Raleigh’s reaction to the Uprising – A Struggle Between a Working-Class Movement and Bourgeois Collaboration

On Saturday, May 30th the first of a series of daily protests was held in Raleigh, NC part of a larger national response catalyzed by the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, MN. The protest started late in the afternoon with a gathering of a few hundred and growing outside the Courthouse. A few people spoke, at least one paying passionate lip-service to capitalism being the core issue. However the messages of each individual speaker were highly disorganized from each other. Any sort of unity on issues, causes, or necessary action outside of the most surface level analyses on the horrid situation of US law enforcement were not to be found. Even the Raleigh Chief of Police was allowed to speak at this initial address.

After the initial speaking, the protest would carry on to marching. The demonstration was loud and peaceful for at least an hour or two, but the Raleigh law enforcement showed out in full riot gear very early. Stun grenades and tear gas were first deployed well before the sun even began to set. Make no mistake, this was instigated by the law enforcement. The most “scathing” criticism to the contrary tells of protesters throwing a few empty water bottles and saying mean things to the full-armored police which “caused” them to assault the crowd. The situation would decay rapidly from this point onwards. People became agitated and would begin throwing things other than mere plastic bottles.

The Law Enforcement-led assault would continue for the rest of the night and escalate in severity. Reports were of a couple to a few thousand protesters in the streets, with much of the action centered on the nucleus of downtown Raleigh; while also jumping around to the peripheries of downtown. There was also at least a small confirmed presence of white nationalists among the fray. Reports of broken business windows came in early, as well as an attempt by a group to breach the Raleigh Police Department. Capital Boulevard, the main street connecting the whole city was shut down by protesters for a while. Soon after, rubber bullets came out from the LE in downtown. People were under attack indiscriminately, the rowdy folk, the peaceful folk, people who were actively disengaging, and even media. The confederate monument at the Capitol building was vandalized. Prisoners in the downtown prison could be seen waving at the protesters from their tiny windows in solidarity. Basically every single business in the center core blocks of the city had their windows broken and some destruction in the front facing areas. The DGX building was momentarily on fire, the Dollar General store was lit on fire and looted. The downtown CVS was the biggest capital casualty, lit on fire, and looted heavily. Multiple other fires were started among other insurrectionary behavior.

When things kicked off again Sunday night, it was much more of the same. Police instigated the situation again with the first volley of gas occurring launched into a crowd of peaceful people sitting in an intersection. White nationalist signs were found sprayed on to LGBTQ+ and POC spaces. Plenty more tear gas, stun grenades, rubber bullets, and riot gear were in use. In stark contrast to other cities, the Raleigh bus drivers capitulated to the police and were at their service throughout. The National Guard was activated this night. The courthouse and NC Archives building suffered broken windows.

Curfews were put in place by Monday morning, the National Guard presence was now full, and the city buses being used by police ironically displayed “In Honor of Rosa Parks” on their marquee. Obviously the irony was lost on the State apparatus. Protests have continued up to this point very consistently and still with strong numbers, but nothing coming close to the scale of events seen on Saturday and Sunday. They have been much more tame, even though certain moments over the past few days have had serious tensions escalated. Overall there have been dozens of arrests. The leadership of the protests are extremely nebulous and disjointed, most are not radically focused at all and are pitching class-collaborationist efforts and State-sanctioned reforms or electoralist solutions. Any talk of real radical necessity and militancy is either pure lip-service, or in a stark minority at the present moment. We will see what the coming weekend brings, as all signs point to the protests continuing.