me: "I'm not going to write an #OpSec post or #Protest101 for #TeslaTakedown or #DumpTrump or #Gaza and #FreePalestine… it's been almost a decade since I was an active organiser and I'm not going to actions anymore because I'm not physically fit enough to be comfortable."

also me: *writes this post*

1. no action or protest is safe, and this includes things like vigils or whatever that are traditionally more safe. even in liberal states and liberal cities. even if the police don't show up, we've been seeing ICE show up to large gatherings of people.

2. consider your risk profile and the risks you're willing to take and the vulnerabilities you might have. can you run when shit hits the ground? frankly if you're not a U.S. citisen I'd suggest you maybe sit things out, as they're targeting and disappearing green card holders who have been loud and vocal on and offline.

3. don't bring your kids to the front if the protest. there is a time and a place to bring kids to protests but politically this is neither the time nor the place. I know there's a lot of people say bring your kids, and it depends on the size of the protest, but just.

if you've brought your children with you, sharpie the name and phone number of someone you'd trust to pick up your kids should something go south on their arms. keep your children on a leash while at the protest or make sure they are very well taught about not wandering away from you.

4. if you've brought your children with you (or any other reason you're more risk-averse), stay towards the middle and the back of the protest.

the very front line is the line most likely to face police or other law enforcement. leaving should be done quickly and quietly, without fuss, so that if there's a rear element to the law enforcement presence they think you're just an ordinary pedestrian. this could mean taking off the zip-up hoodie or taking off the black shirt to reveal a nice normal pedestrian shirt that you have underneath.

5. get a protest buddy. if you're not going find someone else there alone with more or less your same risk level, set a point to reconvene if you get separated, but try to stick to each other and watch out for each other.

6. don't take your cell phone. write your lawyer's phone number or the ACLU phone number on your arm in sharpie. buy your burner phone using decent opsec and don't activate it from your computer.

6a. if you have your burner cell phone with you, do not video yourself or other protestors and put it on social media. this shit is literally getting people disappeared right now, right here in the U.S.; however, with knowledge of the risk it involves given if they see people filming they can be aggressive to or try to demand you turn over the device, you can video the police and any police interactions with the front line. same if you're there as a member of the press.

7. wear non-descript clothing to the protest. running shoes. polarised sunglasses help make identification via eyes less effective. masks are good for protection from COVID.

if you're expecting tear gas or similar, you want goggles rated ANSI Z87.1; 3M C3PN filter cartridge for a half face respirator.

8. tell someone you're going. give them a time by which you're going to check in by and let them know where to start checking if you don't check in.

9. treat the fediverse just like you treat every other social media account. assume all public and unlisted posts (and frankly most locked ones and direct messages as well) are being churned through the NSA's monstrous complex of servers. (this includes folks outside of the US or whose hosting is outside of the US.)

10. expect both police and ICE, especially if it's a flyer you saw circulated on Facebook or even on here. if you saw it so did the NSA, etc. the police are not your friends, and they're not "just" there to separate any counter-protesters from the protest. they will defend the establishment and the status quo, because that's the violence that keeps them employed.

expect that the police have several plainclothes officers within the protest who may try to stir shit. don't let them if you see it happening. don't get in the way of it really even acknowledge black bloc. they'll deal with the undercovers etc.

11. if you have them or can print them, you can print both know your rights and 5th amendment cards with you and hand them out as broadly as you can.

12. try to identify and know where any legal observers (usually National Lawyers Guild) are. legal observers wear bright neon green vests and hats and are not a part of the protest, but their presence there is your friend.

12a. if you are a lawyer or otherwise in the field of law and you want to do something please! consider going to and doing legal observers training! they're really, really necessary, but there's no criteria to be a legal observer other than attentiveness to detail and going through the training.

13. know where and who the medics are. street medics wear white with red stars or other red spray paint.

13a. if you are in the medical field and you want to do something it's a good thing to do. protest medics do not need to be in the medical field but it sure does help. there's a lot of good material out there on how to be a street medic. if you do decide to do so be aware that medics are generally seen as part of the protest by police, and it will not protect you from being arrested, harassed, targeted, etc.

there is so much more. use your common sense. do NOT try and upstage people at the front if it's not your protest and you're there in support, unless you're going, as a white person, to put your white-person-ness and your white body between marginslised people and the police; while mad respect for people who do that, only do that if you actually can do so, with full awareness of the risk it almost certainly carries.

14. bring water, bring snacks, bring meds if you need to take them. what you bring will carry depending on your involvement with the protest, and plenty of other people also have posts about these things.

I spent a good portion of my late teens and early twenties in local activism spaces all the way back to organising May Day walk-outs, but that's another part of my life these days, and my activism is limited to trying to make sure baby and new protestors don't do stupid things or get hurt.