"This is not America" - Undescribably frightening account of miami protest

[rumguy]

May be a dupe.

To read the article click on the free day pass - you watch a short commercial (from an environmental group) and then get to read the whole lengthy, packed with details article about the Miami protests.

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2003/12/16/miami_police/?ref=http://www.salon.com/src/ads/tws/tws_splash.html

snip

"On Saturday, Nov. 22, a few dozen police on bicycles rode by the warehouse that activists protesting Miami's Free Trade of the Americas summit were using as a welcome center. The big protest had taken place on Thursday, Nov. 20, and most demonstrators had already dispersed. Some were in jail, others were nursing their injuries. But the cops wanted to deliver a final message to those still around. "Bye! Don't come back here!" shouted one. A pudgy officer gave the finger to an activist with a video camera. "Put that on your Web site," he said. "Fuck you."

It was the end of two days of what many observers called unprecedented police vindictiveness and violence toward activists. Certainly, complaints about the police have become a standard ritual after each major globalization protest. But what happened in Miami, say protesters, lawyers, journalists and union leaders, was anything but routine."

[madrchsod]

1. "this is not america"??

yes it is and it has been for at least the last 100+ yrs. nothing changes but the actors in the play...

[tom_paine]

4. I would argue that this is not America, it is Amerika

And it is as simple as the difference between having a say in who your National Leader is going to be versus not having one, or having a sham/fraud.

"The right of voting for representatives is the primary right by which other rights are protected. To take away this right is to reduce a man to slavery, for slavery consists in being subject to the will of another, and he that has not a vote in the election of representatives is in this case."
--the original Tom Paine

[Silverhair]

5. Yep. All you have to do is look at the early history of the unions. n/t

[tom_paine]

6. Can't argue with that.

n/t

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

2. nothing new - if you protest NAFTA and FTAA, you get beat

You are not supposed to protest against the FTAs - "Free Trade Agreements". When you do, you get beaten. If you think it's bad here, look at the protests in Africa and South America.

[Eric J in MN]

3. If you are an ACLU member, please email them and ask that

If you are an ACLU member, please email them and ask that devote a lot of resources to cases involving police brutality in Miami during the FTAA protests of November 2003.

[bluestateguy]

7. Protestors who are attacked have the right to FIGHT BACK!!!

I oppose the use of violence to make a statement during protests, but when peaceful protestors are violently attacked by counter-demonstrators or law enforcement they have the right to fight back.

That's all I'm going to say about that.

[Djinn]

8. they may a have a right

but that's cold comfort when you've had your head cracked open by a baton - and you get arrested while the cops get away with it - adding to your problems by throwing a punch at a cop isn't going to help your cause you'll just get a bad headache and a night in the cells. For me it's not a case of what's right because I agree if someone hits you - you can hit back but more a question of practicality

[knight_of_the_star]

9. Hence the reason why

I use a very HEAVY stick for my picket signs. If someone wants to mess, I just have to tear off the sign and voila I have a club of my own!

[Le Taz Hot]

10. I'm with you, Knight

I always admired that civil disobedience thing but if one of those guys whacks me upside the head, I'm whackin' back.

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

11. well if they shot would you shoot back?

If they start beating you, you will hit back, and the more that happens the more they will start shooting. Then what?