First They Came…

On the Green Line with the Black Bloc (DC, October 2010)

If there are three consistent threads in all the protests that I’ve attended in the past few months, it’s that (1) someone inevitably recites Niemöller’s speech “First They Came…”, (2) they generally get the groups wrong in a manner that reveals their loyalties, (3) they always miss its point.

Still, it’s interesting to see both Tea Party members and Anarchists use the same framework for portraying to the public that they have been victimized, nevermind the histrionics. Personally, when I hear a Glenn Beck-follower keep the Communist verse, or likewise with A.N.S.W.E.R. and the Jews, those eight lines may stop invoking nausea.