Princeton politics professor and Guardian US columnist Jan-Werner Müller published a column Monday arguing that if Democrats fail to ensure accountability for figures he described as “authoritarians” operating with impunity, Americans should consider taking peaceful matters into their own hands by adopting the Argentine tactic of “escraches” — organized, nonviolent protests that publicly shame perpetrators.
Müller’s column, titled “America’s authoritarians operate with impunity. It’s time to take action,” cites two recent examples. He noted that Greg Bovino, the former Border Patrol commander who oversaw immigration enforcement operations in El Centro, California, attended a “remigration summit” in Portugal, where he took selfies with Austrian activist Martin Sellner, described by Müller as “one of Europe’s most notorious rightwing extremists.” According to Müller, Bovino told Sellner: “We’ve never talked before — face to face, that is — until yesterday, and we were on the same sheet of music almost immediately.”
Müller also referenced Tina Peters, the former Colorado elections clerk whose sentence was commuted by Gov. Jared Polis, appearing on Steve Bannon’s show to claim that Democrats will cheat in the midterms. “It is rare that those out of government service show contrition, but it is also rare that they immediately monetize past cruelty and present-day conspiracy theories,” Müller wrote.
The column argues that such behavior occurs “only against the background of the second Trump administration promising impunity from day one,” pointing to the president’s pardons of individuals convicted for the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Müller drew on the Argentine experience after the country’s dictatorship, when broad amnesties meant perpetrators of human rights violations “went on to lead peaceful and prosperous lives.” Citizens eventually organized escraches — from slang meaning to scratch off and reveal an identity — involving marches and theater performances outside perpetrators’ homes. “There was zero violence, but there was graffiti, red paint signifying blood thrown at walls, as well as plenty of music or sometimes just outright noise to draw attention to someone enjoying a life of impunity,” he wrote.
He traced such practices to medieval “charivari” — “rough music” protests involving banging pots and pans — which he said were “precisely not revolutionary, but in their own way conservative,” aiming to remind the powerful of shared moral commitments and ideally reintegrate them into the community.
The column acknowledged risks: “The obvious worry is that popular justice becomes uncontrolled and deteriorates into public shaming for the sake of accountability such that its own practitioners remain unaccountable.” Müller warned of potential tit-for-tat escalation and noted that “one side is also likely to have more guns.” He also wrote that any efforts at accountability from below “could serve as a pretext for Trumpists to double down on repression,” citing executive orders targeting “antifa” and “doxing” as well as state-level “civil terrorism” legislation.
However, Müller noted that protesters have been winning in court, referencing the “Broadview Six” — activists wrongly accused of conspiring to impede an officer. He argued that such protests should be protected under the First Amendment’s free speech and assembly guarantees, adding that “public shaming — peaceful but unquiet — is an appropriate response to shameless perpetrators.”