Portland's Theater-of-the-Absurd Protests Reflect the Ridiculousness of Trump's Lies

"While ICE personnel have been using chemical agents, rubber bullets, pepper balls, and other "non-lethal" ammunition on protesters, Portlanders have been donning dinosaur costumes, clown outfits, and pied-piper paraphernalia or have been shedding their clothes and cycling naked before the camo-wearing government thugs. Others have put on PJs and distributed doughnuts in the early mornings to the bemused defenders of the home front. Protest costumes are even being given away for free on the streets."

"Images of playful protest are going viral, along with taglines like, "From war-ravaged Portland..." Meanwhile, the Oregon Republican Party has taken to posting decades-old images from urban unrest in Latin America -a ham-handed effort to convince viewers that these apocalyptic images are scenes from contemporary Portland and that they merit martial responses. By and large, the national media has ignored the emergence of this absurdist protest movement."

"It doesn't fit the narrative of conflict, and it doesn't easily compute with the notion that there is a raw struggle for power playing out in metropolises around the country. But a remarkable act of political jujitsu is emerging. If you can't beat MAGA and a malignant federal administration at its own violent game, you can at least make the troops look foolish, and in so doing, you can bear moral witness to an unfolding calamity."

Portland protesters are deploying theater-of-the-absurd tactics against deployed federal and ICE personnel, using costumes, nudity, pajamas, and donated outfits to mock camo-clad forces. ICE agents have responded with chemical agents, rubber bullets, pepper balls, and other "non-lethal" ammunition. The tactic set has begun to spread to other sites, including an ICE facility in Broadview, Illinois. Playful protest images are going viral even as the Oregon Republican Party reposts decades-old Latin American unrest photos to argue for martial responses. National media coverage has been limited. Performances and music aim to make troops look foolish and bear moral witness. Greg Ewer played the Schindler's List soundtrack outside the ICE building while agents watched from perches.

Read at The Nation