Reflections on the Allen and Co Protest
By Josie F
My first interaction with Boise DSA was at a protest at the Idaho Capitol Building. It wasn’t my first protest; that was way back in 2019. I know, because in all that time, I have had the exact same phone. If I scroll back to the very beginning of my camera roll, in between the redox diagrams and landscape shots of snowy evenings at my alma mater, I still have photos from that protest.
For context, these photos were taken inside the mayor’s office in Bloomington, IN.
We took over the building.
We hung banners.
We played music.
We disrupted the business of the city for the day to let Mayor Hamilton know that the climate crisis couldn’t wait another day. When you look at these photos, do you see a heavy police presence? Any police presence at all? More importantly, could you imagine any protest happening today without the heavy hand of the state visible at every turn?
My experience at the protest in Ketchum was not significantly different from any other march I’ve been to. There were families who brought their kids with them. There were older folks doing their best to power-walk along with the crowd. Queer folks and public-sector employees; good, well-meaning people, some of whom drove for many hours just to be there. Not even the local horses were afraid of us.
But someone in Ketchum was afraid of us: the attendees of the Allen & Co. Conference.
They were scared enough to email the mayor of Ketchum to try and cancel our protest.
Terrified enough to send the police chief out to threaten to trespass us from all of Sun Valley.
Intimidated enough to forbid the use of bullhorns in the city.
What was it that these billionaires were too cowardly to hear?
How did 50 people gathered in the town square set off such alarm bells for them? Why were we such a threat to their entrenched power that they wasted thousands of our tax dollars on police patrols for a simple march?
Our protest was a peaceful one. We marched, we chanted, we waved banners and sung songs. Some people even gave speeches. But all of this was done on public property. We were never even on the same land as the Allen & Co. Conference, separated by a fence and a dense thicket of trees. But they were afraid of us nonetheless, because we got organized. We came together, and we made it clear that we will be heard. The voice of the people cannot be easily drowned out by sirens or smothered by the tree line across the street. The more the corporate elite try to hide behind their property lines, the louder it will become.
