We Kicked A Hornet’s Nest
By Cassandra D
The morning of July 11th was a hot one. The sun beat down on us as we marched along Sun Valley Road in Ketchum, Idaho. All around me, clusters of people chanted loudly, but I remained silent. My focus, instead, was on the road beside us; eyes glued to the black and white SUV of an Idaho State Trooper passing us for what must have been the third time.
The ISP wasn’t alone, though. Both the Blaine County Sherrif’s Department and the Ketchum Police were there to add to the surveillance effort, along with at least one unmarked vehicle from an unknown agency.
I suddenly found myself grateful that I’d remembered to wear my sunglasses. At the very least I could hide my gaze, so long as I kept my head straight.
With such a heavy police presence, one might assume we were doing something uncouth, but we weren’t. We were simply marching in protest of the Allen & Co. conference just up the road; marching on one side of a bike path and doing our best not to cross the double-yellow lines. The Ketchum Police Chief warned us that we'd be trespassed from all of Sun Valley if we did.
We weren’t even allowed bullhorns. We had to scream instead.
As our group approached the intersection at Saddle Road, the organizers gave us the signal to turn around and head back to the town square. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw two men standing across the street, behind a fence but in front of the tree line. They were dressed in business-professional attire, with blue lanyards around their necks. I don’t know if they were attendees, security, or resort staff. The one thing I know for sure is that we got the conference’s attention.
We didn’t step on Sun Valley Lodge property. We didn’t even get adjacent to it. We barely made it to the corner, and three agencies worked in tandem to ensure that was as far as we went.
Three agencies at the beck-and-call of billionaires like Bill Gates and Peter Thiel.
This is how they do their work, at exclusive conferences, guarded, and sometimes even attended by the state.
In an email sent to the Idaho Mountain Express Newspaper, it was confirmed that Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan “Razin” Caine was present at this event. Black Hawk helicopters touched down and took back off around 11:20 a.m. They were there to escort him away from the conference. Make no mistake; the government collaborates with these billionaires.
Whatever Jeff Bezos knows about you, the government knows too, and vice versa.
We were a group of only 50 people. Our march was not spontaneous. It was planned by the Sun Valley DSA, DSA National, and Idaho 50501. And, despite a letter sent from the conference attendees demanding our protest be canceled, we marched with the Ketchum Mayor’s approval.
These billionaires get to erect data centers, replace their workers with AI and machines, and track our movements both on the street and online. Meanwhile, we are surveilled by the state and presented with far too many hurdles to simply express our discontent.
They pick our pockets and poison our water, and now they want all of us to shut our mouths while they do it.
I checked the news religiously after I got back home, but only a few local outlets covered the march.
In a vacuum one could believe that what we did wasn’t significant; that we just made a bunch of noise and didn’t accomplish anything. But clearly, we kicked a hornet's nest.
Three agencies and an unmarked vehicle don’t threateningly patrol the streets for no reason.
The billionaires were afraid, and they should be.
50 people is just the beginning.
This conference happens every year at the same place. So next time, we’ll mobilize more people.
Next time we’ll get a little closer to the property so that more than two potential attendees hear our anger.
Next time we’ll make ourselves just a little more undeniable, so that even if we still don’t have our bullhorns,
our voices will be heard by everyone.