protesters without stated reason, transporting them in
blindfolds to secret, undisclosed locations.
Numerous videos have surfaced online of actions that many segments of
the ruling class itself question as illegal. Trump himself expressed
that the more than 50 days of rebellion in Portland were “worse than
Afghanistan,” which exposes the role of imperialism at home and abroad
as a brutally repressive force, as well the fact that Trump considers
the federal invasion of Portland to be a warlike maneuver to put down
insurrection. He is currently testing how far he can enact this force
within the US borders.
Donavan La Bella
On July 12, the federal agents shot Donavan La Bella in the face as
he held a speaker over his head, inflicting serious injuries that will
require reconstructive surgery. Law enforcement has carried out similar
atrocities against protesters throughout the uprisings, such as the the
shootings of Austin youth, Justin Howell and Brad Levi Ayala, both shot directly in the head by rubber bullets. Howell’s family stated that he has permanent brain damage.
In video of another incident from Portland, federal officers are seen
wildly swinging a baton at 53-year-old Navy veteran Christopher David,
who withstood the attack mostly without budging, only backing away after
agents shot pepper spray at point-blank range into his face. His hand
was broken in the encounter. He said he was motivated to protest after
seeing the kidnappings of protesters, telling local news, “I was very
concerned about that because if the federal government can do that,
anybody can go to the store and buy… used combat fatigues, get an
unmarked minivan, and then go off and abduct people off the streets.”
Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler has called for the removal of the federal
troops, and accused Trump of using them as his “personal army.” Wheeler
referred to the statements from Trump and the Department of Homeland
Security as “an attack on democracy.”
Regarding the legality of federal policing in Portland, federal
regulations gives US Customs and Border patrol agents authority to
operate within 100 miles of any “port of entry” or land and coastal
borders, which includes more than 2/3 of the US. Nominally, they are not
allowed to arrest US citizens without reasonable suspicion of
immigration violations, however it is a known fact that Homeland
Security departments regularly flout regulation without any legal
repercussion.
Mayor Ted Wheeler affected by tear gas shot by federal agents.
On Wednesday, Wheeler joined the protests in a bid to win public
support for his upcoming election, positioning himself on the front
lines. He was decried by activists who told him that it was not “a photo
op.” As he spoke, Federal officers deployed teargas against the
gathering.
Wheeler also operates as the local police commissioner, and his
temporary sympathy should not be confused with a pro-people agenda. The
Democrats and social democrats seek to make electoral gains on the backs
of the people’s struggle while not doing anything to curtail the
government’s repressive rampage. This is stock-in-trade political
opportunism on the part of the Democrats and not a real contradiction in
the ruling class.
A few days after the federal deployment, the Democrats signed a bill
authorizing a $50 billion increase to DHS funding. Not only will the
imperialist ruling class not curtail these fascist tactics, they are
actively funneling the resources necessary to continue it. The poverty
of the Democrats’ electoralism is apparent in their failure to address
the issues and the opposition of the ruling class’s liberal wing is only
rhetorical.
Trump’s approval rate is plummeting to all-time lows, and he is
banking on a ‘law and order’ strategy to reenergize his base. The
desperation of the most reactionary and terroristic sections of the
ruling class is motivating dangerous power moves in the midst of the
current economic crisis, which gives impulse to fascist trends. As many
have observed, the kidnapping tactics that have been employed by federal
agents are ripe for imitation by civilian fascists, who may attempt to
replicate them in order to disappear protesters and militants off the
streets. Situational awareness and alertness are a must for all
activists to defend against these threats.
The Democrats call to “unite the country” against Trump’s
“divisiveness,” but this is only a call for ruling class unity so they
may end the uprisings and protest movements in ways that most conform
with their interests of conducting exploitation as usual.
In a speech on Wednesday, Trump doubled down on the use of federal
agents, stating that Americans “must insist that community officials
fully support, fully back, and fully fund their local police
departments.”
Citing increased homicide rates in cities run by “liberal Democrats,”
Trump stated that he would expand “Operation LeGend,” named after
LeGend Taliferro, a four-year-old Black boy who was murdered in his home
in Kansas City, Missouri late last month. The operation could expand
into cities such as Chicago, Albuquerque, New York, Philadelphia,
Detroit, Baltimore, and Oakland. Trump opportunistically utilized the
death of a young Black child to expand the terror that police enact upon
Black people across the United States.
In spite of the massive display of force in Portland and elsewhere,
Trump’s gambit is only giving further energy to the protest movement
against police murders of Black People. The federal agents are not
invincible storm troopers – protesters in Portland have been getting
more organized on the ground, and carried out numerous de-arrests, at
times even pushing agents to retreat back into the federal courthouse,
which is awash in anti-police and pro-people graffiti. The federal
forces have been hunkering down in the courthouse as the protests begin
to swell again, and this last weekend saw thousands in the streets,
united in their demand for the federal forces to leave Portland.
Trump will undoubtedly persist with his fascist rollout of federal
troops in American cities, but the people have already shown their
capacity and readiness to fight back against the open terror of the
imperialists. We can only expect more organized and militant responses
that stand up to the futile intimidation.
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