The 6-Stage Playbook for Silencing Protest That's Underway in The US (Part 2 of 2)

Targeting organisers. Normalising repression. The chilling effect — the final stages are already unfolding

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What We’ll Cover Here:

• Stage 4: Target Organisers with Surveillance and Charges

• Stage 5: Normalise Repression and Scale It

• Stage 6: The Chilling Effect

• What Comes Next?
  

Photo by Marc Pell on Unsplash

Dear friends

Last week, I shared the first three stages of the playbook used to dismantle the right to protest — a pattern drawn from authoritarian regimes and already taking root in the United States. First, protest gets recast as a threat, then laws are rewritten to criminalise dissent and police powers are expanded to meet protest with force.

This second part continues the arc — into the targeting of organisers, the quiet normalisation of repression, and the chilling effect that follows. These are the final stages of the playbook as it’s being deployed in the US.