Guardian UK: Wall Street protests reveal slice of America's barely tamed brutality

[marmar]

Wall Street protests reveal slice of America's barely tamed brutality
Pepper spray, Swat teams and judicial torture. This barbarity is ever present – but rarely so visible – in American life

Ed Pilkington
guardian.co.uk, Monday 26 September 2011


One of the hardships of life as a reporter in New York City is that you so rarely get credited with the kind of heroism shown by colleagues in Helmand, say, or Baghdad. The assumption is that you're spending time drinking gin martinis on the roof of Soho House (I prefer vodka) or dining at the Grand Central oyster bar (try the Rhode Island Cuttyhunks, they're sumptuous), rather than dodging bullets in Tripoli.

I'd like to think that over the past few days perception of my job as a soft landing has started to change, and that its true nature as a tough, dangerous and – yes – heroic posting has begun to emerge. Take the events over the weekend in Wall Street. Admittedly, I wasn't there, but that's not the point. I could have been.

The protests were a lament for a nation in which, despite the 2008 meltdown, the financial system remains largely unregulated, where 46 million Americans live below the official poverty line, and where inequality is greater now than at any time since 1929. That's hardly the stuff of revolutions: you can read Paul Krugman make a similar point every week in the New York Times. And in the land of the first amendment you'd think it was OK to shout it out in the street, even if that street is Wall Street.

Not according to the two white-shirted senior NYPD officers captured on video. The film shows a small group of women protesters, who are doing nothing menacing at all, having been kettled by police. As they stand there fenced in and defenceless, the two white shirts walk up to them, hold out a pepper-spray canister and zap them straight in the face. ..........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/sep/26/americas-barely-tamed-brutality

[raccoon]

1. K&R. nt

[tcaudilllg]

2. So how are we gonna put the white shirts behind bars?

[Javaman]

3. They won't be...

they will be put on paid administrative leave. or sent to a desk job until things "blow over". Then quietly reintroduced into the field.

rinse and repeat.

NYC is notorious for this.

The days of Serpico are long since gone.

[Javaman]

4. I'm beginning to wonder what will happen if the repukes get back into power...

I'm just about finished with a book on the reign of terror in France. It took place directly after the revolution. The time period in the book is roughly from 1792 to 1794.

during which time a group known as the Jacobian's headed up by Robespierre, set in motion whole sale killing of anyone associated and or supporter of the king.

After a while, it was no longer limited to those sympathetic to royalty. It morphed into anyone against the "patriots" aka robespierre and his murderers.

It got to such an absurd level that anything could be misconstrued as an excuse to kill someone via the guillotine.

take for a example a young woman who was 18, had no idea politically of what was or who was in charge. She was brought up on charges of being against the republic and an anti-patriot when she was asked who robespierre was and she answered, "I don't know, is he the king?"

That was enough to have her questioned, tortured and guillotined. But because of the feeble minded dolts who were part of the Jacobian goon squad couldn't find it in themselves to stop mid process and come to their senses, they went further and sentenced the rest of her family as "collaborators" in a conspiracy to kill robespierre.

Further still, the atmosphere around robespierre and one that he willfully encouraged was an unquestioning "loyalty" else wise you too would be accused of being a traitor to the republic.

Sometimes the executioners themselves were accused as being "anti-patriot" for not killing fast enough.

it goes on and on.

what gets me, is the paranoid delusion displayed by the Jacobians and how closely it matches what we are witnessing with the ultra right and the tea baggers.

It it truly frightening.

I see the seeds of something potentially tragic and terrifying erupting if and when enough of these willing tools of stupidity getting into power.

while I honestly believe cement head perry is nothing more than a willing greedy opportunist asshole, I also would not put it past him to be ambivalent to wanton blood letting if things get completely out of control.

While many people here on DU and other boards claim there is a potential for a civil war, I, on the other hand, see something far more cruel, far more infantile, far more disgusting occurring.

It's not a matter of, "how could they let that happen", the question will be "why didn't we see this coming?"

the herd mentality and the "going along with the crowd" psychology is pretty much part and parcel of the republican mindset.

We now have people calling for people to die if they don't have health care and cheering the deaths of potentially innocent people being put to death.

It doesn't take much for the next step in this post modern version of blood letting to be actual blood letting.

If, god forbid, I find myself at the business end of a gun/rifle/knife or even guillotine, my last words will be, "I told you so".

[tcaudilllg]

5. I assure you, you have nothing to fear. ;)

But, please do buy some bullet proof vests! We don't know how this will turn out.

[madrchsod]

7. the children of the baby boomer generation are fighting the battles...

that we fought during the 60`s. i`m afraid another kent state is in the near future.

[Amonester]

8. The 1% and their enablers should have thought about it earlier.

I guess waking-up every morning with sents of champagne causes amnesia...

[hwmnbn]

6. K&R

[NOLALady]

9. Kick