Resistance To Trump’s Plans To Create Detention Camps And Deport People
US History Provides Examples
“Seven Rings Of Protection” – Including “Violent Crowd Action”
Many people are searching for ways to resist the Trump fascist program, particularly with respect to Trump’s threats to deploy the military to crush domestic protests, to round up people in detention camps, and to jail and deport millions of people.
There are many examples in US history that provide a road map of resistance and rebellion.
One of my favorites and relevant examples to our current struggle of resisting Trump’s fascist program is the history of local revolts to sheriffs in their attempts to seize the property of people in 1780’s Pennsylvania, see:
In the introduction to his book, author Bouton frames the key questions he will explore:
… the question remains: how Democratic was the Revolution? To what extent did the Revolution actually democratize government and society? How much power did “the people” really wield? How responsive were the new governments to the interests and ideals of ordinary americans? What kind of democracy did common folk want from the Revolution? And how happy were they with the version of democracy the Revolution brought? In short, if it was a Revolution “by the people”, to what extent was it also a Revolution “for the people”?
Chapter 3: “The Gospel of the Moneyed Men: The Gentry’s New Ideals“ has strong parallels to our current Trump experience.
In this chapter, Bouton recounts how the greedy bankers and land owners ( “the Gentry”) sold out the common man and the democratic notions of the Revolution – and how “the people” fought back:
Amid the chaos of war, the Revolution in Pennsylvania reached its decisive turning point. The turning point was not a military loss or victory but rather a radical rethinking by the gentry of what they wanted the Revolution to be. In a stunning reversal, many genteel Pennsylvanians abandoned the vision of ’76. They did not just give up on the ideal of empowering white men: the gentry, in fact, made a complete about face. They began condemning the Revolution’s democratic achievements and started calling for important decisions to be removed from popular control. Much of the gentry also replaced its support for wealth equality with a new belief that the only way to make America great was to put most of the money and land in the hands of the wealthy. In short, during the war, much of the gentry came to embrace ideals that had far more in common with the beliefs of their former British masters than they did with the ideals of 1776.
Bankers, greed, privatization, concentration of wealth, private corporate power, exploitation of labor, appropriation of land, voter suppression, Feudal Oligarchy – sound familiar?
Bouton sees how the resistance was based on “7 concentric rings of protection”:
During the 1780’s, ordinary Pennsylvanians constructed elaborate resistance networks designed to shield themselves from the harmful effects of state policies. … the first [rings] were formed by county revenue officials who tried to thwart tax collection. The second ring was composed of county justices of the peace who refused to prosecute delinquent taxpayers and collectors. The third ring was formed by juries who acquitted those accused of not paying their taxes. The fourth ring was composed of Sheriffs and constables who would not arrest non-paying citizens. The fifth ring involved ordinary folk attempting to stop tax collection and property foreclosures through non-violent protest. Ring 6 was people trying to achieve those same goals through violent crowd action. Ring seven was composed of self-directed county militias that refused to follow orders to stop any of this protest. During the 1780’s, these seven rings of protection – each a clear example of popular democracy in action – formed a barrier for defending both property and popular notions of a just society.
Chapter 4: “The Sheriff’s Wagon: The Crisis of the 1780’s” tells the story of the economic crisis that triggered the people’s resistance and rebellion.
Bouten writes that the Sheriff’s wagon was to many Pennsylvanians:
the most potent icon of the Revolution’s outcome. The image was this: the heavily loaded wagon of a county Sheriff bearing the foreclosed property of debt ridden citizens. The power of this icon came from its ubiquity. During the post war decade, the Sheriff’s wagon could be seen nearly everywhere. With its load of foreclosed property, it struggled up the gullied roads of the backcountry …. and rattled down the bumpy cobble-stone streets of Philadelphia, the richest city in the new nation. As was to be expected in a largely agricultural society, the wagon made most of its stops at the homes of small farmers. Yet its flat wooden bed was just as likely to hold the confiscated tools of a blacksmith, the grindstone of a miller, or the inventory of a small merchant.
But, unlike today’s apathy in many quarters, the common folks didn’t just sit back and take it.
In Chapter 5: “Equal Power: “The People” Attempt to Reclaim the Revolution” , we get to the heart of the book.
During the 1780’s, ordinary Pennsylvanians launched an attack on the gospel of moneyed men and the hard times it created. These people demanded that State leaders save democracy by ending the policies that concentrated wealth amongst moneyed men. They called for new policies to make weal
When will people circle the wagons and resist the Trump fascist regime?
Resistance is as American as apple pie.