WARNING: graphic images the year is 2026, and i have been paying all too much attention to the ever-unfolding rollout of techno-fascism in america. i have been paying attention because the city that i call home - minneapolis - is ground zero for testing just how much trump's personal paramilitary can get away with. they're standing against the membrane of the old order, trying to force their way through. they're doing this because time is limited. this is the last term, and trump is old and dying. there is no "trump 2" to succeed him -- the movement dies with the man. and so now is the time to seize control. ... in 2020, there was unrest in minneapolis -- there were riots. half of uptown burned down. i know because i live there at the time. i was looking out over the city from the top floor of my apartment complex, huddled with every other resident. management had evacuated earlier - they didn't bother to board up the ground floor's enormous windows. they just left. we were all out of our apartments because a group of people were in the parking garage one building over, trying to light it on fire. if successful, we'd all have to evacuate. we were paralyzed with fear & shock, together, taking orders from instinct. our apartment didn't burn down that night, but many did. i walked the town the next day - "don't burn, kids live here" was spraypainted on the exterior of many buildings. the gas station was gone. my favorite bookstore was gone. few people remember the masked men, clad in black, who started the riots, then disappeared. ... in the "destroy democracy and seize all power" strategy guide, minneapolis is useful. * people think that the residents burned minneapolis down. * minneapolis is a sanctuary city. * minneapolis is known for its welfare programs. * minneapolis is extremely liberal. * minneapolis is in the middle of nowhere. you can see why fascists would find this appealing. an unpredictable city that is likely to respond to unrest, potentially violently. a political battleground - you can wage war on liberals, welfare, and immigrants at the same time. everyone likes to imagine the fascists as simple, stupid, reactionary. but they have been operating with intent, and are very dangerous. to be clear - this is their plan: * deploy a paramilitary to minneapolis. ~ "OPERATION METRO SURGE" * test the boundaries of their power. * if the residents react violently, escalate. ~ "MINNEAPOLIS IS A PLACE OF VIOLENCE AND UNREST" * blame crazy residents. and immigrants. oh, and somalis. and fraud. * escalate from "immigrants" to "political enemies" * probably starting with queer people * violence * escalation * narrative control destroy a safe, inclusive, caring city, because it contradicts the narrative. re-characterize it. will people believe their eyes? ... but minneapolis turned on them. instead of violent resistance, the fascists were met with organized, peaceful observation a network of neighbors willing to risk their lives to bear witness willing to be beaten. arrested. killed. ____________ | rip, | | renee good | ______________ * poet. * mother. * fighter. *D̷O̶M̶E̴S̴T̸I̴C̵ ̴T̶E̷R̶R̸O̴R̴I̸S̴T̴. please read the following poem of hers in full. On Learning To Dissect Fetal Pigs i want back my rocking chairs, solipsist sunsets, & coastal jungle sounds that are tercets from cicadas and pentameter from the hairy legs of cockroaches. i’ve donated bibles to thrift stores (mashed them in plastic trash bags with an acidic himalayan salt lamp— the post-baptism bibles, the ones plucked from street corners from the meaty hands of zealots, the dumbed-down, easy-to-read, parasitic kind): remember more the slick rubber smell of high gloss biology textbook pictures; they burned the hairs inside my nostrils, & salt & ink that rubbed off on my palms. under clippings of the moon at two forty five AM I study&repeat ribosome endoplasmic— lactic acid stamen at the IHOP on the corner of powers and stetson hills— i repeated & scribbled until it picked its way & stagnated somewhere i can’t point to anymore, maybe my gut— maybe there in-between my pancreas & large intestine is the piddly brook of my soul. it’s the ruler by which i reduce all things now; hard-edged & splintering from knowledge that used to sit, a cloth against fevered forehead. can i let them both be? this fickle faith and this college science that heckles from the back of the classroom now i can’t believe— that the bible and qur’an and bhagavad gita are sliding long hairs behind my ear like mom used to & exhaling from their mouths “make room for wonder”— all my understanding dribbles down the chin onto the chest & is summarized as: life is merely to ovum and sperm and where those two meet and how often and how well and what dies there. she is executed: renee's last words were "i'm not mad at you", as she sympathized with the enemy. ____________ | rip, | | alex pretti| ______________ * VA nurse * father * husband * legal gunowner *D̴̲̜͉̭̽̎̐̒̎́̂́͘̕̚Ǫ̴̢͔͇̠̼́̓̾̆̾͑̍̀̈͑̅͋͝ͅͅM̷̤̹̬͍͙̮͔̝̤̻̖̖͙̝̤̺̜̬̌͛̋̿̓̽͆͋̕̕Ȩ̵̦̞͇̲̳̱͍̎̏̓́̎͝͝Ś̴̨̨̨̬̰̘̮̺̳͎͈̘̥̖͎̝̟̬T̷̢̛͎̬̬̣͉̖̯͎͓͙̺̲̠̮̩͓̬͗͗̇͑̌̌̍̉͗̿͌̓̋̐ͅÍ̴̳̜͚͊̄̐̾̂̉́̒̃̒͌̒̀̔͋̾̅̚̚͝͝C̶̨͙̲̟̤̱̣͉̓͑̓̀̆̓͛̌͌͝ ̵̢̙͊Ţ̵̛̗̭̰̮͚̙̱̤̙̜̣̞͖̝̈́̋͂͛͛͐͐̒̏̿̄̎̄̏̀̅̋̕͠E̴̢̤͍̗̱͕̗͍̬͗̐͑̂̈́̆́͊̈́̇̏͛̋̇̆̃̚͜ͅR̷̩͈͍̫̬̼̖̤̮͕̫̱̠̼̹̱̟͍͒̿̃̋̓͒̂̎̎̕ͅR̵̢̢̝̹͎̝̻͉̣̪̣͙͚̰͍̳͇͈̫̙͚̀́̊̄̾̈́͝O̴̻̻̼͐̀̋̅͝R̶̘̝̟͙͔̺̙̂͛́̄̚ͅỈ̵̻̮̦̱̪̳̘̠̋͛̀͗̄̈̇̏S̸̨͕̺̟̲̹̤̹̖̦̳͔̝̺̼̻̑̐̋͗̂͗̓̋͗́̈́̓̈́̑̍̚͝T̵̢̻͓̗̗̮̻̱̰̞̲̍̕ͅ please watch alex honor a deceased veteran, by reading a final salute. he is executed: alex's last words were "are you okay?", as he tried to help a woman being shoved. neither renee nor alex were active threats. the night alex died, minneapolis held peaceful, city-wide vigils. it was -20°F, we cried frozen tears, and held each other, still in shock we are a city resolved, to protect our friends and neighbors, standing against the most ugly, awful force, gladly. peacefully. and we will continue to face them, our whistles and phones, vs their guns & permission imagine if the world hadn't witnessed what happened here. all eyes on minneapolis. love, jes