Twelve Rules of Engagement

Up at the park with my son today, I couldn't help notice the police car that kept returning for a slow drive around the park's periphery. This was clearly meant as a menacing gesture to prompt people back to wearing their masks. However, no-one seemed to care. There's little tradition in Portugal for police harassment. Even under Salazar's fascist dictatorship, police didn't randomly harass people, and I guess most people expect the police to remain relatively reasonable through the current lockdown as well. But I see no reason to tempt fate. I'll stay away from that park for a while, and take my son somewhere else. I don't want a repeat of our uncomfortable episode with the police a few days ago, and there's no point in teasing them. The police isn't the real problem. Rather, it's the general attitude of ordinary people that we need to focus on.

One way of looking at the current situation is to see it as a war that the elite has waged on the very idea of liberty in the hope of securing for themselves total control of public life. Conversely, our enemy is not so much the police and similar law enforcing drones, but the idea of tyranny itself, and that's not something that can be overcome by being cocky towards the police. Such behaviour will merely land us in trouble.

Once this is clear, we can formulate rules of engagement to maximize our gains with a minimum of effort:

1. Spread out thin. Don't gather in large groups.
2. Don't provoke the police.
3. Focus on marginal actors. There's no point in trying to argue with people who are firmly on the side of tyranny.
4. Focus on marginal laws such as mask wearing rules. Bend them, push them and stretch them. But make it easy to excuse ourselves if approached by the police.
5. Be the change. Be an example for others.
6. Use symbols and body language to spread the idea of liberty.
7. Be civil and polite. Never provoke a fight, but make it clear that aggression will not be tolerated.
8. Don't get cocky or overconfident. There will be plenty of ups and downs. It's not going to be over very soon.
9. Don't despair. Focus on signs of positive change, or give it a rest for a while. Trust the network.
10. Make it enjoyable. It's going to take a while before we see much change for the better, so make sure to put a positive spin on things.
11. Don't read too much into news stories. They are neither the beginning nor the end of anything.
12. Don't forget to take a break every now and again to enjoy the freedoms that still exist.

Enjoying my freedoms