Rumors and Reality about Behind Enemy Lines and the DNC Protests

During this week of protests against the DNC, various rumors and lies have been circulating on Leftist social media about Behind Enemy Lines – Anti-Imperialist Resistance (BEL). We’ve been busy the last few days, getting brutalized and arrested by hundreds of Brandon Johnson’s riot police on Tuesday night, spending the next 24 hours making sure everyone arrested is safely out of jail, and then beginning to organize a campaign to demand all charges be dropped against all DNC protesters. But we’ll take some precious time out of our organizing efforts to refute some Leftist bullshit.

Rumor: BEL physically assaulted organizers, marshals, and participants at Monday’s March on the DNC

Reality: This is a flat out lie. There’s plenty of video of BEL’s presence at Monday’s march, and none of it shows BEL volunteers physically assaulting anyone. Those spreading this lie have a responsibility to provide proof; otherwise, they are engaging in slander that plays into the hands of the political police. BEL sent two teams of volunteers to Monday’s march. One team fanned out through the crowd to promote our Tuesday protest, and the other agitated throughout the march about the need to confront the genocide convention rather than stick to what the ruling class deemed to be acceptable protest. That team was targeted by the protest police—the volunteer cops in hi-vis vests looking foolishly like high school hall monitors—who attempted to silence us, including physically. You can check out the video from Unicorn Riot and see for yourself. Most of the crowd at Monday’s march—which consisted primarily of Leftists—was unreceptive to our agitation, and the march failed to get within “sight and sound” of the DNC. Some at the march, especially Arab youth who aren’t part of the organized Left and anarchist-leaning protesters, were receptive to our message.

The lie that BEL assaulted people at Monday’s march was spread in part by the opportunist leaders of the Coalition that organized the march. A joint statement by the US Palestinian Community Network, Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, Anti-War Committee – Chicago, and Students for a Democratic Society – UIC posted on social media condemns “the violence perpetrated by a small group of people against Palestinian and other protesters” at the march, claiming this small group “verbally and physically assaulted protesters, including Palestinians, Arabs, and protest marshals.” We call on these organizations to bring forward evidence of these physical assaults. As for shouting at protest marshals, BEL volunteers definitely called them out for their role as volunteer cops. The organizations who put out this joint statement were too cowardly to name BEL, and if they did, it would constitute slander. They opportunistically use postmodernist identity politics rather than evidence to justify their lies. They speak of “the Chicago forces that lead the Palestine liberation and the Black liberation movement,” but we have to ask: who appointed these forces leaders? The masses, or Freedom Road Socialist Organization? And can organizations that endorsed Brandon Johnson for mayor lead the Black and Palestinian liberation struggles?

Also, for the record, we’re not opposed to family-friendly protests. In fact, we organized four simultaneous neighborhood speak-outs the Saturday before the DNC started, which involved families with children. We did not have a permit for these speak-outs, and no one got arrested, despite the lack of protest marshals (who the fuck calls themselves a marshal anyway?). However, we think it’s ridiculous that the Coalition to March on the DNC made no effort to hold any protest that would militantly confront those responsible for the genocide in Gaza, and we saw it as our internationalist responsibility to give people that option. The Coalition’s “safety” rhetoric is just a cover for their cowardice.

Rumor: BEL got people arrested and then didn’t do jail support

On Tuesday night, BEL held a protest, and the call for it clearly stated our aim to militantly confront the Death and Nakba Coronation. However, hundreds of Brandon Johnson’s riot police prevented that protest from getting very far, brutally arresting over 70 people. Nevertheless, that protest was squarely within the bounds of constitutionally protected free speech. Burning a US flag, for instance, is constitutionally protected free speech according to the Supreme Court’s 1989 Texas v. Johnson decision. We didn’t expect the CPD to honor people’s right to protest a genocide, and we salute everyone who faced down riot cops and arrest to condemn the DNC. We note that Mayor Johnson proclaimed that the right to free speech would be protected during the DNC, but his actions suggest otherwise. Anyone blaming the protest organizers for the police brutality and arrests sounds an awful lot like CPD Superintendent Snelling.

As for jail support, BEL secured a volunteer lawyer before the protests and has been in touch with the National Lawyers Guild all week. BEL organizers stayed outside of the jail until all arrestees were released and sat in court to monitor the process and support the protesters. We’ve already begun planning a campaign to demand that all charges against all DNC protesters be dropped. BEL volunteers who were arrested Tuesday night hit the streets of Chicago Wednesday afternoon to start building support for the arrestees. We rely on the masses to defend those who face repression for anti-imperialist resistance behind enemy lines. If you want to join the campaign to drop the charges, hit us up. If you want to criticize us from the sidelines, go fuck yourself.

Rumor: BEL is “anarchistic”

Reality: We did take our name from a d-beat crust-punk band…but anyone who agrees with BEL’s mission statement and is down to carry out its political work is welcome to join BEL, whether you’re an anarchist, a Rasta, a punk rock kid, a genuine communist, someone whose religious convictions motivate them to resist the empire, etc. Grifters, opportunists, and clout-chasers are not welcome. BEL’s main political work is to go broadly to the masses with anti-imperialist politics, and we’ve spent the months leading up to the DNC talking to thousands of people in Chicago about the US-Israel genocide in Palestine. We’ve organized ten neighborhood speak-outs against the war, and we’ve gotten businesses to put up posters in support of Palestine and against the DNC all over town. Since Leftists generally refuse to go to the people except maybe with condescending charity efforts, Leftists don’t really fit into BEL.

As for the charge of being “anarchistic,” in addition to going to the people, BEL seeks to organize militant protest against US imperialism inside the belly of the beast. We’re inspired by the anarchists and others who militantly confronted the meetings of imperialist institutions such as the WTO and the IMF and World Bank back in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and we hope to revive that spirit.

Rumor: BEL doesn’t listen to the voices of Palestinians

Reality: BEL stands with the people of the world against US imperialism, but we don’t adhere to the rules of postmodernist identity politics—rules which always seem to shift to support the political line they’re used to justify. For a sample of some of the voices we’ve promoted, you can check out the events we’ve held in our four years of existence. We don’t treat any group of people as a monolithic bloc who all have the same opinion—doing so sounds a bit like colonial logic. When it comes to Palestinians, we’re inclined to ignore the voice of Mahmoud Abbas while listening to voices like those of Leila Khaled and Ahmad Sa’adat. As an organization and as individuals, we use critical thinking to debate out questions of political line. If, in 2024, you’re still fooled by the grifters and opportunists who use vague, ill-defined references to “the voices of [insert identity group]” to demand you follow their politics and organizations and give them money, then we have to question your intelligence and moral compass.