Now it begins.
Oakland CA police have carried out a violent raid against peaceful protesters at Occupy Oakland. They used tear gas and cracked heads.
Some victims defended themselves against thuggish cops with rocks and bottles. Good. Authorities should know that they will pay a price when they attack people without cause. Demonstrators fighting for fairness and decency in our rotting plutocracy have the right to the dignity that comes with fighting back.
There will be criticisms from within the movement of those Oaklanders who refused to be treated like cattle. The cult of militant nonviolence has taken over the Left.
There is nothing wrong with self-defense. The reason we oppose the system is that it is so violent.
Yesterday we got a tiny taste of the system’s brutality. Support Occupy Oakland. Do not second-guess the defenders.
In the meantime, look for things to heat up as the weather cools down.
7 Comments.
A 24 year old Iraq Veteran Against the War is in Highland Hospital, badly injured by police-fired projectile.(according to KPFA)
“Now it begins.”
Nah. Liberals will be on TV calling for calm, spouting off about the need for non-violence. Michael “Millionaire” Moore will be on TV appealing for progressives to remain calm and non-violent, thereby ensuring his brand remains intact with millions of devoted consumers ready to pay to see his next film: OWS: The Movie. It will feature Mike making the rounds at the various OWS protests, interspersed with clips from old movies like “Wall Street” and lots of snark about the rich elites. It will make millions for Mike, after which he can go on TV and further talk about the coming revolution.
Much the same way as religious zealots keep saying Jesus, or judgement day, or the rapture, or whatever … is coming. It never does but BOY is it profitable!
It’s Revolution, Inc!
Revolution, the Product!
Hey, when are the first books about OWS coming out? Publishers usually get quickie books out when something sweeps the nation. Hell, the DFHs can buy it on their kindles without even leaving the protests. Me? I’m waiting for the action figures. I’d buy a OWS DFH doll in a second!
Unfortunately, any violence against police will be taken as proof that the protestors were a threat to the public and needed to be removed.
What if, instead of retaliating, all of the protestors insisted on being arrested? ALL of them? The police would have some serious problems; ones that couldn’t be resolved with violence.
Ted, the sentence you wrote starting with “Demonstrators fighting for fairness and decency” and ending with “fighting back” is one of the most awesome things you’ve ever written in cartoon or prose. I’m going to steal that in paraphrased form at the next GA, if you don’t mind.
“The cult of militant nonviolence has taken over the Left.”
If ONLY it were MILITANT nonviolence!
Nonviolent means CAN work. It’s the cooperating with the authorities that I don’t understand. “Facilitators”, indeed! They make work for those sent to quash protests QUITE facile.
If protestors wish to achieve their aims they must succeed in:
A) making the system feel threatened by (or, more positively expressed, “aware of”) their presence,
B) compelling law enforcement to respond,
C) demonstratively and repeatedly showing that their response is ineffective, shaking the confidence of those in power with the instruments of their self-and-privelege-preservation, and
D) repeating the process until the elites who control government either voluntarily give us what we want, or they overextend the security apparatus which protects them to the point that it, too, starts to appear threatening to their ability to maintain rule, in which case they’ll start making concessions to us to prevent the dogs on their leash from getting too big.
Sharing your game plan with the authorities, and voluntarily surrendering to them flies right in the face of step C. It’s letting down the rest of us who now have to pick up the slack because you let yourself be bagged and tagged. That, and if it’s the economic injustice you’re protesting, it’s likely because you don’t have a lot of spare cash, so doing something that is likely to make you cough up more of what you don’t have in the form of bail money is just plain DUMB.
Flashmobs are the way to go. Pre-assemble at way points, rally and concentrate, drop your turd and stay long enough to get security’s attention, then disperse before they can effectively respond.
Amen, youngturk.
I see the waste of what’s been not-done, and I want to scream. This morning it’s 42 degrees and there is a forecast for snow this weekend. As everyone hunkers down, the OWS “Movement” will morph into the OWS “Standstill.”
I just don’t see how a generation of people with such native understanding of social media are not able to use it for guerrilla tactics. It’s like they really are just only capable of consuming and complaining.
Yeah, and don’t post everything you want to do on Facebook.