Police action in relation to protest has always been harsh, and it always makes me a) disgusted and b) pretty scared. If anyone paid attention to the protests at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul/Minneapolis in 2008, tons of credentialed journalists and protesters were arrested without cause, and the Minneapolis Police Department conducted preemptive raids on locations where protesters were planning in some cases under the pretense of fire code violations; these officers were dressed in riot gear and conducted the raids with drawn weapons. Over 30 journalists were arrested during the convention, including Amy Goodman (link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYjyvkR0bGQ). It was all pretty fucked up.
So I don't know how I feel. Protesting may be an outdated form of, well, protesting, due to intentionally minimalist major media coverage (like at the Copenhagen climate convention) and consistently excessive police action. However, I ponder an effective alternative. In the sixties seventies, when protests were a) huge b) covered extensively and c) relatively new to the American public, they may have actually had an effect, but now they seem to be increasingly ineffective; I think this speaks volumes about the state of our country's politics, when true rallies are ignored and it takes paying Sarah Palin (Sarah Palin?!?! are you fucking kidding?) 100,000 dollars to spit ignorant, hypocritical, populist, libertarian bullshit in front of America's lowest common denominator to get press coverage. Is the tea party movement for real? What about the people who take the time to educate themselves about the issues and consistently show up to peaceful, constructive protests in the world's biggest cities with the intention of bringing people up out of ignorance and gently raising awareness of the fact that it's time to wake the fuck up?
Coverage like this is upsetting and ultimately depressing. I don't think the police in the video are bad people; what allows them, internally, to beat protesters in front of cameras and walk away with a clean conscience?
hmm matt i like what you have to say--most effective movements seem to be generational--and protests--demonstrations--sit ins and so forth have become marginalized--as our greater culture has become inoculated to such forms of human capital--as pointed out successful forms of protest are acknowledged by the greater community--the majority of people today in america and the world absorbs information through forms of mass media--the internet-TV-and Radio
Police action in relation to protest has always been harsh, and it always makes me a) disgusted and b) pretty scared. If anyone paid attention to the protests at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul/Minneapolis in 2008, tons of credentialed journalists and protesters were arrested without cause, and the Minneapolis Police Department conducted preemptive raids on locations where protesters were planning in some cases under the pretense of fire code violations; these officers were dressed in riot gear and conducted the raids with drawn weapons. Over 30 journalists were arrested during the convention, including Amy Goodman (link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYjyvkR0bGQ). It was all pretty fucked up.
ReplyDeleteSo I don't know how I feel. Protesting may be an outdated form of, well, protesting, due to intentionally minimalist major media coverage (like at the Copenhagen climate convention) and consistently excessive police action. However, I ponder an effective alternative. In the sixties seventies, when protests were a) huge b) covered extensively and c) relatively new to the American public, they may have actually had an effect, but now they seem to be increasingly ineffective; I think this speaks volumes about the state of our country's politics, when true rallies are ignored and it takes paying Sarah Palin (Sarah Palin?!?! are you fucking kidding?) 100,000 dollars to spit ignorant, hypocritical, populist, libertarian bullshit in front of America's lowest common denominator to get press coverage. Is the tea party movement for real? What about the people who take the time to educate themselves about the issues and consistently show up to peaceful, constructive protests in the world's biggest cities with the intention of bringing people up out of ignorance and gently raising awareness of the fact that it's time to wake the fuck up?
Coverage like this is upsetting and ultimately depressing. I don't think the police in the video are bad people; what allows them, internally, to beat protesters in front of cameras and walk away with a clean conscience?
hmm matt i like what you have to say--most effective movements seem to be generational--and protests--demonstrations--sit ins and so forth have become marginalized--as our greater culture has become inoculated to such forms of human capital--as pointed out successful forms of protest are acknowledged by the greater community--the majority of people today in america and the world absorbs information through forms of mass media--the internet-TV-and Radio
ReplyDelete;;;;
i'll jump back on this when i get back from lunch