Welcome citizens! (wire and flesh, inside the holding pen on Pier 57)
AND THEY'LL DO IT AGAIN
This is the political nightmare we fear the most. -- joseph KeifferSix letters in the NYTimes today discuss yesterday's news article about the confirmation of the false arrest of hundreds of people during last year's Republican Parteitage in New York. They cover a lot of ground and every one of the short contributions is worth a read, but I feel compelled to add my own observation here:
All of this almost certainly means nothing over six months after the damage was done. These people were held captive in miserable conditions, their voices silenced, for up to five days. That time and those assaults can never be restored. The speech silenced then was not and will never be heard; it was unable to influence or effect anything while voices were locked up inside a filthy abandoned pier. [see my archive for posts from the end of August and the first week of September, 2004]Even if the innocence of these victims is affirmed now, and the malfeasance of the police and city administration is made clearly manifest to the world, what most people are not thinking about is the fact that it worked very well. It silenced a people who thought themselves free, including countless numbers who were frightened into staying at home.
A radical, quasi-fascist regime is now firmly entrenched in the most powerful nation on earth, and there is no effective dissent anywhere.
Worst of all, in spite of what happened in the courts last week, it will work the next time too. The police will continue to suppress all dissent; it's what our leaders want them to do. There will be no reprimands, no directives or new systems which might prevent a recurrence of last summer's shame or an even greater debacle in the future.
[image, repeated from my September 3, 2004 post, via indymedia, by anonymous]
I saw Amira Hass, a progressive Israeli journalist, at Barnard, on Monday. At some point, in relation to Palestinian political prisoners, she spoke of time itself. Time is a finite commodity and resource, and is really all each one of us has. Five days lost or stolen by the government is five too many.
By way of perspective on five days, it is all that many employers offer in the way of vacation pay each year, and speaking of work and time, Micky Z's, The Murdering of My Years:
Artists and Activists Making Ends Meet is on my summer reading list.
My feelings as well, alas. And what about the cop who gave false testimony about the guy, whose case was suddenly dropped when the video showed the cop wasn't anywhere near him in the first place (and in the second, he wasn't resisting anyone)? Think he'll "pay" for his helpful perjury? Hmm.
THEY SERVE US
Eileen Clancy and other volunteer videographers continue to serve freedom and justice on the streets of NYC and the rest of the world.
Eileen Weitzman and other volunteer lawyers serve us behind the scenes and on the scene.
I am so grateful for all they do for us, for the people.
i need to find false reports filed by law enforcement officers that are proven false by photos or video. and, i need to be able to print these items for a presentation to defend a client. thanks for the any help you can give me. - bill
To Bill: I'd suggest going to I-Witness Video and/or getting in touch with Eileen Clancy, who broke some of the cases connected with the Republican Party Convention arrests.