AMY GOODMAN: News conference of the RNC Eight. During it, a nineteen-year-old activist named Elliot Hughes said he was beaten and tortured inside the Ramsey County Jail.
ELLIOT HUGHES: My name is Elliot Hughes. E-L-L-I-O-T, H-U-G-H-E-S. Me and some friends were chanting for—so that we could receive food in Ramsey County Jail, because we hadn’t been provided food. And six or seven officers came into my cell, and they took—one officer punched me in the face, right here where you see this bruise. And then they slammed—and I fell to the ground, unconscious. And the officer grabbed me by the head, slammed my head on the ground and re-awoke me out of—to consciousness. And I was bleeding everywhere. They dragged me to another detaining cell. They put a bag over my head that had a gag on it. And they used pain compliance tactics on me for about an hour and a half. They pressed—they separated my jaw as hard as they could with their fingers. And they bent my ankles back. They basically bent my foot backwards. I was screaming for God and like screaming for mercy, crying, asking them why they were doing this. And I’ve never been so violated in my life.
AMY GOODMAN: That was nineteen-year-old Elliot Hughes, speaking at a news conference on Thursday. Sheriff Bob Fletcher told the Star Tribune that Hughes was, quote, “extremely disruptive in jail,” and that, quote, “it took some force to control him.”
Rage Against the Machine came out wearing Guantanamo Bay hoods at a Twin Cities concert. This is lead singer Zack de la Rocha. (Joey Mcleister, Star Tribune)
Say what you will about a lack of subtlety in their delivery, or the irony of their corporate record contract, but at least Rage Against the Machine makes the most out of every opportunity to demand justice.
What if tomorrow we all showed up to work, school, family dinner in orange jumpsuits and black hoods?
Check out these links to see a bit of what’s been happening on the streets during the RNC:
I’ve learned a lot, so I’ll write several posts over the next few days.
First a few aphorisms:
Victimization is the end of truth.
Relativism is the ultimate paralysis.
The dogmatic maintenance of any state (nation-states, ideological states, states of affairs, etc.) can never lead to politics or love, nor the truths particular to each.
Even an individual can become a state.
There is no room for truth in our present-day political scene. Mainstream politics has become nothing more than a utilitarian machine that calculates and dispenses protections for the interests of communities (including communities of one). Most of these communities are identity-based, and their identities are often shaped according to a sense of victimization: religious persecution in the case of Jews or Mormons, racial discrimination in the case of Hispanics or blacks, sexual bigotry in the case of gays or transgendered. Even ‘communities’ as large as multinational corporations have begun to define themselves as victims; think Bechtel in Bolivia trying to defend its right to privatize water from those vicious people in the streets and their menacing collective will.
OK, pause for a second I don’t want you to think that I’m going to condone persecution, discrimination or bigotry. By no means. What I want to do is show how the power of true politics cannot exist in a situation where the only right to be asserted is the right to define oneself (or one’s community) as a victim….
OK everyone, this post is for my Spanish students (sorry). I may post things for them on here from time to time, but I’ll try to create a separate page for them.
I’ll be posting again soon. These last few days have been tumultuous for me to say the least. I’ll probably write about it tonight or tomorrow.
I am frustrated and frightened. But most of all I am disheartened.
I protested in Denver for the last two days along with thousands of other people. Free speech was met with $50 million (of your tax dollars) on security for the Democratic National Convention, half of the money going to the latest equipment and the other half going to police pay. SWAT teams snaked through the streets day and night, with helicopters droning constantly overhead. I kept thinking to myself, “Is this what it felt like to walk the streets of Santiago or Buenos Aires in the 70s, Guatemala City in the 80s? How do you stand up to this?”
DNC security was expecting upwards of 50,000 protesters, but only about 5,000 were there the days that I was there. Others were likely scared off by the media hype of the expected police crackdown; who wants to be taken to “Gitmo on the Platte?”
But some of us did show up to express our dissatisfaction with Barack Obama’s stances on war, healthcare, and trade. Obama, as one of chants put it, amounts to not much more than “another face on a brutal empire.” Rhetorical change are not enough: only specific, radical changes (withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan, an about face in American-Israeli relations, a repeal of NAFTA, a crackdown on corporate influence in Washington etc., none of which are supported by Obama) can bring about lasting peace and justice.
A few friends and I participated in two anti-war marches on Sunday. The first march, organized by Recreate68 had a permit, and so, while there was a heavy police presence along the route, there were few complications. During the another permitted march/dance party, “Funk the War,” a few hundred of us broke off form the authorized route and began to snake through downtown Denver. Teams of police officers in riot gear followed alongside the march but, surprisingly, did not try to stop it. There were a couple of face offs toward the end of the march, but there was no violence on either side and, as far as I could tell, the police only arrested one person.
If only things would have continued that way. There was an anti-capitalist march planned for Monday evening, and I was excited to participate. But, about an hour before the march was to begin, several hundred officers began surrounding the park where protesters were gathering, seemingly determined not to let the protest happen. After about an hour of waiting and murmuring, the crowd finally surged into the street and began marching. But we hadn’t gotten more than a block when police in full riot gear and gas masks sealed off the street and forced us back with their oversized batons. We ran back in the other direction, but the police had blocked off the other side of the block as well; we were trapped. Without any warning or opportunity to leave without resisting, the police charged into the crowd and divided us into three or four smaller groups. A couple of small groups sat in the street and locked arms. The rest of us crowded onto the sidewalk. Penned in we shouted, “Tell me what a police state looks like…This is what a police state looks like.”
We waited for about an hour on the sidewalk, recoiling from time to time from pepper spray or pepper bullets shot from air guns. Some of us tried talking to the officers to find out what would happen to us, but without much response. We hadn’t destroyed property nor commited any acts of violence; we were only guilty of obstructing traffic. Finally, those of us on the sidewalk were allowed to leave, but the others, about 91 in all, were arrested.
The Rocky Mountain News reported that “Barbara Spagnuolo, wife of Re-create 68 co-founder Glenn Spagnuolo, said her husband and fellow co-founder Mark Cohen negotiated the release of some 300 protesters detained for nearly an hour on 15th Street, but that between 35 and 40 protesters were being arrested and taken for processing at specially created courts for the Democratic National Convention. ‘They negotiated the release of everyone that was on the sidewalk’ at the time police closed in on the running group affiliated with anarchist group Unconventional Denver, Spagnuolo said, ‘but the people in the street, they are still there.’” Strange language suggesting the police saw us as hostages.
Why had the police reacted so differently on the second day? We had obstructed traffic the day before but were still allowed to demonstrate. I think the reason can be found in the answer to the questions we shouted at the police line: “Who do you serve? Who do you protect?”
The day before we had been protesting a symptom, now we were protesting the root problem: capitalism itself. The people can decry injustices and inequalities, and state and corporate officials will chime in and voice their support. But that support dries up moment the people point out the systemic nature of injustice and inequality.
“Who do you serve? Who do you protect?” At least 25 million dollars were funneled into the burgeoning Homeland Security industry (Denver city refuses to disclose the names of the companies and contractors) to provide Denver area police with brand new riot gear, vehicles, and “non-lethal” weapons. Another $25 million went to pay and other security costs.
50 million dollars? Doesn’t that seem a little excessive for a one week convention and only about 5,000 protesters? This seems like a clear case of the what Naomi Klein describes as the “Shock Doctrine:” the strategic creation of states of chaos in order to create opportunity for the “security” and “resconstruction” industries. Think of the billions in no-bid, cost-plus contracts payed to Halliburton, Blackwater, Bechtel, etc. in Iraq and (yes, the same companies) in New Orleans in the wake of Katrina. So really, it doesn’t matter if the Denver police were actually expecting 50,000 protesters or not; the hype and hysteria justified a huge transfer of tax-payer funds into the hands of (heretofore undisclosed) security equipment providers.
“Who do you serve?” “Who do you protect?” Police had “intelligence” (which could actually be found on thousands of publicly distributed fliers) that several protesters were planning to go from the march to disrupt some of the Democratic Party fundraisers sponsored by major corporations, among them telecoms like AT&T (principal sponsor of the DNC and recently granted immunity for illegal spying by the Obama backed FISA bill) and defense contractors like Lockheed Martin. Protesters can lose their voices shouting vague pleas for “Peace” or “No more war;” I suspect their presence is even welcomed by the people that stand to profit from security contracts. But they will be silenced at soon as they confront the economic model that underlies the circulation of profit and power between government and big business. This week, the Denver Police serve and protect the Democrats who serve and protect the corporations that fund their convention and their campaigns.
Finally, was it a coincidence the police sealed us in just below the headquarters of The Denver Post and The Rocky Mountain News? Might they have been trying to make an example out of us with their clubs and pepper spray? Could their intended message be, “Go ahead and ask for peace, just don’t try to actually bring it about; don’t touch capital?”
Sorry if this post is too journalistic. There are so many things I want to feel out and think through, but I’ll do that over the next few days.
I’m going to Denver this weekend to protest at the Democratic National Convention. I’m going to protest War. I’m going to protest the Iraq war. I’m going to protest capitalism in general and US trade policy in particular. I’m going to protest the corporatism of the Democratic party. I’m going to protest that party’s candidate, “Panderer in Chief” Barack Obama. I wish I could go to St. Paul too.
If anyone wants to come with a few friends and me, you’re invited! We’re leaving Saturday morning. Leave a comment if you’re interested and I’ll email you back.
For another perspective on why you might want to protest at the DNC, read this sincere expression by my friend Spencer:
WHY PROTEST AT THE DNC?
By Spencer Kingman
I am not going to lecture anyone on how or if they should use their vote in November. I do believe that our democracy is pretty narrow, and that whoever becomes president will pursue policies like every other president in my lifetime. Waging war and funnelling wealth from the poor to the rich. At the same time, the fight for peace and justice must take place on a social terrain that in some ways is shaped by leaders, and there are real differences between Obama, Mccain, Ron Paul, Nader, Mckinney, etc. No matter how this whole thing plays out, the pressures that big strong social movements (for peace, people’s power, egalitarianism, civil rights, even revolution) can bring to bear on our system are desparately needed. It’s right to protest and rebel against this nightmare of war and inequality the world is in. It is good to band together with our friends and neighbors to do this. The ruling class is relying on elections to let some pressure out of the system, cool things off, but if we don’t let that happen then they will have one less trick up their sleeve.
Of course, just like the spectacle of an election can be a poor substitute for democracy, the spectacle of a protest can be a poor substitute for a social movement. It doesn’t have to be that way. In my experience, these things can be transformative, individually and for society. So consider going. Perhaps we can get the Democrats to be a true party of the people, or at least live up to their rhetoric. Perhaps we can create something new. If we build movements that can’t be ignored, political candidates and “real change” will follow.
OK, drove back to Utah from California today. No time to write.
But check out this review by Slavoj Zizek on Simon Critchley’s book (the one that he talks about in the lecture I posted the day before yesterday). Read all of the letters that are linked at the bottom too, and Zizek’s reply to the letters.
I’ve been visiting my family in California for the last few days. Today I went with my mom and sisters Leila and Lauren to their aerobic-latin-dance class at the local elementary school auditorium. I must have burned a thousand calories from bum shaking alone! Needless to say, I’m a little tired. The rhythm got me Gloria.
For today, watch Ashley Sander’s amazing speech from the Nader for President rally in Salt Lake a couple of weeks ago.
