An Observation in Sacramento

June 23

Following the rally on the steps of the capitol building, a march proceeded with many anti-biotech/anti-agribusiness/anti-antidemocratic protesters toting various handmade symbols of the struggle to reclaim the food system from big business.

Minutes before the march, I joined comrades I know from previous actions by carrying a sign symbolizing global hegemony and corporate control of resources. Between myself and four other carriers of sinister imagery a flank was formed that represented not the organic, sustainable, permaculture and bioregional but the opposite of all that. We marched through the streets near the capitol building chanting threats of hegemony to other participants, bystanders and police as we walked.

Two were dressed in sinister puppet costumes used in previous biotechnology awareness demonstrations. One of these people was someone many of you know from Seattle 11/30/99 or any of a number of dates between then and now. He had taken the step of carrying a bullhorn with him inside the shroud of black fabric from which the puppet was made.

What this protester said into the bullhorn while walking down the street in a large procession of folks of all ages and appearances was soon centered upon the subject of police. He described the verbal announcements to others as stream-of-consciousness poetry. What the phrasing consisted of was first shouting “POLICE” then following with a statement about how the ability of law enforcement to protect the general public from repercussions of actions by global capitalists and other powerful social engineers is waning. This poetry was loud and clear, thanks to the bullhorn, and it turned into a little bit of theater about quitting dissent, going home, shutting your doors, ignoring your neighbors and doing precisely what the authorities tell you.

He stopped twice amid the procession to conduct this wordplay for other protesters passing by. The first time he stopped was directly in front of a bright blue police tank, the kind used by police to enter the first floor of the skyscraper in the first Die Hard movie, and many officers along the way were drawn into monitoring the activities. Marchers gathered around, shouting retorts to the totalitarian statements declaring the end of the peace movement and no remaining options but to abandon dissent and return to one’s dwellings (if you have them).

The second time he stopped, he turned to face mounted officers, still chanting “POLICE” . . . "fear” . . . "POLICE” . . . "cracked” . . . "POLICE” . . . "you can’t protect us.” He moved closer to the officers. The horses were unfazed, and his hands were unseen as he held the bullhorn inside the fabric of the puppet. With only the provocation of this poetry, which must have been heard along more than ten blocks of downtown Sacramento streets, six officers surrounded him with bright yellow tazer guns drawn. They wrestled him to the asphalt. He was released from their grip only after they had confiscated the bullhorn. He was allowed to pick up his puppet and rejoin the march. Now I don't know if Sacramento has a law about sound speaker devices with regards to their classification as a disturbance or as a weapon. And who knows what individual officers in various places consider to be incitement to riot, a form of speech which is not protected under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

But I do know that the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution says “Congress shall make no law abridging freedom of speech,” and that Sacramento, even when hosting global conferences attended by agriculture ministers of more than 100 nations is in fact part of the United States.

This event may seem aggravating on its face. What this protester pointed out to onlookers later is that this incident and others like it is an indication of something bigger than the Bill of Rights. The police, the corporations they protect, the governments who dispatch them and the international cartels who orchestrate acts of repression have a secret. There are cracks in the walls.

The illusion of control is spread far too thin for police or politicians or chief executives to sustain. Even regular folks strolling the sidewalk in American towns like Sacramento can see something‚s amiss. Something is so wrong that enormous levels of police presence and armory are necessary. The fact is there are far more people directly affected by privatization of food and water than there ever will be cops. It's becoming so evident that police, the media and government are having a very difficult time covering up. In fact, some of them are probably quite frustrated by being seated with the responsibility of maintaining this illusion.

At the end of the day, the battle has been fought over the opinions of those who‚ve not chosen whether to accept the offerings of transnational corporations and the elected officials they’ve purchased or to accept the offerings of dissenters who have little to offer but simple sustainable living and the truth.