Quote of the Day
September 20, 2009
'Five months ago in Prague, Barack Obama used one of
his first foreign policy speeches to call for a world
free of nuclear weapons. Ever since then the White
House has been engaged in a race to turn that
declaration into real-world policy. The first obstacle
is the Pentagon.
'According to officials with knowledge of the inter-
agency bargaining, the US defence department produced a
draft nuclear posture review that did not just fall
short of Obama's vision. In some ways it appeared to be
moving in the opposite direction.'
Julian Borger
Guardian (UK)
September 20, 2009
http://tinyurl.com/llcdl7
***
Quote of the Day
September 25, 2009
'So, have you enjoyed the debate over health care
reform? Have you been impressed by the civility of the
discussion and the intellectual honesty of reform
opponents?
'If so, you'll love the next big debate: the fight over
climate change.'
Columnist Paul Krugman
New York Times
September 25, 2009
http://tinyurl.com/ycwa5nd
***
Quote of the Day
September 25, 2009
'Most Americans, looking at a globe, would be hard
pressed to find Afghanistan. Americans on the whole
know very little about the land or its people - and
care even less. They know we're at war over there,
wherever it is, but if you were to ask what a Pashtun
is or mention the name Abdullah Abdullah you would most
likely get a blank stare.
'Americans' minds are on other things, like trying to
figure out why, if the Great Recession is over, as Ben
Bernanke seems to believe, the employment landscape
still looks like a toxic waste dump.'
Columnist Bob Herbert
'Fed Up With War'
New York Times
September 26, 2009
http://tinyurl.com/yezqlzu
***
From: zhelp@zcommunications.org
Street Report from the G20
By Bill Quigley
Bill Quigley's ZSpace: Sept. 26, 2009
The G20 in Pittsburgh showed us how pitifully fearful our leaders have
become.
What no terrorist could do to us, our own leaders did.
Out of fear of the possibility of a terrorist attack, authorities militarize
our towns, scare our people away, stop daily life and quash our
constitutional rights.
For days, downtown Pittsburgh, home to the G20, was a turned into a
militarized people-free ghost town. Sirens screamed day and night.
Helicopters crisscrossed the skies. Gunboats sat in the rivers. The skies
were defended by Air Force jets. Streets were barricaded by huge cement
blocks and fencing. Bridges were closed with National Guard across the
entrances. Public transportation was stopped downtown. Amtrak train service
was suspended for days.
In many areas, there were armed police every 100 feet. Businesses closed.
Schools closed. Tens of thousands were unable to work.
Four thousand police were on duty plus 2500 National Guard plus Coast Guard
and Air Force and dozens of other security agencies. A thousand volunteers
from other police forces were sworn in to help out.
Police were dressed in battle gear, bulky black ninja turtle outfits -
helmets with clear visors, strapped on body armor, shin guards, big boots,
batons, and long guns.
In addition to helicopters, the police had hundreds of cars and motorcycles
, armored vehicles, monster trucks, small electric go-karts. There were even
passenger vans screaming through town so stuffed with heavily armed ninja
turtles that the side and rear doors remained open.
No terrorists showed up at the G20.
Since no terrorists showed up, those in charge of the heavily armed security
forces chose to deploy their forces around those who were protesting.
Not everyone is delighted that 20 countries control 80% of the world's
resources. Several thousand of them chose to express their displeasure by
protesting.
Unfortunately, the officials in charge thought that it was more important to
create a militarized people-free zone around the G20 people than to allow
freedom of speech, freedom of assembly or the freedom to protest.
It took a lawsuit by the Center for Constitutional Rights and the ACLU to
get any major protest permitted anywhere near downtown Pittsburgh. Even
then, the police "forgot" what was permitted and turned people away from
areas of town. Hundreds of police also harassed a bus of people who were
giving away free food - repeatedly detaining the bus and searching it and
its passengers without warrants.
Then a group of young people decided that they did not need a permit to
express their human and constitutional rights to freedom. They announced
they were going to hold their own gathering at a city park and go down the
deserted city streets to protest the G20. Maybe 200 of these young people
were self-described anarchists, dressed in black, many with bandanas across
their faces. The police warned everyone these people were very scary. My cab
driver said the anarchist spokesperson looked like Harry Potter in a black
hoodie. The anarchists were joined in the park by hundreds of other
activists of all ages, ultimately one thousand strong, all insisting on
exercising their right to protest.
This drove the authorities crazy.
Battle dressed ninja turtles showed up at the park and formed a line across
one entrance. Helicopters buzzed overhead. Armored vehicles gathered.
The crowd surged out of the park and up a side street yelling, chanting,
drumming, and holding signs. As they exited the park, everyone passed an ice
cream truck that was playing "It's a small world after all." Indeed.
Any remaining doubts about the militarization of the police were dispelled
shortly after the crowd left the park. A few blocks away the police
unveiled their latest high tech anti-protestor toy. It was mounted on the
back of a huge black truck. The Pittsburgh-Gazette described it as Long
Range Acoustic Device designed to break up crowds with piercing noise.
Similar devices have been used in Fallujah, Mosul and Basra Iraq. The police
backed the truck up, told people not to go any further down the street and
then blasted them with piercing noise.
The crowd then moved to other streets. Now they were being tracked by
helicopters. The police repeatedly tried to block them from re-grouping
ultimately firing tear gas into the crowd injuring hundreds including people
in the residential neighborhood where the police decided to confront the
marchers. I was treated to some of the tear gas myself and I found the
Pittsburgh brand to be spiced with a hint of kelbasa. Fortunately I was
handed some paper towels soaked in apple cider vinegar which helped fight
the tears and cough a bit. Who would have thought?
After the large group broke and ran from the tear gas, smaller groups went
into commercial neighborhoods and broke glass at a bank and a couple of
other businesses. The police chased and the glass breakers ran. And the
police chased and the people ran. For a few hours.
By day the police were menacing, but at night they lost their cool. Around a
park by the University of Pittsburgh the ninja turtles pushed and shoved and
beat and arrested not just protestors but people passing by. One young woman
reported she and her friend watched Grey's Anatomy and were on their way
back to their dorm when they were cornered by police. One was bruised by
police baton and her friend was arrested. Police shot tear gas, pepper
spray, smoke canisters, and rubber bullets. They pushed with big plastic
shields and struck with batons.
The biggest march was Friday. Thousands of people from Pittsburgh and other
places protested the G20. Since the court had ruled on this march, the
police did not confront the marchers. Ninja turtled police showed up in
formation sometimes and the helicopters hovered but no confrontations
occurred.
Again Friday night, riot clad police fought with students outside of the
University of Pittsburgh. To what end was just as unclear as the night
before.
Ultimately about 200 were arrested, mostly in clashes with the police around
the University.
The G20 leaders left by helicopter and limousine.
Pittsburgh now belongs again to the people of Pittsburgh. The cement
barricades were removed, the fences were taken down, the bridges and roads
were opened. The gunboats packed up and left. The police packed away their
ninja turtle outfits and tear gas and rubber bullets. They don't look like
military commandos anymore. No more gunboats on the river. No more sirens
all the time. No more armored vehicles and ear splitting machines used in
Iraq. On Monday the businesses will open and kids will have to go back to
school. Civil society has returned.
It is now probably even safe to exercise constitutional rights in Pittsburgh
once again.
The USA really showed those terrorists didn't we?
Bill is a human rights lawyer with the Center for Constitutional Rights.
Quigley77@yahoo.com
From: Z Net - The Spirit Of Resistance Lives
http://www.zcommunications.org/zspace/commentaries/3995
Commentaries: http://www.zcommunications.org/zspace/commentaries/
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