"the old protection racket"...

if someone walked up to you, and said, "im stealing from you. give me all your stuff or ill beat you up".

you would say, "fuck no", out of some dignity.

and if they said, "give me some of your stuff or ill beat you up"

youd say "fuck no" out of dignity

so if they say instead... "give me... some of your stuff... for your own protection... so that youre paying me... to protect you... "

well that one would pass muster for a second, maybe, until you try saying no and its "or we'll beat you up"

the point is, its theft

same as someone walking in and saying "give me your stuff or ill beat you up"

but for the criminal who wants it to go smoothly each time, well, theres "pay me to protect you"

the lie

the lie that makes people fight it less

cause you told them something that doesnt offend their dignity

not up front...

but its the same thing

its "give me your stuff or ill beat you up"

ready to end it?

lets eliminate the common gang racket of extortion on every street corner where it exists, through a common movement of ending gangsterism communally, by fighting it, by forming defense networks against it. if you have someone try to extort you, say youll go along with it, while trying to remember every detail about their face, height, accent, and mannerisms, and while otherwise trying to gather intelligence on them. whered they come from? whered they go? then, form a network with your neighborhood. start keeping track of these people. be prepared to defend against them with the help of police, where the police can be trusted, or, without the help of police, where police cannot be trusted. if common extortion is communally eliminated, from there we can close in on the rest of gang activity. lets start with the basic form of it. theres more of you than them.