Forum Post: THESE IMAGES SAY IT ALL: What we're up against when the 1% give orders and how we win. Watch this INCREDIBLE 3 minute VIDEO shot recently on college campus. You won't believe your eyes.
Posted 12 years ago on Nov. 19, 2011, 8:08 p.m. EST by therising
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What impressed me was how the students were able to back the pigs out of the area. Awesome! (Around 4th minute to end)
The most amazing thing to me about this video is that even after all the provocation these U.C. Davis students were subjected to, watching their fellows brutally pepper sprayed and beaten before their arrest for no crime at all, I did not see so much as an apple core hurled at the police. Wow, I'm stunned by the courage of those kids!
Absolutely agree. Incredibly brave. Such restraint.
[Removed]
Keep those cameras rolling
Power to the People!!!
The movement is spreading and we will be seeing very soon a moment like no other before where our sheer numbers will grind the old political machine to a screeching halt!!!
When you say "what we're up against" this implies that this is something widespread. I hope you don't mean to demonize a group -for the horribly bad actions of a few individuals?
I think it says we are up against the reality there will be a small minority of law enforcement that could make a collosal error in judgement.
I don't mean the police but can see now how you can take it that way. This type of brutality will increase but not because of the police. It will increase because the 1% will get more and more upset and will feel more and more cornered and they will order more and more force in an effort to provoke violence. These students did an amazing job resisting temptation to violence. Showed huge restraint. Amazing resolve. Hopefully the police, when ordered by the 1% to "crack down" in certain instances will resist and even possibly refuse to do so. I think it will get more and more difficult for the police and I feel bad for them in a way. I have been talking to both regular and campus police about this incident and both called it a no win situation for police. Difficult to see a clear path for how to help them. We have to find a way. The 1% giving the orders are the real culprits and somehow we need to help sort that out so police are in less of a no win situation.
I agree. The police are in a tough spot, depending on the orders given to them. Hopefully most will examine their consciences to find their own moral high ground, and go against their chain of command, if need be. That will be tough. I feel bad for them too. They have an enormously difficult job in the best of circumstances, let alone this craziness!
I feel awful for the students that were injured as well. They were extremely brave. They did the right thing by not striking back.
Fascinating and tragic when we think about it in these terms.....because the real culprits aren't even present. For all intents and purposes, it's the innocent fighting the innocent in these standoffs while the 1% sit bak in the boardrooms and the country clubs.
Agreed. Cue the tears - for this sad truth.
I know some of these 1%. They're weak. Their world is built on shaky foundations. It won't take much to topple them. They are prepared for nonviolent resistance and they aren't prepared for anything other than the status quo. Their parents and grandparents may in some cases have been tough aristocrats but this new breed is soft. It won't take much. I'm not suggesting we underestimate them or be cavalier. Far from it. They are cornered dogs. My point is that, despite all the obvious cautions, in the end, they will surrender their power with a whimper. Not at the beginning. Not in the middle. But at the very end. Nonviolent tactics of Gene Sharp, King and Gandhi will get us there. This is a chess match and we need to think at least 3 moves ahead. Maybe 5.
A little off topic, but what do your 1% friends think of this. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/254139/20111122/house-democrat-introduces-occupied-constitutional-amendment-ban.htm
They will ignore it. They'll assume OWS will never march on Washington enmasse. They will assume that there will be no reform because they have been right about that so far. They will assume OWS is all about scuffles with police and complaining about the scuffles and will assume we will never really stand for anything. They're in the laughing phase because we haven't really gotten our shit together yet. I'm looking forward to them eating their words. It will take a while. But it'll happen :)
yeah. They'll ignore. But I just finished plastering that thing all over my Representatives facebook page with some appropriate sarcasm being that he's a Repub. Just because it makes me feel good. : )
That's awesome :)
You're right, I don't believe my eyes. I personally would never stand idle as I witnessed my fellow man beaten, manhandled, chemically assaulted and tortured right in front of me.
And furthermore, I would not praise myself as "successful" after I just let the perpetrators /walk away/.
So tell me what you would do and what the end results would be. Big gun. Bigger gun. Army. Nuclear missile. Think you can match em?
I would die trying, for the will to do that is the only thing that keeps me alive.
And what would have happened at the protest site and in the news after your violent struggle? And compare that to what happened as a result of the active nonviolent action by these students.
In your instance you would have justified the police brutality in the minds of Americans everywhere. Why would you be so selfish?
That's a hamstring the terrorists use against us, and the fallacy of nonviolence.
"Do what we say. think about your wife and children."
Well, I thought about it. You die.
The video actually inspires me. For the first time at around the 3:30 mark when the crowd starts chanting "Shame on you" we actually get a glimpse at the power of this movement. Watch as the cops realize they are truly the 1% of this crowd and begin to bunch up and then back down. This video should serve as an example of the Power of the People.
Very powerful and moving. Their self control and restraint was their power just as the lack of restraint and lack of self control by police was their weakness.
bring a 12"x18" American flag sealed in a baggie with water & put it on your face if attacked like this.
Also - what happened to "THE WHOLE WORLD IS WATCHING"
Good idea
Did you know that those are not cops?
They are campus security that was called in by the university chancellor. There were no City of Davis police involved in the pepper spraying.
Campus security are usually people who did not make though school and on to the police force. They are not trained in these situations as police are. That does not meant there are not stupid police but in this case it was a looser security guard that clearly abused his authority.
Interesting what you don't see on the video. You can see the other security people move back, the man with the spray walks casually over the demonstrators and shows them the can. The video seems to start late, it looks like the group on the walkway had already been told move or get sprayed. They choose to stay. That is the point behind civil disobedience, to provoke an action and then take the punishment. I agree, the police would have most likely just spent time and effort prying the demonstrators apart and carrying them away.
"Life will not be a pyramid with the apex sustained by the bottom. But it will be an oceanic circle whose centre will be the individual always ready to perish for the village, the latter ready to perish for the circle of villages till at last the whole becomes one life composed of individuals, never aggressive in their arrogance, but ever humble, sharing the majesty of the oceanic circle of which they are integral units. Therefore, the outermost circumference will not wield power to crush the inner circle, but will give strength to all within and will derive its own strength from it." The general assemblies in cities around the world are living examples of these "ever expanding, never ascending" oceanic circles. When everyone has to be included in decision-making, consensus is the only way. This is how indigenous cultures have practiced democracy throughout history. Future generations are reconnecting to this ancient tradition of shaping real freedom because corporate rule has displaced democracy, and people's representatives have mutated into corporate representatives.
Today, worldwide, representative democracy has reached its democratic limits. From being "by the people, for the people, of the people", it has become "by the corporations, of the corporations, for the corporations". Money drives elections, and money runs government."
they serve and protect those who pay them, not the masses, not the common person.
I agree. And they're part of the 99% obviously. How do we help them realize they're part of the 99% and get more of them to join us and support us publicly like several have.
yeah, important points and question. i believe for starters, we must remove the idea of us and them, the idea of 99% vs 1%. rather, we are all the 100%. the ideas of us vs them is worn out tried already doesn't work we must move beyond this. the sickness is inside each of us. we must face it on individual basis in order to heal as individual and community.
more specifically to the current issues with any authority and violence, rather than confront and provoke, it's more healthy for all to walk away. it's not about wining and drawing lines in the sand. it's about faith, imagination and permeating a new message for a new way for us all to live our lives
Right on
They may be part of the 99%, but it can be debatable whether or not cops or security guards are part of the working class. Surely, they are involved in a union that protects them, amongst other things. But, so are teachers, but it can also be debatable whether or not they can be considered part of the working class. They are more or less part of a managerial class, something that can be called the coordinator class. They have interests that may not always be in line with ours. I have been a bit skeptical about the 99% slogan, since this movement ought to be about raising the prospects of the working class. If teachers and cops that had ideas that were in line with helping the prospects of the working class, then that is surely fine. We do need to be careful, though, in that this class can have people in it that can try to manipulate our own interests.
These police brutalities make the movement stronger
It's so odd that they would do it then. My personal opinion is that they were INTENTIONALLY being dramatic and provocative to try to invite violence. Because when we get violent, they win and they know that. They thought if they did something this blatant that someone would take a swing at them. It didn't work because these protestors must have understood all this.
Their thinking in the moment and as their emotion charges they act out on us. To them, at that moment, they have pushed us back. But, we know they have pushed us up. The caveat here, we have to catch their brutality on video or they deny deny deny. No good without that precious video.
Then they use the last tactic they have, delay, delay delay doing anything about it. Launch an investigation, and delay delay delay the findings, Slap some hands and move on. Everyone by then have largely forgotten.
Everything you've said here is so true. Especially this: "To them, at that moment, they have pushed us back. But, we know they have pushed us up."
It may sound ridiculously oversimplified but in a year or two, we may look back at the cell phone video camera as one of the things that made this movement possible. Without the video, so much is lost. With it, so much is gained. Obviously it's the people and the idea that are the real heart of the movement. I'm just pointing out the significance of easy access to video.
Your absolutely right, it's like the friction of change. The more rabid they get in fighting us the more we will understand we're winning.
Thanks!
First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win. Gandhi said that and it is beautiful. Where does it seem we are in the process? Cheers!!!
We are in the fight phase now.
They are busily trying to shuffle us off the playing field as I post here.
Also, we are beginning to win. They changed the dialog!
Indeed. The police were thinking in the moment, and their action may bring more good to the Occupy Movement than bad. Of course, blocking sidewalks may be seen by many citizens as an act by the Occupy Movement that infringes on their own right to use that sidewalk. So, there is a problem here on both sides. OTHER people have a right to use the sidewalk. So, it gets a little complicated, as even blocking people's access can be seen as a very aggressive kind of action (a bullying kind of action).
At least, resist violence, even if violence is used against you; but you must also respect the rights of others IF you want them to respect you and what you stand for. Continually take the high ground, but don't let up on the protest.
--Knave Dave http://TheGreatRecession.info/blog
Well, as it is already turning out. This has undoubtedly given even further strength to the movement. It's on fire!
It's all over the headlines, and talked about everywhere.
We need the two officers on paid leave to be fired immediately and the people have a right which must be respected to peaceful non-violently protest our government which marginalized the 99% to cater the 1% who have infected out political system with their money.
Power to the People!!!*
The movement is spreading and we will be seeing very soon a moment like no other before where our sheer numbers will grind the old political machine to a screeching halt!!!
I think we need to look to how King and Gandhi handled the sidewalk issue. It was very common for people to say that King and his supporters needed to avoid any disturbance of the peace whatsoever. King had some very strong words in response to that. Doesn't mean he wasn't respectful. But King was a radical who pushed for real change even if it was inconvenient. He always did his best to be respectful but he and his supporters blocked roads, bridges etc.
Fair enough, but it will turn a lot of people against the movement. I know many people who are immediately turned off by that sort of minor illegal activity because it steps in the way of their rights. I think there are better ways than blocking ingress and egress. It will play into the hands of FOX.
I hear you. I really do. But Can't create necessary tension to bring injustice to light without creating some tension. I don't think it should be cavalier. Should always be carefully planned and used sparingly. But you have to march through the streets, occupy public and private places and take nonviolent direct action if you're going to raise issues. Otherwise you are ignored. king and Gandhi did this very effectively. King, in letter from Birmingham jail, talked about creating good tension and how he wasnt afraid of the word tension.
No problem with their being a crowd that fills the sidewalks and public spaces because so many are angry IF it is filling them simply because there is nowhere else for so many to stand. If it is by design, as an intentional blockade, you will probably lose more sympathy than you will gain.
I think the solution is to think more creatively. Think past blockades to organized boycotts of the very worst offending bank, etc. Start focusing the pressure on the worst offenders while continuing the protest in numbers on the street. No one can help if there are simply so many people gathering to protest that they are running out of places to stand and choking the town ... so long as it is not by design. Be courteous, try not to block paths, and you will win the faith of good people who are not finding this recession as great as the ones at the top.
--Knave Dave http://TheGreatRecession.info/blog
I agree. Good analysis. Law enforcement getting away with this is not a "WIN".
Protestors who do not stand visibly, with a cited law to uphold in petition to designated officials and their departments, presented with demands and protest by the supporting public . . . can be made to appear however someone wants them to appear.-
If they stood to make congress accountable for 100 years of constitutional violation depriving America of its right defined in the Declaration of Independence, codified in the constitution with article 5, it would be completely different.
--That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
Agree
Why did the cop feel the need to pepper spray??? Seems like assault to me.
Someone should file assault charges against that lead policeman who perpetratied the violent spraying and take the press with them when they do.
I agree. It is surreal. Astounding.
There are cameras everywhere. What did they get out of this. Thechancellor is gonna get fired. And that cop should be arrested or fired for excessive force. And they are only adding fuel to this movement. How are these people in any sort of leadership rolls they don't even slightly think before they act. Wouldn't it have been easier to wait them out they gotta go to bathroom and eat?? If all else fails pepper spray. Learned in first week of officers training.
Honestly, I think there was a whole different motivation on part of police. We 're at a stage now where 1% are threatened. I think they're sending police into start violence now because they know middle America will turn against OWS. I think they were so brazen because they are trying to provoke. Didn't that act with the pepper spray get the juices flowing in you? They want to pump is up and get us on edge and then poke us again so we take a swing.
Yes, they're feeling the threat now. So the temperature is being turned up.
--Knave Dave http://TheGreatRecession.info/blog
Yeah I did. It made me want to take and beat that cop.. Very well disciplined protesters
Totally. Don't know how they held back. Incredible resolve.
It is fascinating how holding back worked! And they didn't really hold back did they? There were nonviolent but forceful
I luv that even more
Incredible.
The people are rising.... And winning
The brutality seen against protesters reminds me of this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFKx6HJLC7U
make the name of Lt JOHN PIKE live in infamy forever! let him know! let his family, friends and neighbours know he is a danger to their children. push this AO into a psychopathic breakdown. .let's name and shame as many of these freemason thugs as we can.
First cop I've ever seen that does not carry a gun. Wonder why?
why should he carry a gun? why should anyone?
Everybody in America should carry a gun. It's a wild and crazy place.
everyone does, that's why its a dark and dangerous place.
Because they are not cops, they are campus security losers.
Why didn't the students MOVE instead of blocking the pathway? I don't understand.
then, you don't understand what peaceful protest is about. why should they move? the occupy movement is a peaceful populous revolution. we should recall Ghandi and the Civil Rights movement. when the laws are unjust, when the system is unjust, the people must peacefully participate in civil disobedience. what harm did the protesters cause? they blocked a sidewalk in a public place where there were other sidewalks for people to use. I believe you don't want to understand. It is self-evident.
I don't remember Ghandi or MLK blocking sidewalks.
I don't remember Ghandi or MLK surrounding the DC Convention Center & imprisoning people inside.
I don't remember Ghandi or MLK going-round and smashing windows, thereby driving private citizens' coffee shops and bookstores out of business.
This is what peaceful protest looks like?
ha ha ha "imprisoning people" "smashing windows" I'm done.
VIDEOS: Destroying Oakland windows http://youtu.be/v7UpfBYb3-s
Imprisoning/ grabbing people at the DC Center http://youtu.be/prgkEAuSQT0
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And no I'm not justifying police cruelty. I hate when police beat people or shoot people (or grope them at the airport). BUT if you act like a criminal (smashing windows or assaulting men/women in suits), then you're going to be treated like one. That's an inconvenient truth, but the truth nevertheless.
Why didn't the students MOVE instead of blocking the pathway? That's what I would do. My voice can still be heard when I'm on the grass.
yeah yeah, you know. you can throw that at the protesters, but, it won't stick. why are you even here? why don't you go to the tea party web site and troll there?
Because I support your IDEA (the government stole money from us and gave it to wall street) and that needs to be stopped in the future. - But I don't support your methods. Instead of winning the support of onlookers, you are turning them away with the disgusting and rude behaviors (blocking sidewalks, roads, imprisoning people inside the DC Center).
Many of my friends are saying "those kids deserved" to get sprayed. I don't think anyone deserves to be attacked, but I don't think they should be blocking the pathway either.
that's not the idea. the idea is to end corporate greed through action. you keep referring to behavior which has no basis in fact. blocking sidewalks and roads is the whole point. if you don't understand civil disobedience and peaceful protest you don't belong here.
Here the wiki on civil disobedience "Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal to obey certain laws, demands, and commands of a government." So, breaking the law is at the core of the movement. I also hear the term "peaceful protest" thrown out as if that means you are not subject to arrest. Peaceful and legal don't mean the same thing. So, if they are blocking the path, and need to be moved - then the police are going to have to take some action to make that happen. The people sitting in the circle knew that. They never expected the police to just walk away - they knew a conflict was coming. All that being said - I don't think pepper spraying them all was the right answer.
I don't see how that will end corporate greed. You need to go to the Congress and change the law.
I showed you the videos. That's as factual as it gets because you can SEE what happened. As for blocking sidewalks and roads... I suppose that's no big deal. But what about holding the doors shut so people inside the Washington Convention center could not escape?
Grabbing them by the purses or arms when they rammed their way through? BLOCKING a woman in a wheelchair from leaving? Also a father & his 2 year old son from leaving the parking lot?
Smashing shop windows in Oakland?
That doesn't seem "peaceful protest" to me?
And yet you seem to think all that is a-okay.
I see, so, we, the American people, once again should go to congress with our hat in our hand and ask the employees of the corporations (congress members) to "please, oh, please, won't you make some changes for us!?" that's worked reaaalllyyy good so far, hasn't it.
The protests have been peaceful, except for the police. Your lame attempt at trying to given examples of protesters being violent is pathetic and also exaggerated and untrue. Scott Olsen, an Iraq war veteran (two tours) is still in the hospital unable to speak because an Oakland police officer purposely shot him in the head with a tear gas canister. Over 4000 protesters have been arrested. And all you have to do is watch the news to see the police across the country dragging protesters, beating them, pepper spraying them and putting them in the hospitals. Eighty-seven year old ladies getting pepper sprayed. People in wheelchairs getting dragged away, out of their chairs, arms handcuffed behind their backs and thrown into police vans like meat. Do I think that is ok? Do you think that its ok?
Give it a rest. Open your eyes.
Actually it's be more like, "Stop voting for corporate welfare and bailouts, or we will fire you from your job in congress."
The police have acted like asses, and I'm not excusing their shooting people in the head. They should be hung until dead. BUT so have some of the protesters acted badly. Every example I listed was documented on video. Those windows didn't smash themselves... the protesters did it Those people in the DC Convention Center were indeed trapped inside (because protesters held the doors shut), and then grabbed/assaulted as the conventoners as they tried to exit. That father in his SUV was prevented from leaving the parking lot & driving his two-year-old home. It's all on video.
I didn't mention it before, but there are also photos of protesters shitting on car, peeing on churches, and assualting cameramen or reporters. You sit there and claim, "That never happened," and make yourself sound like a fool. It's all documented.
you can keep repeating that "it's all documented" but, you are lying. You WANT it to be true so you can rationalize your position.
I provided 4 or 5 links to the videos which Document how protesters were destroying windows, trapping people inside the DC Convention center, and grabbing them when they tried to exit.
I don't know how you can claim a video is "not documented" when it's clear as your eyesight what happened. The protesters acts were captured, just as the police's pepper-spraying was captured in sight and sound recording.
post the "4 or 5 links" here.
VIDEOS: Destroying Oakland windows - http://youtu.be/v7UpfBYb3-s
Occupy DC surround the Convention center - http://youtu.be/VI0AfusvucY
Imprisoning/ grabbing people at the DC Center and Blocking a Father/son from leaving a parking lot (to go home) - http://youtu.be/prgkEAuSQT0
Occupy DC holds wheelchair woman & others imprisoned - http://youtu.be/Cl0BODD0K5c
Occupy Mom uses Children to Block Cars http://youtu.be/dYyJerd1t6U
LINK - http://youtu.be/NnaeMPLnPD8
It is called civil disobedience. And the fact that it is inconvenient does not give the security guard the right to spray the protesters point blank. They were not hurting anyone. I am sure if someone in a wheelchair needed to get by the protesters would have let them by.
These were not cops they were poorly trained security guards. Basically losers that could not make it onto the police force.
Not really.
They didn't let this wheelchaired lady out of the DC Convention center. They didn't let this Father with his 2 year old son leave the parking lot.
(1) http://youtu.be/Cl0BODD0K5c (2) http://youtu.be/prgkEAuSQT0
.
I stand corrected. I was being hopeful and optimistic. Perhaps the college students would have behaved more civily? I don't know.
why didn't the cop just step over them? because HE IS TOO FAT from eating donuts! please take the guns, pepper spray and tasers away from the fat, low iq, power tripping cops!