During last year's APEC summit, students and activists found themselves the most unlikely of targets. Edmund Tadros reports. University activists and Greenpeace members made up a third of a secret list of 61 people NSW Police considered so dangerous they were banned from public areas near last year's Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation forum. [...] A former police officer who is now an academic at the University of Western Sydney, Michael Kennedy, branded the intelligence assessments "pure unadulterated bullshit".
University activists and Greenpeace members made up a third of a secret list of 61 people NSW Police considered so dangerous they were banned from public areas near last year's Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation forum.
[...]
A former police officer who is now an academic at the University of Western Sydney, Michael Kennedy, branded the intelligence assessments "pure unadulterated bullshit".
Its a perfect example of how we can never, ever trust the police in a democracy, and why we need to watch them like hawks, be very careful with the powers we give them, and ensure that everythign they do can be challenged in a court with a legal duty to protect human rights. Sadly, Australia has no binding human rights legislation, and so the police get to get away with destroying democracy for their own convenience.
Amy Goodman on her Convention Arrest Amy Goodman David Brancaccio talks to award-winning radio and television host Amy Goodman. Goodman was arrested while questioning police about the detention of two of her show's producers during their coverage of street demonstrations at the Republican National Convention. Goodman has called the police presence "overly aggressive." Her arrest was caught on tape and circulated around the Internet. Goodman shares her experience with NOW and talks about freedom of the press, the role of the police, and what happens when the two intersect.
Amy Goodman David Brancaccio talks to award-winning radio and television host Amy Goodman. Goodman was arrested while questioning police about the detention of two of her show's producers during their coverage of street demonstrations at the Republican National Convention. Goodman has called the police presence "overly aggressive." Her arrest was caught on tape and circulated around the Internet.
Goodman shares her experience with NOW and talks about freedom of the press, the role of the police, and what happens when the two intersect.
Amy Goodman's arrest was described in an LA Times article. There is a video at that site.
A NYC organization that had video taped the police response to the protesters at the 2004 RCon in NYC had rented a house in St. Paul. The St. Paul Police made a preemptive raid on the house, seized cell phones, video equipment, hard drives, etc. and arrested those present. This prevented them from covering the protests in MSP.
How is this not fascism? As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."
you are the media you consume.
This is bad fucking juju, no doubt, but let's keep some perspective. The embryonic fascism is the no fly list and the "report suspicious activity" calls in most American mass transit systems. If anything, local police (feds are too far above the law) today know they can get away with less harassment than before, as there is often a camera on them.
When I inquired about Swiss citizenship, in addition to explaining that my being white and not a 'fake white' from the south was an advantage, the official also said that I had should have no political issues, having only taken part in two demonstrations. All I did was attend - how the fuck did they know - maybe I signed something and that got into my records?
I was considering it because once I graduated from college I'd lose my residency rights if I didn't choose to go back to Switzerland to live. Given that it was where I'd grown up and where my parents lived, I thought it might be nice to preserve that option. I ended up deciding against it mainly due to military service and the fact that I had an EU passport (UK) and figured that soon enough the Swiss would join the EU.
I do not advocate violence and can only hope to be seen as harmless. But then all the videographers arrested in St. Paul were doing was filming or planning to film police activity. I fully expect that at least some of the "anarchists" who broke windows in St. Paul were hired provocateurs.
The term Fascism derives from the bindings around the bundle of sticks surrounding a headman's ax that were carried by the "lictors" escorting Tribunes in ancient Rome. The sticks were used to beat miscreants and the fascia were seen as representing the bonds that held together that authoritarian society. The term does not just apply to Hitler and Mussolini, but to societies where exemplary violence is used as a means of social control. That certainly defines the historic behavior of the Los Angeles Police Department and many others.
As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."
