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Indybay Feature
The Breakaway March
Having just returned from the breakaway march - a note on the march and police behavior. No audio/video
We began marching at Polk and Grove around 3pm. Many people had covered their mouths in black or pink bandanas. It was a colorful group: "Punks for Peace", Anarchists, Revolutionists, Queers, Gay Shame and people generally against war. People began chanting, "Whose Streets? Our Streets!"
Organizers kept the group together as much as possible. They led a snake marches, pausing at intersections to chant and to change direction. The cops played many roles, lining up along the sidewalks, riding motorcycles, cars, paddy wagons, horses. Most cops were seen in "rank", gripping their sticks.
Police blocked off the entrance to Union Square shops and Macy's at O'Farrell and Stockton. They didn't allow people to pass their barricade onto Stockton. The horse cops rushed the small crowd with horses. Members of the off march held hands and stayed in a stand off for some time. At least one individual was arrested with unnecessary force. Meanwhile, the marchers had continued off to Powell and Market.
Along the march, the cops tightly protected the entrance to San Francisco Shopping Mall, Starbucks, Washington Mutual, Abercrombie and Fitch and, strangely, The Market Street Cinema. Demonstrators took the opportunity to jeer at and to photograph the police guarding Market Street's "Live Nude Girls".
As the marchers continued down Market Street, police set up a blockade at just before 9th Street. After a short standoff, some organizers encouraged the group to turn the other way. Instead, the group of marchers faced the police, shouting, "You work for us!" The marchers were charged with horses and baton wielding cops. Several protestors began to flee, while others encouraged everyone to, "Walk! Don't Run!"
By this time, the cops had closed in this block on all sides, trapping the protestors and several passer-bys (many of whom joined in the protest). One woman held her one year old while staring at the police with panic. She was told by demonstrators to, "Get your baby out of here!"
As protestors turned to 8th and Market, cops became even more violent. Many were unable to control themselves, resulting in unprovoked jabbing, pushing and kicking of demonstrators. One passive photographer was shoved to the ground, told to get up and continued to be kicked and beat down. He wound up with a split lip, a ripped up elbow and bruises across the body.
Another photographer was documenting the unprovoked beating of a peaceful marcher, when the cops tackled the photographer in a mass pile-up. The police beat and kept 8-10 people into a mound on top of one another. They were pushed and hit with batons, shoved and kicked. After getting up, the protestors turned around to literally scream at the police. They also asked, "Is this why you joined the police force?" The group also demanded the cop returned items that had been knocked off the protestors, including eyeglasses. They refused.
Demonstrators held 8th Street at Market intersection well into the evening. Individuals began playing music and signing, including "Give Peace a Chance" and "The Times They Are A'Changin". People lay flowers down at the feet of the police ranks.
Motorcycle, rank and police cars finally divided the group. The cops were continuing to, "wait for everyone to go home.” And so I did.
Organizers kept the group together as much as possible. They led a snake marches, pausing at intersections to chant and to change direction. The cops played many roles, lining up along the sidewalks, riding motorcycles, cars, paddy wagons, horses. Most cops were seen in "rank", gripping their sticks.
Police blocked off the entrance to Union Square shops and Macy's at O'Farrell and Stockton. They didn't allow people to pass their barricade onto Stockton. The horse cops rushed the small crowd with horses. Members of the off march held hands and stayed in a stand off for some time. At least one individual was arrested with unnecessary force. Meanwhile, the marchers had continued off to Powell and Market.
Along the march, the cops tightly protected the entrance to San Francisco Shopping Mall, Starbucks, Washington Mutual, Abercrombie and Fitch and, strangely, The Market Street Cinema. Demonstrators took the opportunity to jeer at and to photograph the police guarding Market Street's "Live Nude Girls".
As the marchers continued down Market Street, police set up a blockade at just before 9th Street. After a short standoff, some organizers encouraged the group to turn the other way. Instead, the group of marchers faced the police, shouting, "You work for us!" The marchers were charged with horses and baton wielding cops. Several protestors began to flee, while others encouraged everyone to, "Walk! Don't Run!"
By this time, the cops had closed in this block on all sides, trapping the protestors and several passer-bys (many of whom joined in the protest). One woman held her one year old while staring at the police with panic. She was told by demonstrators to, "Get your baby out of here!"
As protestors turned to 8th and Market, cops became even more violent. Many were unable to control themselves, resulting in unprovoked jabbing, pushing and kicking of demonstrators. One passive photographer was shoved to the ground, told to get up and continued to be kicked and beat down. He wound up with a split lip, a ripped up elbow and bruises across the body.
Another photographer was documenting the unprovoked beating of a peaceful marcher, when the cops tackled the photographer in a mass pile-up. The police beat and kept 8-10 people into a mound on top of one another. They were pushed and hit with batons, shoved and kicked. After getting up, the protestors turned around to literally scream at the police. They also asked, "Is this why you joined the police force?" The group also demanded the cop returned items that had been knocked off the protestors, including eyeglasses. They refused.
Demonstrators held 8th Street at Market intersection well into the evening. Individuals began playing music and signing, including "Give Peace a Chance" and "The Times They Are A'Changin". People lay flowers down at the feet of the police ranks.
Motorcycle, rank and police cars finally divided the group. The cops were continuing to, "wait for everyone to go home.” And so I did.
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best part of the breakaway march was at the end when people going home from the main rally saw the police brutality and joined us!
was that really the best part? if that is true, Im glad I just kept walking by and got on the bus. mayday is a great day for taking the streets back. but on a day where most people were gathered to promote peace and protest war, it seems a bit out of place. five years ago i would have joined, then i realized half of the black bloc/ or wanna be black bloc-ers i knew were messed up on drugs, or extremely negative, perpetuating a problem.
so lets say these "normal" protesters saw the police brutality of the break away march , and were led to believe the police came out of nowhere and suddenly started beating those poor innocent kids, that would be a bit of a misrepresentation now, wouldnt it? but i guess any publicity is good publicity, as long as it serves YOUR agenda!
so lets say these "normal" protesters saw the police brutality of the break away march , and were led to believe the police came out of nowhere and suddenly started beating those poor innocent kids, that would be a bit of a misrepresentation now, wouldnt it? but i guess any publicity is good publicity, as long as it serves YOUR agenda!
That is, besides doing the cops work for them.
mmmm
i would have to say my agenda was to comment on the posting, and the whole break away march concept, how it made me feel as a part of the march, and to contribute my perspective to an "independent" media website. is that ok with you?
i would have to say my agenda was to comment on the posting, and the whole break away march concept, how it made me feel as a part of the march, and to contribute my perspective to an "independent" media website. is that ok with you?
You were the one accusing people of agendas first. I merely asked what your's was, and offered a possible answer. Apparently, that's not ok with you.
it was great to see passer-bys joing the protest.
Along with the black bloc, there were all sorts of different kinds of people who believed, for all sorts of reasons, that the people had a right to assemble and to march.
Along with the black bloc, there were all sorts of different kinds of people who believed, for all sorts of reasons, that the people had a right to assemble and to march.
I was there when things went sour, I mean right there
it was not as though either side was innocent, they never are. the cops had us backed up they would not let us by unless we looked like wholesome white americans. we weren't going to let them push us about were we? no, so we proceeded to move through them at which point they became hostile. did anybody see the kid almost get kicked in the face by the horse?it was so close he said he could smell its hoof. tell me the police are "just doing there job" or are unprovoked. as for the comment about the blakblok, I agree, they are mostly comprised, anymore, of a bunch of half-wit junkies and wankers, but there are still a few of us out here continuing to resist whilst compensating for the short comings of our incompetent counterparts. by the way, sixty+ people were arrested last night for dancing and assembling with the utmost peace in the street much later in the evening, myself included, so I don't want to hear any bullshit about how unfairly radicals, subversives, etc. acted against the police
it was not as though either side was innocent, they never are. the cops had us backed up they would not let us by unless we looked like wholesome white americans. we weren't going to let them push us about were we? no, so we proceeded to move through them at which point they became hostile. did anybody see the kid almost get kicked in the face by the horse?it was so close he said he could smell its hoof. tell me the police are "just doing there job" or are unprovoked. as for the comment about the blakblok, I agree, they are mostly comprised, anymore, of a bunch of half-wit junkies and wankers, but there are still a few of us out here continuing to resist whilst compensating for the short comings of our incompetent counterparts. by the way, sixty+ people were arrested last night for dancing and assembling with the utmost peace in the street much later in the evening, myself included, so I don't want to hear any bullshit about how unfairly radicals, subversives, etc. acted against the police
Has it happened again? In the sixties and seventies the FBI infiltrated the peace movement (and the anti-nuke movement) with a primary objective of doing the kind of actions that the Black Bloc and related groups are doing in this movement. That is, they tried to change public opinion away from the movements by instigating actions that the public at large found offensive and negative. The result was that the peace and anti-nuke movements were effectively set back by years as the general public avoided being guilty by association with the violent and offesive acts committed by the recruits of the FBI. It was called the cointelpro operation by the FBI. They may not have infiltrated the radical movements of this era yet, but be assured that they will, because it is a tactic that works.
Don't be duped into turning a growing, positive groundswell for a just cause into a movement of derision and disgust. We need Middle America if we want to have an effect. And doing vandalism and violence is the surest way to turn off the support. Think about what you are doing. The battle is not for the right to have the streets without restrictions. It is to stop the war machine. Any thrill-seeking vandalistic actions are self-centered and totally counter-productive. Think it through!
Don't be duped into turning a growing, positive groundswell for a just cause into a movement of derision and disgust. We need Middle America if we want to have an effect. And doing vandalism and violence is the surest way to turn off the support. Think about what you are doing. The battle is not for the right to have the streets without restrictions. It is to stop the war machine. Any thrill-seeking vandalistic actions are self-centered and totally counter-productive. Think it through!
Here is the link to channel 11's video. http://www.nbc11.com/
if the organizers were cointelpro do you think they would breakaway? the fact that the breakaway BROKE AWAY says enough. the mainstream peace movement liberals (that means you) dont show good support for the radical peace movement, in spite of the fact that it supports you by doing its best to keep you spineless cretin liberals safe.
Yes. That was a typical action of Cointelpro. They would do whatever they could to discredit the movement, exactly like what the breakaways did yesterday. Why not? Whatever they could and can do to make the movement appear distasteful to the average person was the perfect thing to turn them off. Can you think of one positive result of the breakaway action? And it is typical adolescent behavior to exhibit rebellion against authority. I used to do it too. But it doesn't help anyone or any cause. How could it, after all? It is also an adrenaline rush for the breakers, which I know from personal experience is the primary attraction. But it hurts the movement. You have to be blind not to see that.
If you accuse someone of being involved in a cointelpro op, or accuse an action of being instigated by cointelpro, people get their defenses. Rather, focus on the effectiveness of the action. The fight is to stop the war machine, a little taking back the street doesn't hurt, but frightening people does.
And BTW, Peacenik is no liberal, as (I believe it is) she makes abundantly clear.
And BTW, Peacenik is no liberal, as (I believe it is) she makes abundantly clear.
It's complacent AND slanderous to say that the breakaway march is de facto COINTELPRO.
What's funny is that erstwhile activists like you seem more offended by it then did the average prole who happened to come across it yesterday. I didn't hear homies screaming "be nice to the police". I didn't see residents of the Tenderloin acting scandalized. I certainly didn't see the blank expressions one usually encounters on the cow-herds you apparently consider sacrosanct.
You say that the anti-war movement has to woo Middle America, but listen up: "Middle America" won't come out against this war until and unless large numbers of US troops come home in body bags. But the point is to stop this war before it starts, correcto? If it does indeed start and gets ugly (for America) methinks the actions of yesterday's breakaway won't deter people from getting involved who are inclined to do so.
So let's talk about STOPPING THE WAR. It is imminent, right? We're not talking about something that just might occur three years from now.
Judging from the composition of yesterday's march, I'd say that middle-class liberals have been mobilized. Indeed, I don't think there are that many more middle-class liberals TO mobilize.
The problem with middle-class liberals is they believe in the system. All too many of them think occasional demonstrations is the pinnacle of struggle. Do you think this way, or are you just one of those who coddles those who do?
What's funny is that erstwhile activists like you seem more offended by it then did the average prole who happened to come across it yesterday. I didn't hear homies screaming "be nice to the police". I didn't see residents of the Tenderloin acting scandalized. I certainly didn't see the blank expressions one usually encounters on the cow-herds you apparently consider sacrosanct.
You say that the anti-war movement has to woo Middle America, but listen up: "Middle America" won't come out against this war until and unless large numbers of US troops come home in body bags. But the point is to stop this war before it starts, correcto? If it does indeed start and gets ugly (for America) methinks the actions of yesterday's breakaway won't deter people from getting involved who are inclined to do so.
So let's talk about STOPPING THE WAR. It is imminent, right? We're not talking about something that just might occur three years from now.
Judging from the composition of yesterday's march, I'd say that middle-class liberals have been mobilized. Indeed, I don't think there are that many more middle-class liberals TO mobilize.
The problem with middle-class liberals is they believe in the system. All too many of them think occasional demonstrations is the pinnacle of struggle. Do you think this way, or are you just one of those who coddles those who do?
I hate to say it - but bluntness is what I'll be. The quote/unqoute "anarchist and peace punks" just ruined what would have been a day of finally opening peoples eyes. The eyes of the conservative folks that marched with me at the rally were finally seeing why people are upset at the goings on of this administration they had supported.
The actions of the "splinter group" made my companions that day tell me that the display they had witnessed is WHY they're hesitant to support OUR cause. You could flame my comments all you want and give me the hoo ha of actions speak louder than words, but the reality of this all - we've already lost.
The actions of the "splinter group" made my companions that day tell me that the display they had witnessed is WHY they're hesitant to support OUR cause. You could flame my comments all you want and give me the hoo ha of actions speak louder than words, but the reality of this all - we've already lost.
The problem with Middle America (for those who want to totally destory the system) is that we have lots of power and don't benefit from a total collaspe of the system. But this is also why when we show up to support something like stopping a war with Iraq the odds are greater that policy will change. If you want to stop a war, you will need us. So if you are serious about stopping the war, don't isolate yourself from us. We have a lot of wealth and resources that go a long way towards getting what we want done. You may benefit from focusing on the specific aim of stopping this war, just was the middle class are doing when we come out to join you in protesting this war. I doubt many of the protesters this weekend have much stomach for the type of radical system-wide change you are calling for. And I don't think you'll get too far trying to change that. But you can use this time to get resources from the middle class and to build up your own organizing while we work together to stop this war. Then you can go back to attacking our corporations and consumer lifestyles. Good luck!
Really, you smug pile of shit. Tell me. Are you gonna wire Bush and Cheney some money? Huh?
I say your cow-herds aren't gonna stop the war-- that's what you're for, stopping the war, right!?
The fact that MILLIONS AND MILLIONS AND MILLIONS of working class and poor people haven't been mobilized--whereas self-important go nowhere upper middle-class liberals have--shows where we should be making our appeals: toward those who have every reason to be opposed to this war and the system that spawns it.
For the record, in case I've poorly presented my position, I don't think that random chaos is the answer or in any way ideal. I think composing ourselves in a way that is coherent and understandable is absolutely necessary. Demonstrations are part of the mix--but they must demonstrate something that sets fear into the Bush regime, which is DEAD-SET upon executing this war. If mr. liberalman had his way the demonstrations will continue only to demonstrate slavish acquiecense to the present order (including the present order of contained and ineffectual "dissent").
Bush doesn't fear you mr. liberalman. He laughs at you and dreams that people like you are his biggest obstacle in his race to war.
I say your cow-herds aren't gonna stop the war-- that's what you're for, stopping the war, right!?
The fact that MILLIONS AND MILLIONS AND MILLIONS of working class and poor people haven't been mobilized--whereas self-important go nowhere upper middle-class liberals have--shows where we should be making our appeals: toward those who have every reason to be opposed to this war and the system that spawns it.
For the record, in case I've poorly presented my position, I don't think that random chaos is the answer or in any way ideal. I think composing ourselves in a way that is coherent and understandable is absolutely necessary. Demonstrations are part of the mix--but they must demonstrate something that sets fear into the Bush regime, which is DEAD-SET upon executing this war. If mr. liberalman had his way the demonstrations will continue only to demonstrate slavish acquiecense to the present order (including the present order of contained and ineffectual "dissent").
Bush doesn't fear you mr. liberalman. He laughs at you and dreams that people like you are his biggest obstacle in his race to war.
It's pretty lame for a bunch of folks who have dressed up as black block urban warriors, with facemasks, to start breaking windows, lighting fires, baiting the cops, and generally just doing everything in their power to to BEG for an aggressive reaction, then turn around and whine at the all-in-all pretty low-key reaction of the cops. All these kids trying to look all tough while they tease the cops for trying to look all tough...pathetic. If you're gonna declare a war, don't whine when there are consequences.
It does a huge disservice to this burgeoning movement and is a slap in the face to people who face real police brutality. Next time you're trying really hard to get a cop to hit you so you can star in the video, think of the power of Selma and Montgomery. Think of Rodney King. They didn't ask for it, and nor should you.
And if you fancy yourself an anarchist, read your Kropotkin. Go build something up--a community, a farm, a labor exchange, a union--that's the point, and it's a lot harder than tossing a trashcan through a Starbucks window.
It does a huge disservice to this burgeoning movement and is a slap in the face to people who face real police brutality. Next time you're trying really hard to get a cop to hit you so you can star in the video, think of the power of Selma and Montgomery. Think of Rodney King. They didn't ask for it, and nor should you.
And if you fancy yourself an anarchist, read your Kropotkin. Go build something up--a community, a farm, a labor exchange, a union--that's the point, and it's a lot harder than tossing a trashcan through a Starbucks window.
Well, why don't you go organize some working-class people then? Why don't you pound the pavement at churches and housing projects and union meetings?
Your tone of smug entitlement is made possible by the fact that you live in a society that protects your dissenting views (and no, arresting you for breaking windows does _not_ constitute an unreasonable muzzling your views). If you think you can live without this country's institutions, let's see you try to face down the powers that be without them getting your rich white back. You'd wouldn't do so well against a tank.
Your tone of smug entitlement is made possible by the fact that you live in a society that protects your dissenting views (and no, arresting you for breaking windows does _not_ constitute an unreasonable muzzling your views). If you think you can live without this country's institutions, let's see you try to face down the powers that be without them getting your rich white back. You'd wouldn't do so well against a tank.
No one "asks" to be attacked by the cops. Ok, maybe some melodramtic martyr types, but most of the people out there are looking to cause damage to multinational corporations and other symbols of the international death machine that you all support with your taxes.
Unbelievable, its like Protest 101 going on these boards. We had to educate the anti-globalization liberals, and now we have to educate the anti-war liberals. We need a primer or something :)
Unbelievable, its like Protest 101 going on these boards. We had to educate the anti-globalization liberals, and now we have to educate the anti-war liberals. We need a primer or something :)
My "rich white back"? You stupid toad. You don't know shit about me.
Since you didn't respond to the content of my post, I can only assume that you're one of the go-nowhere liberals who thinks strolling down Market street once a month is gonna stop Bush's race to war.
<Your tone of smug entitlement is made possible by the fact that you live in a society that protects your dissenting views>
Ha! Show me how I evinced "smug entitlement". Is it that I criticized your liberal shibboleths? Is it that, unlike you, I know that the US government isn't about to heed your bleats for peace? Is it that I have no illusions about the US states' tolerance for dissent?
I can only suppose your pollyannaish view of the this system is due to the fact that you've never posed a threat to it. Why take repressive action against a weak-ass liberal who heaps praises on our rulers for granting him/her the right to moooooooooh?
Since you didn't respond to the content of my post, I can only assume that you're one of the go-nowhere liberals who thinks strolling down Market street once a month is gonna stop Bush's race to war.
<Your tone of smug entitlement is made possible by the fact that you live in a society that protects your dissenting views>
Ha! Show me how I evinced "smug entitlement". Is it that I criticized your liberal shibboleths? Is it that, unlike you, I know that the US government isn't about to heed your bleats for peace? Is it that I have no illusions about the US states' tolerance for dissent?
I can only suppose your pollyannaish view of the this system is due to the fact that you've never posed a threat to it. Why take repressive action against a weak-ass liberal who heaps praises on our rulers for granting him/her the right to moooooooooh?
I never said it was a fact that Black Bloc had Cointel or other FBI infiltrants. What I said was that it happened before, and what they did before was to encourage the kind of activity Black Bloc is doing now. If they are not among the organizers, then the organizers are playing their cards for them. My point is that the FBI infiltrants ENCOURAGED violent and vandalistic behavior as the primary way to turn off public support for the anti-war effort (in the Vietnam war). Why? Because it works! You are playing into their hands by doing exactly what they want the most.
Ask yourself this: Which is better, building broad-based support against the war by drawing in the sympathetic but timid, or by alienating almost everyone except a few of your peers? Ok, the sympathetic timid will still be against the war, but not for the MOVEMENT against the war, thanks to you. However, it is the magnitude of the groundswell of support, made evident by the level of participation in the movement, that eventually gets noticed by those who can actually exert influence, like Congresspeople and Senators, and PACs and other people with money and/or status.
And whoever it was who said we need to have a Demonstration 101, apparently missed those lectures themselves. Because Demonstration 101 was written by Mohandas K. Ghandi and Martin Luther King Jr., and said nothing about being violent or abusive or vandalistic. Go back to school, and don't try to preach to those of us who have been through it. We just want to tell you that we were embarassed to find out we had been duped by the FBI into doing what you are doing willingly all by yourselves (if that is in fact the case).
So, my advice to you is to be willing to grow, learn, evolve, and advance. Keep your eyes and ears open. Think about the short and long term consequences of what you do. And have a good life.
p.s. I will refrain from replying in kind to the name-calling. I understand that that is sometimes the last resort of the person with nothing more to add to the discussion.
Ask yourself this: Which is better, building broad-based support against the war by drawing in the sympathetic but timid, or by alienating almost everyone except a few of your peers? Ok, the sympathetic timid will still be against the war, but not for the MOVEMENT against the war, thanks to you. However, it is the magnitude of the groundswell of support, made evident by the level of participation in the movement, that eventually gets noticed by those who can actually exert influence, like Congresspeople and Senators, and PACs and other people with money and/or status.
And whoever it was who said we need to have a Demonstration 101, apparently missed those lectures themselves. Because Demonstration 101 was written by Mohandas K. Ghandi and Martin Luther King Jr., and said nothing about being violent or abusive or vandalistic. Go back to school, and don't try to preach to those of us who have been through it. We just want to tell you that we were embarassed to find out we had been duped by the FBI into doing what you are doing willingly all by yourselves (if that is in fact the case).
So, my advice to you is to be willing to grow, learn, evolve, and advance. Keep your eyes and ears open. Think about the short and long term consequences of what you do. And have a good life.
p.s. I will refrain from replying in kind to the name-calling. I understand that that is sometimes the last resort of the person with nothing more to add to the discussion.
Three ways to change things: 1) do it yourself (force); 2) get others to do it for you (rhetoric); 3) pretend it's done already (self-delusion)--(all rhetoric, none independent essentially). Maybe I'm wrong--you tell me why.
Here's what I saw at about five, walking back to BART from Civic Center Plaza: a group of about two hundred protesters ran into a heavy line of police and paddywagons on Market between 8th and 9th Streets. A single line of police, joined perhaps by eight mounted police, closed from the east, behind the group. On the northeast side, where I was standing, thirty to fifty people, caught between the lines, were trying to leave, but were held back by ten to twenty additional police on the sidewalks. In the confusion, some were allowed out and a few allowed in. A protester tried to cross in with her baby, but was turned back by police and admonished by protestors. The police line on the sidewalk tightened. Something crackled unintelligibly from a police bullhorn. The group moved back eastward, to the thinner police line. At least one man managed to hop out, through the line. A crowd had gathered on the other side of this line and chanted "Let them Go!" The mounted policeman on the north flank for some reason broke from his line and drove into the crowd on the sidewalk. (I found good pictures of it here, http://www.indybay.org/news/2003/02/1574649.php.) This mounted policeman rode back to line and the commander of the mounted police ordered his line eastward. As the line fell back, the trapped group was released, about half of them leaving, the other half chasing and taunting the retracting police line. The mounted police drove into the crowd to their east, clearing a path with their batons, then withdrew northeast (Larkin?). A teenager at the top of the BART station stairs threw a soda can and hit one of the horses in the rear.
As much as I might otherwise sympathize, my overruling thought was "Dumb*** kids! A lot of people [kids and cops] are going to be hurt. [I was young during the anti-apartheid, Gulf War I, Rodney King, Affirmative Action, and People's Park II protests. UCPD was not always so temperate.] What a waste." That is why I screamed for their release. That is why I was relieved when those who didn't want to be arrested went free. I was disgusted by the fervor of a young woman on bicycle, who had encouraged the woman/baby to cross the line. I wanted to throttle that kid who threw the soda can.
Anyhow, make of this what you will; only add to it that I spoke about it with my mother's neighbor, a cop on duty that day. He said that when the window in the galleria had been shattered, it had put out the eye of a young girl, a bystander shopping with her family. They called an ambulance. Also, a man standing with me in the crowd said he'd seen a kid throw an empty Evian bottle at that mounted policeman--hardly reason to lose composure and put bystanders and foot policemen at risk.
Frankly, perhaps because I am (almost) middle aged and self-deluded, I find argument more forcefully made when creative and good-humored, without violence to others. Hurting people is a big turnoff.
Here's what I saw at about five, walking back to BART from Civic Center Plaza: a group of about two hundred protesters ran into a heavy line of police and paddywagons on Market between 8th and 9th Streets. A single line of police, joined perhaps by eight mounted police, closed from the east, behind the group. On the northeast side, where I was standing, thirty to fifty people, caught between the lines, were trying to leave, but were held back by ten to twenty additional police on the sidewalks. In the confusion, some were allowed out and a few allowed in. A protester tried to cross in with her baby, but was turned back by police and admonished by protestors. The police line on the sidewalk tightened. Something crackled unintelligibly from a police bullhorn. The group moved back eastward, to the thinner police line. At least one man managed to hop out, through the line. A crowd had gathered on the other side of this line and chanted "Let them Go!" The mounted policeman on the north flank for some reason broke from his line and drove into the crowd on the sidewalk. (I found good pictures of it here, http://www.indybay.org/news/2003/02/1574649.php.) This mounted policeman rode back to line and the commander of the mounted police ordered his line eastward. As the line fell back, the trapped group was released, about half of them leaving, the other half chasing and taunting the retracting police line. The mounted police drove into the crowd to their east, clearing a path with their batons, then withdrew northeast (Larkin?). A teenager at the top of the BART station stairs threw a soda can and hit one of the horses in the rear.
As much as I might otherwise sympathize, my overruling thought was "Dumb*** kids! A lot of people [kids and cops] are going to be hurt. [I was young during the anti-apartheid, Gulf War I, Rodney King, Affirmative Action, and People's Park II protests. UCPD was not always so temperate.] What a waste." That is why I screamed for their release. That is why I was relieved when those who didn't want to be arrested went free. I was disgusted by the fervor of a young woman on bicycle, who had encouraged the woman/baby to cross the line. I wanted to throttle that kid who threw the soda can.
Anyhow, make of this what you will; only add to it that I spoke about it with my mother's neighbor, a cop on duty that day. He said that when the window in the galleria had been shattered, it had put out the eye of a young girl, a bystander shopping with her family. They called an ambulance. Also, a man standing with me in the crowd said he'd seen a kid throw an empty Evian bottle at that mounted policeman--hardly reason to lose composure and put bystanders and foot policemen at risk.
Frankly, perhaps because I am (almost) middle aged and self-deluded, I find argument more forcefully made when creative and good-humored, without violence to others. Hurting people is a big turnoff.
Three ways to change things: 1) do it yourself (force); 2) get others to do it for you (rhetoric); 3) pretend it's done already (self-delusion)--(all rhetoric, none independent essentially). Maybe I'm wrong--you tell me why.
Here's what I saw at about five, walking back to BART from Civic Center Plaza: a group of about two hundred protesters ran into a heavy line of police and paddywagons on Market between 8th and 9th Streets. A single line of police, joined perhaps by eight mounted police, closed from the east, behind the group. On the northeast side, where I was standing, thirty to fifty people, caught between the lines, were trying to leave, but were held back by ten to twenty additional police on the sidewalks. In the confusion, some were allowed out and a few allowed in. A protester tried to cross in with her baby, but was turned back by police and admonished by protestors. The police line on the sidewalk tightened. Something crackled unintelligibly from a police bullhorn. The group moved back eastward, to the thinner police line. At least one man managed to hop out, through the line. A crowd had gathered on the other side of this line and chanted "Let them Go!" The mounted policeman on the north flank for some reason broke from his line and drove into the crowd on the sidewalk. (I found good pictures of it here, http://www.indybay.org/news/2003/02/1574649.php.) This mounted policeman rode back to line and the commander of the mounted police ordered his line eastward. As the line fell back, the trapped group was released, about half of them leaving, the other half chasing and taunting the retracting police line. The mounted police drove into the crowd to their east, clearing a path with their batons, then withdrew northeast (Larkin?). A teenager at the top of the BART station stairs threw a soda can and hit one of the horses in the rear.
As much as I might otherwise sympathize, my overruling thought was "Dumb*** kids! A lot of people [kids and cops] are going to be hurt. [I was young during the anti-apartheid, Gulf War I, Rodney King, Affirmative Action, and People's Park II protests. UCPD was not always so temperate.] What a waste." That is why I screamed for their release. That is why I was relieved when those who didn't want to be arrested went free. I was disgusted by the fervor of a young woman on bicycle, who had encouraged the woman/baby to cross the line. I wanted to throttle that kid who threw the soda can.
Anyhow, make of this what you will; only add to it that I spoke about it with my mother's neighbor, a cop on duty that day. He said that when the window in the galleria had been shattered, it had put out the eye of a young girl, a bystander shopping with her family. They called an ambulance. Also, a man standing with me in the crowd said he'd seen a kid throw an empty Evian bottle at that mounted policeman--hardly reason to lose composure and put bystanders and foot policemen at risk.
Frankly, perhaps because I am (almost) middle aged and self-deluded, I find argument more forcefully made when creative and good-humored, without violence to others. Hurting people is a big turnoff.
Here's what I saw at about five, walking back to BART from Civic Center Plaza: a group of about two hundred protesters ran into a heavy line of police and paddywagons on Market between 8th and 9th Streets. A single line of police, joined perhaps by eight mounted police, closed from the east, behind the group. On the northeast side, where I was standing, thirty to fifty people, caught between the lines, were trying to leave, but were held back by ten to twenty additional police on the sidewalks. In the confusion, some were allowed out and a few allowed in. A protester tried to cross in with her baby, but was turned back by police and admonished by protestors. The police line on the sidewalk tightened. Something crackled unintelligibly from a police bullhorn. The group moved back eastward, to the thinner police line. At least one man managed to hop out, through the line. A crowd had gathered on the other side of this line and chanted "Let them Go!" The mounted policeman on the north flank for some reason broke from his line and drove into the crowd on the sidewalk. (I found good pictures of it here, http://www.indybay.org/news/2003/02/1574649.php.) This mounted policeman rode back to line and the commander of the mounted police ordered his line eastward. As the line fell back, the trapped group was released, about half of them leaving, the other half chasing and taunting the retracting police line. The mounted police drove into the crowd to their east, clearing a path with their batons, then withdrew northeast (Larkin?). A teenager at the top of the BART station stairs threw a soda can and hit one of the horses in the rear.
As much as I might otherwise sympathize, my overruling thought was "Dumb*** kids! A lot of people [kids and cops] are going to be hurt. [I was young during the anti-apartheid, Gulf War I, Rodney King, Affirmative Action, and People's Park II protests. UCPD was not always so temperate.] What a waste." That is why I screamed for their release. That is why I was relieved when those who didn't want to be arrested went free. I was disgusted by the fervor of a young woman on bicycle, who had encouraged the woman/baby to cross the line. I wanted to throttle that kid who threw the soda can.
Anyhow, make of this what you will; only add to it that I spoke about it with my mother's neighbor, a cop on duty that day. He said that when the window in the galleria had been shattered, it had put out the eye of a young girl, a bystander shopping with her family. They called an ambulance. Also, a man standing with me in the crowd said he'd seen a kid throw an empty Evian bottle at that mounted policeman--hardly reason to lose composure and put bystanders and foot policemen at risk.
Frankly, perhaps because I am (almost) middle aged and self-deluded, I find argument more forcefully made when creative and good-humored, without violence to others. Hurting people is a big turnoff.
There is picture somewhere on this site of a bunch of girls sitting on the ground with locked arms...most of them look young and i can't find it and i need it to post here where I work...at Community Market in Santa Rosa...I know most of them and work with one of them..
if someone can help me find this I would be very very thankful...
~DarkeFyreFae
P.S. the rally was beautiful wasn't it.
if someone can help me find this I would be very very thankful...
~DarkeFyreFae
P.S. the rally was beautiful wasn't it.
For more information:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/darkefyrefae
As the world's resources run dry, as the environment becomes toxic to human life, and finally as the population continues to rise at astonishing rates,
MORE AND MORE PEOPLE WILL HAVE LESS AND LESS!
It the law of physics. Finite resources being used up at an increasing rate. In the end something has to give.
So, you have people living in one of the world's richest cities being violent to the police.
What else is new? Go to Pakistan. Go to Palestine.
Go to Columbia. Go to Northern Ireland.
It seems so hip to start counter rallies and the police seem so righteous to protect and to serve. But in the end it's all just war.
The odd thing is that Americans find it so odd when it happens here. It gets called all kinds of things. Counter demonstration using violence. Police riot. You name it. But war is war. And war is hell.
Civil war in this country is inevitable at this point. It's already started.
Try to ask people to buy less, breed less, demand less, share more, serve more and you get looked at with sympathy for being so deluded.
Now everywhere is war.
MORE AND MORE PEOPLE WILL HAVE LESS AND LESS!
It the law of physics. Finite resources being used up at an increasing rate. In the end something has to give.
So, you have people living in one of the world's richest cities being violent to the police.
What else is new? Go to Pakistan. Go to Palestine.
Go to Columbia. Go to Northern Ireland.
It seems so hip to start counter rallies and the police seem so righteous to protect and to serve. But in the end it's all just war.
The odd thing is that Americans find it so odd when it happens here. It gets called all kinds of things. Counter demonstration using violence. Police riot. You name it. But war is war. And war is hell.
Civil war in this country is inevitable at this point. It's already started.
Try to ask people to buy less, breed less, demand less, share more, serve more and you get looked at with sympathy for being so deluded.
Now everywhere is war.
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