As Chicago's residents resist ICE raids, they're resisting more than just immigration enforcement - they're resisting the erosion of democracy itself. The Trump administration's reversal of long-standing protections against school, church, and hospital visits by ICE agents has left teachers with a classroom that's one-third empty, as parents too afraid to send their kids in are instead walking them to and from school themselves.
In the Rogers Park area, a community is organizing to resist similar raids. From slowing down officers by walking in front of them to using whistles to signal when an ICE convoy is approaching, these tactics are not only non-violent but also galvanizing. Yet, they're also met with disturbing scenes: vehicles abandoned on the side of the road, drivers driven off without a word; landscape gardeners arrested while working on ladders.
This phenomenon isn't unique to Rogers Park. Similar stories can be told about Kenmore Street in Glasgow and Peckham in London, where neighbors banded together to surround Home Office vans until their cargo was released. The question is, why aren't these stories more widely reported? Why aren't the scales of scale tipping further, until we're left wondering when it all becomes too late?
The answer lies in a phenomenon known as "Gleichschaltung," or coordination, coined by Nazi justice minister Franz Gürtner to describe the synchronization of institutions under totalitarian rule. This trap is not just faced by those on the left; it's also one that many Democrats are currently caught in, using data to argue against detention policies while failing to acknowledge their authoritarian implications.
The boiling-frog effect may be a factor here - ICE has been around since 2003, and the trend of detaining migrants has only intensified under the Trump administration. Yet, as Michael Maccoby notes, this is not just a case of gradual escalation; it's also about herd behavior. According to Erich Fromm's research from Nazi Germany, only 15% of people resisted Nazism, often for reasons that had little to do with ideology and everything to do with wanting to fit in.
The US, meanwhile, is trying to export its anti-migrant agenda - a fact that's hardly surprising given the current administration's views on immigration. But it's not just about xenophobia or racist rhetoric; it's also about the time at which we acknowledge when this behavior crosses a line from acceptable dissent to outright authoritarianism.
So what's the question here? When does our silence become complicity, and when do we need to take action before it's too late? As Olly Knowles of Led By Donkeys asks, "What time is it?" - not because five to midnight is an exact hour but because it's a reminder that the time for protest has long since passed. The real question is: what time are we waiting until it's too late to act?
In the Rogers Park area, a community is organizing to resist similar raids. From slowing down officers by walking in front of them to using whistles to signal when an ICE convoy is approaching, these tactics are not only non-violent but also galvanizing. Yet, they're also met with disturbing scenes: vehicles abandoned on the side of the road, drivers driven off without a word; landscape gardeners arrested while working on ladders.
This phenomenon isn't unique to Rogers Park. Similar stories can be told about Kenmore Street in Glasgow and Peckham in London, where neighbors banded together to surround Home Office vans until their cargo was released. The question is, why aren't these stories more widely reported? Why aren't the scales of scale tipping further, until we're left wondering when it all becomes too late?
The answer lies in a phenomenon known as "Gleichschaltung," or coordination, coined by Nazi justice minister Franz Gürtner to describe the synchronization of institutions under totalitarian rule. This trap is not just faced by those on the left; it's also one that many Democrats are currently caught in, using data to argue against detention policies while failing to acknowledge their authoritarian implications.
The boiling-frog effect may be a factor here - ICE has been around since 2003, and the trend of detaining migrants has only intensified under the Trump administration. Yet, as Michael Maccoby notes, this is not just a case of gradual escalation; it's also about herd behavior. According to Erich Fromm's research from Nazi Germany, only 15% of people resisted Nazism, often for reasons that had little to do with ideology and everything to do with wanting to fit in.
The US, meanwhile, is trying to export its anti-migrant agenda - a fact that's hardly surprising given the current administration's views on immigration. But it's not just about xenophobia or racist rhetoric; it's also about the time at which we acknowledge when this behavior crosses a line from acceptable dissent to outright authoritarianism.
So what's the question here? When does our silence become complicity, and when do we need to take action before it's too late? As Olly Knowles of Led By Donkeys asks, "What time is it?" - not because five to midnight is an exact hour but because it's a reminder that the time for protest has long since passed. The real question is: what time are we waiting until it's too late to act?
. It seems like the government is basically eroding our democratic values one by one, and nobody's really paying attention. I mean, think about it - these ICE raids aren't just some random enforcement issue, they're a symptom of a larger problem: the normalization of authoritarianism in our country.
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. I mean, parents being too scared to send their kids to school and instead walking them themselves? That's some next level stuff 
. It's not just about immigration enforcement, it's about the erosion of democracy 
. We need to be paying attention here and realizing that these tactics are similar to what Nazi Germany did. The boiling-frog effect is real 
, and we don't want to become like that. When does our silence turn into complicity? 
We need to take action before it's too late 
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ICE raids are a huge deal, but its not just about immigration enforcement - its about the rule of law and whats being done to those who cant fight back. its also interesting that people are using non-violent tactics like whistles and slow-downs to resist these raids, but they're still getting arrested 
The fact that some politicians are using data to justify detention policies while ignoring the authoritarian implications is wild 
. We need to be more than just vocal, we need to take action before it's too late 
I'm not gonna lie, the whole ICE thing in Chicago and other cities is getting out of hand 
. It's like, what's the point of having free speech if your words aren't gonna get shared or covered? 
. Our politicians are so scared to speak out against ICE that they're basically doing their bidding instead of standing up for democracy 
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. What's the worst that could happen? 
I think we need to start recognizing the warning signs of authoritarianism before it's too late. We can't just sit around waiting for someone else to speak out, we have to take action ourselves. It's not just about resisting ICE raids, it's about standing up for our democracy and human rights in general. 
. and yeah, the fact that no one's really reporting on this is crazy, especially since its not just limited to us, i've seen similar stories popping up in other countries too 
