THREAD: I’ve represented people the government views as “terrorists.” Here’s an incomplete set of reasons why calling yesterday “terrorism” is not a good idea:

If the goal is to trigger accountability: the DOJ has *plenty* of tools to investigate, prosecute, or otherwise hold accountable those who conspired to break the laundry list of laws that were broken yesterday. I’ll let those more prosecutorially-minded list them out.
The govt regularly prosecutes activities it labels terrorism without ever actually charging a crime of terrorism. On the flip side, it charges not actually dangerous, but marginalized, ppl with terrorism-related crimes all the time. Here's a @HRW on this: https://t.co/XtYSb7aBk5
(h/t @tarekzismail for work on that report). While there, note how when they set their minds to it, FBI/DOJ have manufactured “terrorists,” deploying informants, entrapment, and the like. Not just in Muslim communities, also Black liberation & other mvmts portrayed as "Terrorist"
If the purpose is discursive, ask: what work does the Terrorism word do? What did the “War on Terror” designator do? It just stokes fear and clouds our ability to talk about root causes, understand different forms of violence & protest, and different relationships w the state.
This then opens the door to “terrorism experts,” permits the deployment of anti-terrorism funding, agencies (FBI, DHS, etc) that have repressive power and who do not share our goals. They will use their authorities, as they always have, to go after Black, Brown dissent & protest.
For example, we know the FBI knew about white supremacist infiltration of police departments for a v long time and has barely lifted a finger https://t.co/iB3vcbkb3D h/t @alicesperi
But instead, the developed an absurd framework justifying their surveillance and investigation of BLM activists, concocting weird labels like “Black Identity Extremism” and then “racially motivated violent extremism” https://t.co/4BgvnItmZ4
or of course, of Muslims under (debunked and completely flawed “Radicalization” theories). The brilliant @assuss has helped shine light on one example of the mind-boggling scope of these programs https://t.co/KHMCgLBZ71
Under the “terrorism” designator, these agencies mobilize insane resources to infiltrate mosques & target religious communities. Here's our client, giving a glimpse of what happened when the FBI tried to coerce him to spy on his community https://t.co/fFTOOgvHq3 h/t @CUNY_CLEAR
This is where the Terrorism label leads. I know we’re angry, and many are actually feeling terrorized. That’s legitimate. But it's a trap. Let’s build on mvmt calls to question the role of law enforcement, including here, when they appear to be the problem, not the solution.
So many other really smart ppl have made this argt v thoughtfully. Applying an abolitionist lens, @atiya_husain reminds us that "the racial history and significance of the concept is constitutive of [the concept of] terrorism." https://t.co/iHlExtNlz4 (this is a must read)
Also @dcli thouroughly breaking down how "counterterrorism" is inextricably linked to US imperialism and how the industry of terrorism 'experts' - those who will be called to opine on & implement the current push - is, well, racist (listen for more nuance) https://t.co/76b3dpq08z

More from Government

Long thread: Because I couldn’t find anything comprehensive, I’m just going to post everything I’ve seen in the news/Twitter about Trump’s activities related to the Jan 6th insurrection. I think the timing & context of his actions/inactions will matter a lot for a senate trial.

12/12: The earlier DC protest over the electoral college vote during clearly inspired Jan 6th. On Dec 12th, he tweeted: “Wow! Thousands of people forming in Washington (D.C.) for Stop the Steal. Didn’t know about this, but I’ll be seeing them! #MAGA.”


12/19: Trump announces the Jan. 6th event by tweeting, “Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!” Immediately, insurrectionists begin to discuss the “Wild Protest.” Just 2 days later, this UK political analyst predicts the violence


12/26-27: Trump announces his participation on Twitter. On Dec. 29, the FBI sends out a nationwide bulletin warning legislatures about attacks https://t.co/Lgl4yk5aO1


1/1: Trump tweets the time of his protest. Then he retweets “The calvary is coming” on Jan. 6!” Sounds like a war? About this time, the FBI begins visiting right wing extremists to tell them not to go--does the FBI tell the president? https://t.co/3OxnB2AHdr
This is a good piece on fissures within the GOP but I think it mischaracterizes the Trump presidency as “populist” & repeats a story about how conservatives & the GOP expelled the far-right in the mid-1960s that is actually far more complicated. /1

I don’t think the sharp opposition between “hard-edge populism” & “conservative orthodoxy” holds. Many of the Trump administration’s achievements were boilerplate conservatism. Its own website trumpets things like “massive deregulation,” tax cuts, etc. /2

https://t.co/N97v85Bb79


The claim that Buckley and “key GOP politicians banded together to marginalize anti-Communist extremism and conspiracy-mongering” of the JBS has been widely repeated lately but the history is more complicated. /3


This tweet by @ThePlumLineGS citing a paper by @sam_rosenfeld and @daschloz on the "porous" boundary between conservatives, the GOP and the far-right is relevant in this context.


This is a separate point but I find it interesting that Gaetz, like Roy Moore did In his failed Senate campaign, disses McConnell. What are their actual policy differences? MM supported taking health care away from millions, a tax cut for the rich, conservative judges, etc. /5
I don't normally do threads like this but I did want to provide some deeper thoughts on the below and why having a video game based on a real world war crime from the same people that received CIA funding isn't the best idea.

This will go pretty in depth FYI.


The core reason why I'm doing this thread is because:

1. It's clear the developers are marketing the game a certain way.

2. This is based on something that actually happened, a war crime no less. I don't have issues with shooter games in general ofc.

Firstly, It's important to acknowledge that the Iraq war was an illegal war, based on lies, a desire for regime change and control of resources in the region.

These were lies that people believed and still believe to this day.

It's also important to mention that the action taken by these aggressors is the reason there was a battle in Fallujah in the first place. People became resistance fighters because they were left with nothing but death and destruction all around them after the illegal invasion.

This is where one of the first red flags comes up.

The game is very much from an American point of view, as shown in the description.

When it mentions Iraqi civilians, it doesn't talk about them as victims, but mentions them as being pro US, fighting alongside them.

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