thanks for the video patrick....
(see video link of arrests at bottom...)
this is a common police tactic in this country ...any mass demonstration in a large city will see calculated arbitrary arrests... political conventions, WTO conferences, anti-war demonstrations, and labor day rallies(last year's labor day, police riot here in LA, resulted in some recent firings, but no indictments, from what i have heard).
you have to FIGHT for your rights... in fact , i heard someone phrase it, the bill of rights, is more a bill of restrictions on the government..!! i love that.. these rights are INHERENT. we are not supposed to be fawning and GRATEFUL, that the government ins't cracking our heads open or shooting us when we shout the truth to power...but ialso, realize that that IS the attitude of many americans... " KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT, YOU UNGRATEFUL BASTARD"..
i guess i am spoiled . i have gotten used to the idea of my home not being Singapore, or Beijing....
i was on the streets at hollywood blvd. and highland aves. here in LA this summer reading the names of US soldiers who have died. even one guy with his voice and some paper scares the police. even then, they tried to intimidate me into leaving.
did the list reading thing on september 11th, and was joined by friends tood andrews and valerie long, and we had a grand ol' time mouthing off about the government.. very cathartic...
but, watching your video, i think it it story telling time again.
i was on the receiving end of this tactic in 03 during the historic Iraq war protests. that afternoon, 500,000 protesters were hemmed in by police barricades all over new york city's eastside. it was an inspiring display of PEACEFUL outrage against the government /corporate alliance that shoved the IRAQ INVASION down law-abiding, peace-loving citizens throats. i never saw anyone taunting police. lots of shouting, singing, music,the very old to the very young, showing up on a FREEZING morning.. i did see alot of shameful police behavior on the freezing february day in 03.
i my little square of reality that day, i was standing with my thirteen- foot tall effigy of our hero,dubya, carrying a bucket of blood and a bucket of oil..
click on...http://jerrysart.com/politicalart.html
(For more words and pictures of that day)
i was at the stage on First Avenue for quite a while, but decided towalk around. i hooked up with some singing/drumming protesters. the splinter march grew to a couple hundred. it spilledoff the sidewalk. we arrived at 42nd street ,near the ny public library. we were told to get onto the sidewalk by police.
we did.
i stood, as instructed , on the sidewalk, for fifteen minutes while cops arrested some 20 students who were sitting down on fifth avenue, ready to willfully be incarcerated. i was moved by their patriotism.. i thought, "wow, i wish i could join them, but, really, i have to go to work , and i have this huge sculpture i made. oh well.".. slowly cops started to encircle the entire block. i was not breaking any laws standing on the curb. so i did not leave.
i fine fellow in full riot gear, with no badge walked up to me and during that fifteen minutes proceeded to spew a stream of invectives at me. taunting me. called me names. threatening me saying he was going to kick my ass. i said nothing. i was shaking with anger. eventually, this man, who was sworn to "protect and serve", took and without warning he hit me in the chest with his truncheon.
i fell backward into the sidewalk, landing onn my ass. the sculpture hit several people. i took my lawful place back on the curb. a couple of minutes later,again, without warning. i was thrown , face down onto fifth avenue.. i saw my sculpture immediately stumped on and torn to shreds my a couple officers.. what fun.. woohoo!
i was arrested by New York City's Finest , with busloads of other protesters, mostly teenage girls, and held, handcuffed in a bus for 5 hours. no water, no pissing allowed, no charges, no lawyer, and my arms went numb from constricted blood flow. my left thumb was numb for two weeks after. the girls on the MTA bus, that the police were using to detain us, were crying and screaming to have their cuffs, at least, loosened, were sadistically ignored.
During the 04 republican convention , NEW YORk's FINEST also used this heroic tactic to envelop an entire city block of peaceful protesters near the world trade center, walking legally, on the sidewalk, uptown towards the RNC at madison square garden. the courageous police force unraveled snow fencing and "scooped up" commuters and protesters alike. shamefully, these law-abidiing citizens , were held up to THREE days at an abandoned bus depot. they slept on the concrete, oil slicked floors, while their release papers were speedily processed...
"On Oct. 6, NYC Judge Katherine Fried dropped all charges against the 227 people who were arrested near the World Trade Center site on August 31, including those who have already received ACDs...."-war resisters league website
all these arrests in St. Paul, at the REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION, labor day 2008, will be thrown out of court. again, this is police tactic used to discourage people from protesting becuse they know the police will violate people's first amendment rights, and let the courts deal with it later. taxpayers bear the cost of paying out thousands of dollars in civil suits to people who have had their rights violated.
propaganda goals are achieved by the inference that protesters MUST HAVE BEEN doing something wrong. people associate mass demonstations with DISORDER, rather then CIVIL disobedience , and give approval to further execution of these tactics. i just fouind a very eloquent testimony a protester in nyc on feb 16 2003 which explains the mentality of "leaders" in a major US city..
http://www.starhawk.org/activism/activism-writings/newyork03.html
keep forwarding this, patrick ...
the exploitation of the workers continue with the bailout...
THESE are the people your government likes. theses are the people who are supported.. unscrupulous decisions by banks and insurance companies are fiollowed by billions of dollars in pay outs.. illegal wars ar funded by trillions... no one bails out you, or your wife, or your kid who needs an exotic medical treatment for a rare disease beacuse some clerk decides the insurance company wont cover it.
we are a fat, sleepy citizendry. i look at the criminal, wasteful iraq war, the surveillance of law abiding citizens, and this bailout for the rich, and think to my self, we lack empathy for the welfare of fellow americans. our collective selfishness is a sickness of spirituality. for a christian country we are pretty darn heartless...
i guess all we can do , for now, is pray, help our neighbors and family, protest creatively, stay healthy, eat right, exercise, laugh and cry, and SING!!!!!
jerry
"the guy"
"He who is the author of a war lets loose the whole contagion of hell and opens a vein that bleeds a nation to death."......Thomas Paine
www.jerrysart.com
Original Message:
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From: Patrick Kline patrickfkline3@hotmail.com
Subject: FW: AlterNet: Incredible Documentary Footage of Mass Arrest in St. Paul> Check out the link below to watch the mass arrest video. Is it safe to now say we live in a police state. Discuss.> > -------------------------------------> Incredible Documentary Footage of Mass Arrest in St. Paul
> http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/99433>
> Newly released footage, which was buried to avoid confiscation, shows riot cops arresting and abusing
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