By Elaine Brower
The events
of police repression over the last 2 weeks, from the Denver Democratic National
Convention to the Minneapolis-St. Paul Republican National Convention should
not come as a surprise to anyone who hasn’t been living under a rock for the
past 8 years.
When you
arm and equip local and out-of-state police departments with $50 million worth
of high-tech equipment, ranging from concussion grenades, tear gas, microwave
machine guns, gas bombs and wooden bats, what do you expect? When you call in hundreds of National Guard
members to work alongside the police, what do you expect? These are YOUR tax dollars at work, a continuation of “Shock and Awe” in the homeland.
The
American people know what is happening in this Country, and are allowing
it. It is total crap when the media
cries that the police are being “brutal.”
The police live for this stuff.
They call it “awesome,” as Amy Goodman announced the
other morning after she was detained.
While I was
protesting in Denver,
the fear and intimidation tactics were more than evident. Cops
were walking around in gangs, armed to the teeth, chomping at the bit for
action. In fact, they all had disposable
cameras asking young people, who didn’t know any better, to pose for a picture,
with me screaming at them to stop it.
They took dozens of photos of the tables setup in the parks, where
permits had been arranged a year before.
Permitted marches and rallies were all videotaped ad nausea.
Troop
transports covered all the streets in the City of Denver, where fully armed and battle ready
police road around looking for any type of “disturbance.” I saw families who live there totally
appalled at the site, but said nothing.
Peaceful protesters were gassed and sprayed, and rounded up like they
were taking part in mass murder of the local population. The ones who are there to “protect and serve”
caused the “us against them” mentality from the get go.
The same in Minneapolis,
although the tactics we have been seeing the past 5 days leave even me
speechless. We are living in a fascist
state, get used to it. It shouldn’t be a
surprise to anyone. We have allowed
ourselves to be spied on, lied to, and terrorized by our own government all in
the name of “national security.” We have
been told that torture is acceptable and no one has done anything about
it. Our newly elected democratic-led Congress
has gone along with funding the war, rubber stamping the FISA bill, passed the
“Protect America Act”, “Military Commissions Act,” and the “Patriot Act”
amongst other horrendous acts of treason against the people who live here. Are they not complicit?
Why is
everyone in the “peace movement” acting so dumbfounded now that the gloves are
off and the cops are showing their true colors?
I think it is about time we saw what it is like to live under this
Regime. What it’s like to be a “Good German.”
Why is the press whining that they shouldn’t be arrested? This kind of stuff goes on everyday in the
ghettos around our Country, now you can relate to it.
George
Carlin, my favorite comedian and life coach, once said: “The
people who live in this country don’t have rights. We don’t have a Bill of Rights, we have privileges. And when the ruling class decides your privileges
need to be revoked, don’t cry about it.
Just ask the Japanese-Americans after Pearl Harbor
about their rights!”
The whole
fascist trajectory of this Country is almost complete. Do you think that Barack Obama is going to
stop this? And you couldn’t possibly
think that John McCain will. The people
must follow them, they have both made that abundantly clear in their messages,
but no one is listening. And people ARE
following them, like sheep to the slaughter.
The
anarchists have it right, fight the power, and don’t stop there. Malcolm X had it right, not Dr. King. We must rise up and take on that power, or we
will have nothing. The time is getting
late, folks. It started right here in my
own backyard in 2004 with the New York City RNC.
They got
rough, tackled people with nets, but didn’t have the high-tech gear they have
now. New York City lost millions over law suits,
which haven’t ended yet. But that’s not
their problem, it’s my problem. I PAY
TAXES so financial settlements don’t have an impact on Mayor Bloomberg or
Commissioner Ray Kelly, and they won’t have an impact on Minneapolis
or Denver
governmental officials. The citizens
suffer. Why are you allowing it?
This
government is out of control, the Bush Program is symptomatic of the underlying
root problem. Don’t think America can be
fixed by one election. You are fooling
yourselves once again. The governmental
structure is beyond repair, must be torn down, and rebuilt, but only “we the
people” can do that once again. Refresh
that tree of liberty, don’t allow that money to go to suppress our freedom of
speech, or our rights to be on the streets.
We cannot
sit back and shake our heads in amazement at what we are seeing at the
RNC. We should all be OUTRAGED, finally. Expect repression, and much more of it. In Hitler’s Germany it got worse and worse, and
they will come for all of us. There are
detention centers all over this Country, and there is a Presidential Directive #51 that basically states at any time the President deems
necessary, martial law can be invoked, especially when a “state of national
emergency” is declared.
Ask Barack
Obama or John McCain if they plan on revoking that privilege?