The Blue Voice gets it right in Why Democrats get steamrolled. It’s because they don’t fight back. As witness their current shrieking about all those horrid right wingers at town hall meetings, and not actually doing anything about it.
The Blue Voice plan for stopping hecklers
1. Shout them down.
2. Get some advice from union organizers.
3. Call the cops.
4. Press charges
5. Hire private security
6. Oppo research
Read the whole article, it’s dead-on correct.
When I helped organize anti-war rallies and other events in L,A., we sometimes did get hecklers and those wanting to invade the meeting or event. And we always got rid of them or neutralized them.
The Polizeros addendum to the Blue Voice plan.
1. It’s your event. You have the permit and permission to be there. You get to say who stays. Act that way.
2. Have your own security. Surround and isolate troublemakers. Tell them to leave.
3. Shouting while a speaker is speaking is heckling and is illegal in California and probably elsewhere too. (You can shout when the speaker pauses but not when they are speaking.) so calling the cops when that happens is quite legitimate. Which leads to the next point.
4. Video troublemakers, take photos of them (and their license plates.) Post them on YouTube. Make some noise about it.
5. The key thing: Fight back. Hard. A few troublemakers in a room filled with 500 people surrounding them and telling them to leave aren’t going to put up much of a fight. Or return.
All you need to do is show some spine. Really.
Amen.