Chicago Police and the FBI are investigating if saboteurs placed bugs in a breakfast buffet prepared for delegates at the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday.

“Multiple unknown female offenders are alleged to have entered a building…and began placing unknown objects onto tables containing food,” the convention’s information center said in a statement. “The offenders are believed to have then left the area. One victim was treated and released on-scene. Along with CPD, FBI-Chicago is assisting in the investigation.”

  • PM_ME_VINTAGE_30S [he/him]@lemmy.sdf.org
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    4 months ago

    Yeah I’m not really stoked about the food safety implications and food waste for the rest of us if “bugs in food” protests become normal, but I still think that inconveniencing and antagonizing powerful people complicit in genocide is in general an acceptable form of protest. It accomplishes perpetual and fractal (“at all levels”) discomfort for their actions as long as they continue them.

      • PM_ME_VINTAGE_30S [he/him]@lemmy.sdf.org
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        4 months ago

        Good question! Because of:

        Last month, maggots and other insects were reportedly released at the Watergate Hotel in Washington, DC, during a visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Chicago has seen nightly protests during the convention by organizations seeking an end to the Gaza war and an end to U.S. military support for Israel.

        And because Palestine is the main focus of DNC protests right now, i.e. the big thing that the DNC is choosing to ignore.

        Frankly, if it ends up being a Republican or non-political attack, I’m still cool with seeing the ruling class squirm even if it’s done by assholes for the wrong reasons.

        But also, even if it has absolutely nothing to do with Palestine, that is far from the only reason to be irritated with the Democrats. For example:

        • Their continued funding and support of police
        • Their continued material support of capitalism and neoliberalism
        • Their support for putting down radical movements,
        • Their tendency to soften radical movements (for example, abolish the police -> defund the police)
        • Their quiet support for racism at home and abroad
        • Their use of jails and prisons
        • Their imperialist foreign policy (other than on Palestine)
        • Their enforcement of borders (which has been strengthened under the Biden administration)
        • Their rejection of refugees that their foreign and climate policies created
        • Their tolerance of LGBTQI oppression
        • Their attempts to destroy what little privacy we have left and destroy our precious free internet
        • Their antagonism towards homeless people in a country with more empty homes than homeless people, a system of property ownership that they fundamentally support
        • Their refusal to fix the Supreme Court, which they absolutely have the power to do

        And so much more! All while pretending to be the party of progress, they are in fact the party whose sole goal is to prevent more radical change being imposed on the ruling class from below!

          • PM_ME_VINTAGE_30S [he/him]@lemmy.sdf.org
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            4 months ago

            This exact action? It might make things worse for leftists on the ground at the DNC since now the FBI is involved 😳.

            So honestly good point, but IMO reflecting an infinitesimally small fraction of the violence that they inflict upon Palestine (and all life on Earth) forces the ruling class to deal with actual consequences for their actions.

        • Red_October@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          The problem is that without attaching an actual message to the action, it’s just an attack. It doesn’t convey anything, doesn’t further any agenda.

          • PM_ME_VINTAGE_30S [he/him]@lemmy.sdf.org
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            4 months ago

            Agreed.

            Hence why I’m expressing my schadenfreude that it happened at all, rather than saying “yeah this is a perfect protest by perfect people who are definitely 100% confirmed doing this for perfect reasons that I perfectly agree with”.

            In fact, I said as much in the comment you replied to:

            Frankly, if it ends up being a Republican or non-political attack, I’m still cool with seeing the ruling class squirm even if it’s done by assholes for the wrong reasons.

            I’m not operating under the pretense that it is necessarily revolutionary action. I’m simply expressing my frustration at Democrat ghouls and laughing at their misery because they give us nothing else in return for our submission.

        • PolydoreSmith@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          Completely agree. It was really frustrating to hear Bernie evoke FDR in his speech without being honest about how he accomplished so much: by packing the courts and being extremely aggressive in pushing through a real progressive agenda. It really highlights the failings of the party more than anything.