cross-posted from: https://piefed.social/c/politics@lemmy.world/p/2474069/ice-is-reportedly-using-a-palantir-database-to-compile-dossiers-on-protestors-engadget
An attorney representing protestors said this infringes on First Amendment rights.
cross-posted from: https://piefed.social/c/politics@lemmy.world/p/2474069/ice-is-reportedly-using-a-palantir-database-to-compile-dossiers-on-protestors-engadget
An attorney representing protestors said this infringes on First Amendment rights.
Actually, they serve two purposes.
One is visibility. They let the public and the state know there is a strong public objection to what is going on. It lets quieter objectors know they are not alone.
And two is provocation. All the state needs to do is work around the protest, and manage it as gently as possible, but too often they give into temptation to send in riot control and bust heads. Fascists are totally into the power trip.
When they do put down protests brutally, it rallies onlookers to the cause. Bystanders become sympathists. Sympathists become activists. Activists become militants. This is standard COIN theory and has been for a very long time.
The US should have learned this lesson during the International War on Terror, during the 2014 Ferguson unrest, during the 2020 George Floyd protests. But this regime is not big on learning things.