The Return of the Whistle and Warning Notes

Three short whistles. A knock on the wall. A handwritten note on a lamppost, unsigned, gone again after two hours. In Minneapolis, Chicago, and many other American cities, people are organizing with methods known from history books - not as symbols, but as concrete preparation for raids and arrests by the immigration authority ICE.

ICE surrounded roofers on December 16, 2025, at a single-family home - armed agents waved guns while the homeowners were still inside. When the homeowner opened the front door, she saw weapons pointed at her house without any warning - just a few feet from her head.

“This happened where I sleep, in my sanctuary - it is sick,” she said. “I do not feel safe in my own home.”

The agents refused to speak with her or even answer any questions about what they were doing on her private property. Joi Patterson said the agents handcuffed two roofers and took them away - leaving the work exposed in subzero temperatures. The incident occurred in the suburb of Amherst near Buffalo in the U.S. state of New York.

The situation in Minneapolis also currently resembles a war zone. ICE teams are present, conducting checks in front of residential buildings, near workplaces, on the streets. The pressure is immense, the fear part of everyday life. And where state control becomes a constant threat, structures emerge that deliberately avoid anything digital. No encrypted messages, no apps (ICE monitors these apps by all means), no cloud services. Instead, paper, sounds, signals from windows.

The whistle serves as an immediate alarm. A single sound is enough to warn an entire street. Knocking signals replace text messages between neighbors. Warning notes are distributed, posted at entrances, bus stops, streetlights - often only for hours, sometimes only for minutes. Their sole purpose: to buy time. Time to disappear, to hide.

These practices have a history that is uncomfortably close. In Nazi Germany, people used similar methods to warn of Gestapo raids, house searches, or arrests. Whistles, knocking signals, notes, calls from windows - all methods that worked quickly and left no traces. This was not a widespread phenomenon. Many looked away, others collaborated with the authorities. But they existed: people who warned others. Who bought time for their neighbors. Who took the risk of being arrested themselves.

Two arrests after warnings about ICE raids - pepper spray used against citizens

Historians speak of everyday resistance or social protective solidarity. No major actions, no public statements. Just small, concrete acts with direct effect. Those who were caught often ended up in prison. This comparison is not an equation of systems. It describes a method, a situation, a pattern. Then as now, people turn to analog means when digital communication is considered unsafe. When surveillance becomes reality. When warning becomes a question of survival.

That such systems have become necessary again says more about the condition of a country than any official statement. When citizens begin warning each other about state authorities with whistles and notes, something fundamental has slipped out of balance. Protection no longer functions through rights, but through hiding. Solidarity becomes a matter of personal risk.

That in the United States in 2025 whistles and warning notes are once again being used has a simple reason: digital traces can be tracked. Messenger groups can be monitored. Location data is stored. Apps can be compromised. Paper, by contrast, can be torn down. Whistle sounds fade, leaving no metadata. The whistle is back.