The National Guard has been deployed across multiple US states in response to the protests regarding the death of George Floyd. While many have criticised the police for being heavy-handed and brutal in their response to even peaceful protesters the National Guard has been seen as a more passive and less partisan force.
One video, showing the National Guard having water fights with protesters, has since gone viral and is being hailed as a way to peacefully deescalate confrontation.
In the video, National Guardsmen can also be seen hugging and fist-bumping protesters.
A post shared by George 🇲🇽 Lopez (@georgelopez) on
The video has now been viewed hundreds of thousands of times across various channels.
Comedian George Lopez was one of the first celebrities to share the video. He remarked:
"Controlling the narrative is a powerful thing. You can have the exact same scenario interpreted 100 different ways depending on who’s telling the story. With all of the turmoil, racial/social injustice, and most importantly – need for CHANGE, It gives you HOPE for better days to see these smiling faces."
There has certainly been evidence to suggest that many in the National Guard are uncomfortable about being deployed against their own citizens in lieu, or in support of, police officers. Particularly African-American members of the National Guard and others within the organisation who have sympathy with the protests.
This shit is real this gave me chills #blacklivesmatter #GeorgeFloyd #dcprotest pic.twitter.com/j5lu7CqW3B
— Heedy (@heedygreedy) June 4, 2020
Garett Reppenhagen, who runs a group known as Veterans for Peace, made this point recently in an interview with Intelligencer. He said:
"There are a lot of concerns, and there’s a lot of personal conflict and moral crisis that service members are experiencing right now … In the last 15 years, we’ve seen our foreign conflicts escalating all over the world. But I don’t think that folks thought that the global war on terror would be fought here in our country against Americans."
"Some have already made a decision not to deploy and not to report for duty. And they’re trying to figure out what the repercussions are going to be for them, and how to mitigate it."
Veteran organizations like @VetsAboutFace and @CouragetoResist are receiving record numbers of calls from active duty military about refusing illegal orders. @SkepticalVet Danny Sjursen talks about this dissent and growing up in Cop Land.https://t.co/7VmNaIkroi @VFPNational
— Popular Resistance (@PopResistance) June 9, 2020
While some have praised the actions of the National Guard, it has been suggested by some that these acts are not merely random but part of psychological operations to quieten a restless public. It is thereby pacifying the protest movement. Similar tactics such as playing with civilians in water-fights and joking around was promoted by the US military in countries they have invaded and occupied such as Iraq and Afghanistan as a way of winning ‘hearts-and-minds’. If true, this could mean that the actions are merely another tool with which the US military can impose its power over others – even against its own citizens.
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