Resist!

Sue’s art, our ideas. Each person rising up in the ways they can.

During last Monday’s protest I saw a sign held by a woman I suspect is cop infiltrator. Her sign said, “This community loves & supports Jacob Hoppes and all peaceful protesters.”

Why only support “peaceful” protesters in a violent State? Who is allowed to be “unpeaceful”—only those with guns and tazers and body armor?

Before Covid (BC) Portland Buddhist Peace Fellowship held a workshop about the false dichotomy “violent” and “non-violent.” Agents of the State don’t mind well-mannered white protesters who remain respectful of authority, but as soon as people of color become involved, or noise happens, or graffiti, or any action that might be interpreted as insulting to authority, the “moderates” Dr. King warned about repudiate the protesters, complicit with the power of the cops. This splinters those who might rise up. They devolve into arguments about what is violent and what is non-violent. 

So Sue and I brainstormed a response. Maybe another sign, one that might make people think.

“Violent vs. Non-violent is a False Binary.” Too hard to understand.

“What Is Non-violent Protest in a Violent State?” Too many words. We don’t want to foment division, separation, alienation among people who need to work together. How could we support unity in protest?

We came up with a visual image of the power of resistance, based on the Hokusai Wave. Sue painted the image in the time it took me to ride home on the bus this morning. I no longer have Facebook nor Instagram, but we posted it on Blue Sky and Instagram @2q_art, an account we haven’t used except for commenting since 2022, with the phrase, “More of us than them.” Sue is going to make some copies of it and post them on telephone poles.