Five years ago this November, the Miami Police Department, with the assistance of Homeland Security, the FBI and other federal government agencies, unleashed a violent para-military occupation of the city in order to quash protests against the now defunct proposal to create a Free Trade Area of the Americas.
Police officers, some of whom had no visible identification, fired rubber bullets, tear gas, concussion grenades, and stun guns indiscriminately at the estimated 25,000 protesters, which included 20 busloads of senior citizens retired from the AFL-CIO.
One of the many low points for police occurred when Elizabeth Ritter, a local lawyer weilding a sign that read 'Fear Totalitarianism', was shot repeatedly by police aiming for her head.
A local videographer captured Broward Sheriff's Office Sgt. Michael Kallman addressing a group of officers afterwards congratulating them for their sharp-shooting. "The good news about watching you guys live on TV was the lady in the red dress. I don't know who got her, but it went through the sign and hit her smack dab in the head," said a "pumped up" Kallman, to applause and cheers.
Later, another unidentified officer referred to protesters as "scurrying cockroaches," further revealing a culture of violence and contempt towards not only the citizens the police are responsible to protect, but to the U.S. Constitution.
A month later, State Circuit Court Judge Richard Margolius, while presiding over the cases of free trade protesters, said in court that he saw "no less than 20 felonies committed by police officers." Margolis went to the protests and commented that it was "pretty disgraceful what I saw with my own eyes."
But Miami Mayor Manny Diaz saw it differently. Diaz, echoing a sentiment surely shared by many in the Bush Administration, declared the security operation "a model for homeland defense." And what has become infamously known as the "Miami Model" offers a preview of what protesters can expect at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul this September.
Apocalypse Now?
As St. Paul prepares for the upcoming RNC and the 100,000 citizens expected to protest, the hysteria and calls for militarization of security operations are surpassing what occurred in Miami.
The city is in a legal battle with protest organizers seeking to change the time and route of an anti-war march scheduled for Sept. 1, the opening day of the Convention. The city filed a legal brief in June to support its decision to limit the route and time of the march. The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported that included in the brief was a memorandum from John A. Kolerno, the Secret Service coordinator for the convention.
"In planning security measures for the RNC," Kolerno wrote, "the Secret Service is considering a wide array of potential security threats, including terrorist attacks, lone gunmen, fire, environmental hazards, chemical or biological attacks, structural safety concerns, and suicide bombers."
While the Bush Administration used the "war on terrorism" as a pretext for a war in Iraq, it is now being used to justify a "war on dissent" within our own borders. Kolerno's dangerous, if not ridiculous claims far exceed the usual cries of apocalyptic anarchist scenarios or WTO-Seattle type "riots". And with a $50 million federal grant to pay for officers and "supplies", "the most liveable city in America" could be turned into a war zone.
What's next? Calls for the use of extraordinary rendition to prevent this ticking time bomb scenario we find ourselves in these last few weeks before the convention. Given that two former top advisers to Republican nominee John McCain have ties to the military junta in Burma, we'll know where to look first. That may not be far off.
Back in April, the Minneapolis Police Federation was up in arms over plans to limit the use of "security tools," such as tasers and pepper spray, in an effort to lessen the potential for abuse. Federation President John Delmonico suggested that inhibiting the use of weapons such as tasers could force officers to use deadly force if deemed necessary. Nevermind that tasers can and have killed people, or that the UN declared that the use of tasers is "a form of torture." So according to Delmonico, if police can't use weapons that can potentially kill people, they'll be forced to use weapons that could potentially kill people.
Feeling safe?
Well, St. Paul's police department recently purchased 230 additional tasers so that none of its officers will be without one. It's uncertain whether each of the estimated 3,500 additional officers and secret service agents expected to "protect and serve" will have these weapons as well, to complement their guns loaded with rubber bullets (we hope) and pepper spray.
People don't become cops and politicians because they are enamored with the law, they become cops and politicians because they like the power and authority that comes with those positions. This should be fairly obvious to most people by now.
Just ask yourself... which groups are the most corrupt? It's orwellian. Lawyers facilitate the greatest crimes (and typically make up bodies of politicians) while the police participate in and perpetuate the street level crimes they supposedly work against. While the lawyers and politicians bring us evermore Enrons, the police work on Rodney King is hardly exceptional. More and more, people are recognizing this truth. More and more, people are organizing resistance to this oppressive situation.
Eventually we are going to need a complete break from this current way of life and have a totally differrent reorganization of society based upon entirely different values. Sustainability instead of consumerism. Peace instead of war. Conservation instead of environmental exploitation. All the problems are related to the same germs of thought. Changing things will not be easy though.
For now, the best thing we can do is take to the streets and let people around the world know that we are here and that we are truly resisting what the warmongers in this country have been and are trying to do.
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R. A. Louis (12 articles, 13 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 87 comments [3 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Friday, Aug 22, 2008 at 3:22:43 AM
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