I Saw The News Today, Oh Boy

Well, yesterday. I haven't looked at the news today, so I'm not at all caught up with overnight events, but what I saw yesterday helped illuminate just how far from reality much of our news media typically is.

I was, for example, watching the CBS Evening News and the NewsHour, that PBS stalwart, and CBS and Gwen and Company were quite taken up with events in Ferguson and elsewhere as well they should be, but a good deal of the "news" was wrong, false, lies, and what have you. That's a problem. That has been a problem for many a long year, but came into stark focus during the reports of "rioting" in Ferguson in response to the Grand Jury failure to indict the Warrior Sheepdog and Demon Destroyer Darren Wilson.

First of all, the "rioting" was a construct of Authority and the media working in concert, as my ground-eye  view via Bassem Masri's and Rebelutionary_Z's livestreams amply demonstrated. There was no rioting, not by the demonstrators. And the police, typically, were lying about what was going on.

I also watched Amy Goodman's report from the ground in Ferguson, and she basically confirmed with her own eyes what I was seeing on the livestreams and twitter pictures. There were no police and no National Guard on the streets of Ferguson beyond the police headquarters area on South Florissant which is basically in the White Area of Florissant. The 20-some-odd businesses that burned were on West Florissant, in the Negro District. All of the police (and apparently later, the National Guard, though that's not certain) in Ferguson were deployed to protect "The Fort" as I call it; none were assigned to guard or protect businesses along West Florissant. So businesses burned, and it's sad.

The crowd of protesters was assembled at "The Fort" and they were gassed  and largely driven away by a pincer-action of heavily armed and militarized police. Two police cars were burned. How that happened is still a mystery, but both cars were behind police lines when they caught fire. Those were, so far as I could tell, the only incidents of "violence" in that area of Ferguson, apart, of course, from the extensive use of teargas and flash-bangs by the police.

The crowd initially was several thousand strong protesting in front of "The Fort," but it dwindled to a few hundred, perhaps only a few dozen, after repeated the application of teargas.  The crowd was not violent, they were not rioting. A few individuals were vandalizing one of the police cars, a car someone said was left in the street for just that purpose. Could be. But others pointed out that the vandals were unknown, and at least some were white.

By the time Bassem's phone was stolen -- he said by a "police agitator" -- the crowd was small and relatively dispersed in the area of "The Fort." There were very few people on the streets elsewhere in Ferguson. I saw a few pictures taken at the memorial to Mike Brown on Canfield Drive, for example, and it looked very quiet. Amy Goodman stopped by there too, and there was no sign of riot or crowds.

The fires on West Florissant need to be investigated and explained. I'm sure there is some security camera and other video that would show how they started and who was responsible. It's really quite amazing that so much police presence could be deployed to suppress nonviolent protest at the police station but none at all was available to protect people and property along West Florissant, where vandalism and arson had occurred in August.

That was one thing. According to the narrative pushed by Authority and the media, however, rampaging rioters were battling with police all over. And it simply wasn't true. Police were attacking nonviolent protesters at the police headquarters in Ferguson and they were letting businesses be looted and burned along West Florissant without any police or the fire department. When this fact was noted, it was "copsplained" by saying "it wasn't safe" for police or fire responders to go to West Florissant. Rampaging Negroes and all... Bullshit bullshit bullshit.

Meanwhile, a huge contingent of police, I discovered through Rebelutionary_Z's archived videos from the previous night, had been deployed at the intersection of Grand and Shaw Arsenal in the South County. They fired teargas at the relatively small crowd that gathered there, and apparently they twice fired teargas at the MoKabe coffee house, a designated "Safe Space" Police were out in force in this area of Shaw/Tower Grove, unlike the case along West Florissant in Ferguson,  and were issuing contradictory and absurd commands, arresting people pretty much at random, and having a fine old time with their crowd suppression toys.

Rebelutionary_Z had traveled to this area from the safe house where he'd rested after the freeway shut down. Reports were coming in that that safe house (a church) had been raided by police and tear gas had been used. In the area of MoKabe's, along Grand Avenue, Z documented several broken windows and one pawn shop merchant clearing the broken glass from his place was pissed. He confronted Z for "profiting off his pain" -- I thought that was odd, because it's hard to say that Z is "profiting," but Z did not respond. And he didn't mention the incident again.

Meanwhile, the police were behaving in an arbitrary manner, sometimes appearing in force and riot gear to confront the chanting crowd, other times withdrawing, only to return, firing flash-bangs and tear gas and ordering dispersal -- which for some was not possible because they were trapped.

"Negotiations" were conducted to allow people to leave MoKabe's, but the "negotiations" seemed odd, forced, and largely false. People were told they could leave -- with their hands up -- and head toward the church that had been raided and gassed. That didn't seem like much of a resolution to the dilemma of how to disperse when they were not allowed to, and by this point, few people had any trust in the word of the police, word which had already been repeatedly broken.

Nevertheless, people did leave with their hands up and headed toward the other safe place -- that wasn't safe at all.

There was a "clergy" woman (I don't know who she was, I'd never seen her before) mediating between the crowd and police and she often stood and walked between them, almost always with her hands up as a kind of sacrificial lamb, and I'm convinced that her presence defused some of the potential for police violence.  But she couldn't do anything but shrug about the arbitrary nature of police commands. It's their culture, you know?

I spent all morning yesterday watching that and other archived videos of the previous night's events, and I was quite moved by the dedication and determination of the protesters and their almost completely non-violent militance.

It's clear that these demonstrations, which have now spread all over the country and seem to be focusing actions on shutting down freeways (a time honored way to discommode the apathetic and comfortable), are well-coordinated and planned as opposed to some of the Occupy actions which they sometimes resemble.

The issues being raised in these actions -- police abuse and killing with complete impunity -- are much closer to the reality the victims face in this country than the somewhat abstract though no less destructive issues Occupy grappled and grapples with. The chord that has been touched in so many places with regard to police abuse and murder is one that can't be untouched, as practically everywhere, and every day, people -- often children or completely innocent people -- are being shot down by police, many of whom are terrified of their own shadows.

This has got to stop. The only way for people without power to force this or any other issue is to discommode those with power, and make their voices heard, whatever it takes. That means persistent protest (the Mike Brown protests have been going on daily for three months, after all) and creative discommoding. Shutting down bridges and freeways is a good tactic, but causing financial pain to those in power can be even better.

It's a long haul process. Occupy burrowed in to communities and is now a leading volunteer service outlet in communities all over the country. It's as radical as ever, but not so much a public spectacle. Participants do good works and help enable oppressed communities to take control of their own fate.

In the case of these police accountability demonstrations, it's more difficult to achieve objectives because the police don't work for the people, and there is often no easy way for the people to force change on the institution -- or to withdraw from interaction with it.

The police serve their masters, and that means they behave like an army of occupation because that's what their masters want. The occupation can be lifted, but only when their masters say so. Sometimes the occupation can be subverted or crippled, but that's a long-haul and highly risky endeavor. The actions taking place have a cumulative effect, especially the ongoing national demonstrations, but the result may not be quite what anybody hopes for.


Nevertheless, Onward! and Solidarity!

DoJ Press Conference on APD Findings

Livestream...

They Are the Po-Po Troopers, Vigilant Guardians of Citizen Discipline

Screengrab of Nate's live stream of last night's negotiations.

Rather than watching the political conventions when I had time to watch anything, I watched live streams from the streets of Tampa and Charlotte. Far more interesting what was going on in the streets.

Political conventions really haven't had much appeal to me since oh, about 1960, and the magical-seeming invocation and roll-call of the states:

"Mistah Chah-man! I rise from the Great State of Kentucky, home of the bluegrass, quarter horses, and the Most Bew-tee-full Women in the South, to cast Kentucky's 14 votes for the Next President of the United States of America, God's Own Favorite Son... "

You get the picture. I assume they still do that, but I don't think they show it on the teevee any more.

I have attended a few political conventions in California, as a protester and as a volunteer. They have their moments. But I don't recommend the convention process as any kind of ideal of political consciousness. In fact, it is my impression their role is to induce a kind of mass hysteria or trance, to induce unconsciousness in a word. What I call "mindless loyalty" -- what some others erroneously call "tribalism."

A Digression:
For those who don't know, a reminder: My grandfather was a Democratic Party chair in Iowa for almost 40 years, and my father stood for office as a Democrat, though he lost. My involvement in politics is much lighter in that I reject the Party apparat as far too corrupt and corrupting. In California, I've taken to the streets too many times to count, and I've largely been an equal opportunity protester, never limiting my protests to particular party affiliations -- and usually refusing to participate in scripted demonstrations organized by parties.

I've never stood for office, but I have served on numerous boards, commissions, formal and ad hoc committees, task forces and what have you, and have had long and intimate dealings with local, state and federal officials. I've been a government employee as well as a contractor. I know some of the ins and outs of what goes on, though there are times I would really rather forget.

I've voted in every election since I became eligible. In general elections, I vote Democrat. This makes me a Yellow Dog.

I've long been aware that the American electoral system is rigged in such a way that you don't really have a choice of ideals or policies and candidates are typically so similar that if they didn't have a (D) or (R) next to their names, you wouldn't be able to tell with which party they affiliate. This is by intent and design. The candidates are running for your approval to serve in the Government; once elected, their first loyalty is to that Government no matter what. Thus, Government interests come first, always.

Our Government, like most in the Developed World, is a wholly owned subsidiary of a relative handful of corporate and billionaire interests. We the People have very, very limited access to its power centers and even less influence over them.

This sad fact stands in defiance of the myth of America that proposes some sort of Democratic Republic always sensitive to and responsive to the Will of the People through the electoral process. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Elections matter because style and personality matter at least as much as policy considerations, and in American elections, you're voting on style and personality almost exclusively, almost never on actual policies. That's because those policies are determined way above the electorate's pay level, by people we've probably never seen or heard of. And in most cases those policies, once determined, are then sold to the rest of us like household products.

Who gets to determine what policies will be adopted and sold is a mystery in plain sight. We can see the workings of the machine, even some of its operators, but never quite witness what starts the whole thing in motion. Avoiding detection and responsibility seems to be a hallmark of those at the very top of the decision-making chain.

In most cases, you and I -- or the electorate in general -- are not included in that chain at all unless an election is required for implementation, and at the federal level that is very rarely (essentially never) the case.

Those who are included, however, pay attention when what's happening in the streets causes them significant discomfort and disruption. This will typically involve money. If their money flow is interrupted or it becomes significantly harder to raise the funds necessary to remain a viable office holder, then more than likely the office holder will do whatever it takes to accommodate whoever is providing the bulk of the money.

It's not just the appearance of corruption, it is corruption, outright. And it is corrupting to the political process not to mention what it does to the soul.

[/Digression]

Observing the theatrics of the conventions from the view point of the streets as opposed to the images of what was going on inside reminded me of a lot of previous actions I've been involved in, and yet it was very different, too. The police presence was deliberately overwhelming, as has become customary in National Special Security Events such as WTO conferences and political conventions. But it was so overwhelming as to become ridiculous.

This was made manifest in the somewhat startling -- and funny -- appearance of squadrons of Po-Po Troopers in Tampa, dolled up in the most fashionable anti-riot military gear, assigned to protect the march of 8 Westboro Baptist Church members through the otherwise empty streets. It was absurd.

It was also the last time the Po-Po Troopers appeared in full get-ups in Tampa, and they never appeared at all in Charlotte. There were just far, far more police on view there, often three and even four rows deep on either side of a march. But none, as it turned out, dolled up to suppress armed insurrection.

For one thing, there weren't very many people in the streets at any given time. This is quite a change from previous National Special Security Events, and the reasons why there were so few demonstrators need to be explored. I don't have an answer at the moment.

In both Tampa and Charlotte, Occupy served as a kind of logistics hub, but it was not the central factor in such demonstrations as took place. Those who have been in Occupy knew the ropes and could help with organization, facilities and care, but for the most part they were not the ones putting on the Show. That was left to others, primarily a pretty vibrant anarchist contingent that went to both convention cities and put on essentially the same protest against the System in both cities.

There were, of course, exceptions to this rule.

The discipline imposed by police on these protests and protesters had a surprising effect, at least in my view.

People were allowed to march and carry signs and chant quite rudely ("1: Fuck Obama, 2: Fuck Obama; 3: Obama is a Fucking Traitor!" eg.) pretty much as often, long, and loud as they wanted, pretty much anywhere they wanted to do it, as long as it wasn't too close to the sites of the conventions. They were allowed to get within sight of the conventions, though, and if they chose to, they could stand within Protest Cages and carry on to their heart's content while delegates could observe them as if they were creatures in a zoo.

For the most part, protesters refused the Cages, so they marched and chanted and carried their signs well away from the convention action, always accompanied by extraordinary numbers of police. In Charlotte, there were so many, they generally outnumbered the demonstrators by 7:1 (at least that's a number I heard.)

Every march I saw, particularly in Charlotte, was corralled and tightly controlled with bicycle barricades, that is to say, by officers standing side by side with their bikes, forming a wall on each side of the march, a march that was confined to one lane of the street. Any street, whatever street. Behind the walls of bikes were ranks and ranks of police, some on foot, some on motorcycles, some (in Tampa) on golf carts. There were emergency vehicles along the routes (I guess in case somebody got heat stroke) and there were squadrons of helicopters overhead. Repeatedly, police would close off some preferred route with their bicycle walls, and there would be a confrontation, a stand off that might last a few minutes, or it might last hours. Neither side would budge. But off to the side there would be some sort of negotiation going on between a police representative and a protestor, and frequently -- it seemed anyway -- the police barricades would be removed and the march would continue on whatever route it had originally intended. In other words, the police backed down after receiving certain assurances of "peacefulness."

This was very different than the scenes four and eight years ago.

This year, nobody was bludgeoned, nobody was gassed, nobody was electroshocked or shot in the head with flash-bangs, there were no mass arrests. In fact, there were very few arrests at all. The police did not attack protesters the way they have numerous times in the past. The protest headquarters encampments were not harassed. Spontaneous and planned marches took place several times a day, sometimes taking seemingly arbitrary routes, and police simply accompanied the marchers. So far as I know, there were no incidents of vandalism. By some accounts, most of those who were arrested (and it was a very small number) got arrested deliberately as part of their protest action.

David Atkins over at Digby's Place went full Bourbon on the failure of Occupy to "organize" sufficiently to have an impact on the Democratic convention and its delegates, complaining about Occupy's interference with protests by well-organized outfits and groups like Planned Parenthood.

In order to be "heard" by Those Who Matter, claims Atkins -- who was a delegate at the convention this year -- one has to be organized, clear, and present. One has to be "inside" as it were. Like he was.

Occupy's determination to stay "outside" means no one Who Matters will pay them any mind at all.

How après nous... n'est ce pas?

Of course, he and those who think like him don't realize anything of the sort. They don't know they are on the wrong side of history. And they can't see much beyond their own extraordinary selves and the extraordinary lives they are so very privileged to live.

For the kind of changes -- revolutionary changes, systemic changes -- Occupy and others are demanding, being and staying "outside" is a fundamental necessity. There is no other way.

But in the context of this year's political conventions, the interplay between the Po-Po Troopers, the demonstrators, and the alternative media (via live streaming the protests) was an exercise in remarkable restraint and discipline -- as well as disciplining. In other words, the police were intent on disciplining the protests -- ie: making them conform to certain rigid rules and expectations. The demonstrators, for their part, seemed content to adopt their own rules and disciplines in response -- or on their own initiative -- on the premise that conflict with the Troopers (as opposed to principled confrontation) was not in the interests of either side.

It actually seemed more effective -- and may produce more lasting results -- than anything that was going on "inside." Well, except for Clint in Tampa, Clinton in Charlotte. I mean, certain things last.

"Fucking Nazi Germany"

I've been watching PunkBoyinSF's recorded livestreams from the raid on Occupy San Francisco's camp this morning. I've seen so many of these raids by now, so many arrests, so much official destruction by the Authorities, so much terror in the night that I ought to be able to just sit back and see it as some kind of strange reality show and leave it at that.

But I can't. Every time something like this happens, it tears me up. And every time, I get angrier and angrier.

If it is happening to me -- watching this shit on my computer, sometimes live, sometimes hours or days after the fact -- I can only imagine how it must be affecting those who are there as it happens.

Those in power know not what they do.

This is the first of PunkBoyinSF's videos from this morning's raid.




The rest are here:

http://www.ustream.tv/occupysf/videos

HipHop Occupy

owsoccupyseattle on livestream.com. Broadcast Live Free

This is one of the Seattle livestreams. There was just a hip hop flash mob in the shopping mall there. The guy with the video was told by a mall cop to stop the video. The videographer said no. The cop became quite insistent. The videographer said, "OK, I'll go outside." Which he did. Slowly. Meanwhile the hip hop occupy people were going upstairs in the mall and chanting "Hip Hop Occupy!"

Outside in the Westlake Park, there was intense discussion about the level of official interference in the Occupation. A Native American came on camera and said "It's about time people rose up. Indian people don't have any rights." The videographer said, "Nobody has any rights, they're being taken away from us." "You gotta fight," says the Indian.

There is still dissension among the occupiers. There's a man loudly insisting that everyone should go to City Hall Park. But there was a vote last night and the majority decided not to go. They are trying to stay at Westlake, but they are being told they can't sleep there, and their equipment has been removed.

There is now going to be an ad hoc meeting of the General Assembly on the Plaza.