http://www.seedsofdoubt.com/distressedamerican/protesttactics.htmI completely agree that the tacts we are using re ineffective. I decided this based on My experiences at the RNC rally and more recently the arrests of protesters in Westfield NJ during one of Bush town hall meetings. We need to relearn Civil Disobedience, Rallies are great but have had little impact.
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Here are some of my suggestions for more effectively getting out message out:
Suggested Tactics For Dealing With Police Harassment Of Protesters
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As many of you know I have spent much of the past several days pulling together photos, video, and written accounts of police actions during the recent POTUS (President Of The United States) visit to New Jersey.
The full information can be found at:
http://www.seedsofdoubt.com/distressedamerican/main.htm There is video of the NJ arrests posted as well at:
http://www.seedsofdoubt.com/distressedamerican/westfieldvideo/WestfieldArrest.avihttp://www.seedsofdoubt.com/distressedamerican/westfieldvideo/WestfieldPoliceState.avi Several intimidation tactics are being employed at these events. It is best to be prepared in advance for what you might see out there.
The tactics they are employing are fairly simple and should also be fairly simple to defeat.
So far we have seen that as the New Jersey event was letting out, the police decided to disperse the crowd of (perfectly legal) protesters. They began by grabbing and arresting several people from the crowd, none of whom had in any way broken the law. These arrests were them used to threaten the others that if they did not disperse they would also be arrested. In the New Jersey case the tactic worked fairly well. They arrested 9 and dispersed the protesters in minutes.
Here's what I suggest. First, take a camera. It is a lot easier to defend people who are charged with video or photos than just a story. Second, if arrests begin, it is important for the crowd NOT TO DISPERSE. I think it would be far more effective for everyone to just sit right down there and if need be get arrested. It is a lot harder for the main stream media to ignore the arrests of 150 protesters than it is to ignore 9.
Fill their local jails and hold a jail cell rally. It worked for MLK!
I understand that this takes a commitment. It will most likely result in disorderly conduct charges, fines and a Secret Service file. However, if we allow these folks to drive us off when we are well within out legal rights, THEN THEY WIN!