Thursday, September 04, 2008

please pay attention to the rnc protests.



amy goodman explains what happened

journalists, photographers, community activists, food not bombs volunteers, and plenty of other folks are being arrested right now. don't watch this happening silently.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

What did these protests solve or accomplish? Not much other than wasting tax payer dollars with the police response. I like your other post, good think the lawyers are on the way! That way they can meet their clients in the visitor center of the jail.

Anonymous said...

perhaps making the police response a focal point of the event was worthwhile in itself. as a taxpaying citizen, ask yourself if you think it's necessary or proper to spend that much money subduing so few people so utterly. 2 riot cops per protester. yeah, i'd call that a waste of taxpayer money, wouldn't you?

sarah said...

dear anonymous,

i think there are a number of things in america that warrant people getting out in the streets. public support for the war continues to drop, but few politicians are making serious moves to end it. schools and roads are crumbling, people are having trouble making ends meet, jobs are leaving this country, healthcare has become a luxury for the people who can afford it only...and demonstrators at the convention for the party who has been in power for the last eight years wanted to talk about those things, among others.

i would guess that there are things that you might wish to change about america right now too.

and you may or may not choose to plan or join a street demonstration. and that is your right. but part of the rich heritage of american democracy is that people can choose to demonstrate if they wish.

should people who are being violent and destructive be stopped? i think so (and furthermore, we shouldn't stop at folks smashing windows...let's end environmental devastation and corporate abuses too!)

should credentialed reporters be violently arrested when they haven't done anything wrong? is it right to have massive preemptive arrests and destroy private property and hold people without charges for days? how about charging nonviolent community activists with felonies?

because none of those things sit right with me. this is not america at its best. and those things are the ones that i wanted people to think about.

i am glad that you enjoy other posts here. i appreciate you sharing your opinion, and i hope that you will continue to read and respond here.