Notices by My camera shoots fascists (mikal@sfba.social)

"A Mountain" flag protest up close for scale.
I'll have more #TeslaTakedown pics from Tucson later.

After the #TeslaTakedown protest in Tucson today, a group went to the iconic "a mountain" and hung an upside down flag

Hanging upside down flags on local iconic landmarks should happen everywhere. After the one in Yosemite on El Capitan, the meaning is widely recognized. It is an easily reproducible meme-action.

#Tucson #Protest

#TeslaTakedown #Tucson #Protest

This is a large, busy intersection with people lining both sides of all four cross streets. Constant honks and waves from vehicles going by. I don't have an estimate on the number of people, but it was quite a respectable number and a very lively crowd.

@skinnylatte @sindarina

Facetiousness aside, the advantage to a lot of European (very broadly inclusive) countries are things we don't have like healthcare, efficient transit, less gun violence, and so on. If I had frictionless freedom to move, I could go to southern France or Italy and do the same migrant support work I do here, with a similar climate, but not have to worry about healthcare. So, you know, there's that.

@sindarina

You are ruining this American's fantasy version of Europe. I need to pretend there is someplace vaguely civilized in this world that I could run away to 😱

It should be pretty clear to any federal employees by now that they have virtually nothing to lose by taking direct action. "What are they gonna do, fire me? Lol."

Also, naming and shaming any supervisors who are Trump collaborators, and threatening to prosecute them later, might slow their zeal a bit.

General strike of ALL federal employees, with office occupations to prevent traitorous supervisors from accessing records, firing people and so on.

Injury to one is injury to all. If every office is occupied and every door is locked from the inside and all computers have had their passwords changed, that would shut down DOGE or at least create a massive amount of friction and give the public a rallying point to support federal workers and oppose Trump.

This is part of the problem. For most of us, there is no focal point for rage or protest. But an occupied federal office would be a great place for the public to surround, set up tents in front of and provide support to striking and occupying workers inside. And there are federal offices virtually everywhere.

There aren't enough National Guard troops to break up every occupation.

No one needs a union to start this. This is the perfect time for a wildcat strike. And for those who are doing directly life-saving work, others can go on wildcat sympathy strikes.

Damn, if Americans don't need to learn their labor history. No time like the present.

The Kapp Putsch, which I've referenced here before, was a coup attempt that was thwarted largely by mass non-cooperation of civil servants.

The people in these offices, especially if they remain in them and use their access to lock the system up, have the power to stop this and bring the government to a screeching halt in a way that will gain public support.

I mean, what does anyone have to lose? And it would give all the rest of us a direct action to support. I think the response would be massive.

Forget performative one day boycotts. Every federal employee should show up at work tomorrow with a couple days worth of food, a sleeping bag or a couple of blankets, and a willingness to fight.

I'm in a little rural town in Arizona. Right here is a National Wildlife Refuge office. 30 miles away is a National Monument (NPS) headquarters. 130 miles away in Tucson there is a major federal building and probably a lot of satellite offices. Phoenix has a ton of offices. There are federal offices everywhere.

This is the advantage of a federal employee wildcat strike and occupation. It gives virtually every American a place to go and act in solidarity. And it takes virtually no organizing or logistics to launch. Anyone can do it anywhere.

Even if employees at some of these small offices don't want to occupy them, they can shut them down and call in sick in solidarity. Take vacation time or sick leave and ask the public for support. Hack the local website with a "wildcat strike" message. Fly the flag upside down. Hang banners spray painted on sheets out of office windows. Lots of creative possibilities.

This is the little square. Right out in front of the Gold Museum in Bogotá.

A funny trick I learned a while back when traveling in foreign countries: if someone gets too pesky trying to sell you something, just look at them and say "I don't speak English." no matter what language they are talking to you in.

I did that sometimes to the cops in Hong Kong when I was photographing the protests in 2019. They'd yell at me to move in Cantonese but I would respond that I didn't speak English. It always confuses people for a few seconds, enough time for them to find someone else to bother.

Written on the back of one of the vendor stalls in the little plaza.
#Punk

It's a lot quieter than when I was here last year. All the vendor stalls weren't here then, so there was more room.

A whole pedestrian street of bookshops in Bogotá.

#Caturday in Bogotá #StreetArt

I'm not Goth (okay maybe I have a tiny bit of inner goth), but I think visiting cemeteries in strange cities, especially old ones, it's kind of fascinating.

No self-respecting Goth who visits Bogotá should miss a trip to the cemetery.