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assaults on women at demonstations, Chancellor Linda P B Katehi, Linda Katehi, Occopy Oregon, Occupy assaults, Occupy demonstrations, Occupy UC Davis, Professor Robert Hass, Randy Ramussen, The David Enterprise, The Oregonian, UC Police Lt John Pike, US Poet Laureate assaulted, Wayne Tilcock
UC Police Lt John Pike pepper spraying young people.
Picture: Wayne Tilcock of The Davis Enterprise
Yesterday I observed, slightly off-hand, that with new technology all the participants in demonstrations carry in their hands the means to record accurately what is done to them by and in the name of the state. Every demonstrator a director, every group a film crew. I had not expected the glaring proof of this to happen that very day.
The picture above by Wayne Tilcock, of The Davis Enterprise, shows the shocking images of deliberate Police brutality that was meted out at the Occupy UC Davis campus.
The students there had decided to set up an Occupy Camp on the lawns of the Campus. This was opposed by the Chancellor, Linda P B Katehi, who called in the Police to clear this miserable riff raff off her prize winning manicured. Her argument seems to be that by not evacuating when told to, they brought the above action on themselves.
But what, exactly, are we looking at? Well, a number of students are sitting down on the ground arms linked in a peaceful non threatening manner. They pose no active threat to anyone and are composed mostly, it seems, of girls and young women.
University of California Police Lt John Pike (oh yes, this being your own director bit means the guilty are clearly identified) who is obviously, by his body language, in no danger of any kind whatsoever, proceeds to produce a can of pepper spray and discharge it over the students. Then police used batons to prise the students apart, kneeling on bodies and pushing heads into the ground. Those who had covered their heads in time had more pepper sprayed down their throats. Several students were hospitalised coughing up blood.
And it wasn’t just the student body who were attacked. A former Poet Laureate of the United States, and Pulitzer Prize winner Professor Robert Hass, was amongst a number struck with batons.
Is it just me, or does this bring back memories of Kent State University, or My Lai, or Abu Ghraib?
And what is the delight that United States Police Officers take in attacking young women? We saw this first on day 8 at the Occupy Wall Street Protest and then again, in Oregon, last night. Do Police get a particular thrill from hitting posh college girls or is it just women they enjoy abusing?
Picture: Randy Ramussen of The Oregonian
As for Chancellor Linda P B Katehi, well it’s safe to say her days as Chancellor are numbered. And the publicity has probably stuffed her career in “Education”. The acreage of publicity for this action can hardly be what the trustees at the University were looking for from her office. A petition has already been raised by the teaching staff to have her removed and she can hardly think to have the support of the student body either, who stood in serried ranks in a total silence of utter contempt as she left yesterday. As for alumni contributions to the cause, will you be giving them money? Bet she is out by Christmas?
I can only echo the words of poet Robert Hass, recovering after his ordeal at the hands of thugs who turn nightsticks on educators and pepper spray girls.
Regardless of how you vote or who you worship, tell me honestly, is this the America that you want to live in? Do you want kids to grow up thinking that beating someone is ok, as long you disagree with their opinion on corporate tax rates? Does this make you feel free/safe/proud? Can’t we put aside our petty differences for just one damn second and realize that this is wrong at the cellular level? WE ARE ALL HUMAN! Do we not all deserve some measure of basic respect one from another?
I have no energy left to be angry at this injustice. I am just sad. Sad for what unbridled greed and censorship has done to America. A country I love. A country built on the idea that ANYONE, no matter what they believe, could live here and be safe.
That America is disappearing. Will you let it slip away because it’s too annoying/time consuming/confrontational to get involved? Or will you take a stand?
Copyright David Macadam 2011
I’m NOT gonna bite on the EVERY COP is a asshole thing….
The two cops you have shown most certainly are…..
Cops like you and me get up everyday and go to work…
One must remember that NOT too long ago COPS where getting laid off and having their benefits assaulted by the SAME knuckleheads that have sic them on the Protestors…..
American’s HAVE the right to Protest….
Occupy will continue….
But at some point must grow into more than just fights between them and Government that plays to the ‘crazies’ angle…
And Dave you are SOOOO right…..
You can’t do dumb stuff and NOT have it recorded somewhere…..
Now James, I never said every cop was bad or violent towards small girls sitting on protests. Indeed reports of what happened at Davis clearly say that other Police turned away, so sickened were they by the actions of John Pike. But, when you see how they dress in their provocative Robocop-meets- Darth-Vader distropian battle dress, using tanks (sorry armoured persoannel vehicles) at Tampa or when you see Police take off their collar badges to disguise their identity (and who are not upbraided by their senior officers on site from doing so) you see a group which is a sizable minorority- that have always been in the Police, ready and sadistically willing to hurt the innocent in the name of their political masters. Well it always worked in the past. My point is that these tactics are failing today because almost every single protestor has sufficient photographic equipment at their side and through computers and the web the means to diseminate the images of these individuals (and I hope with you they are a minority) committing crimes and to bring them to the justice they deserve to face.
I know you didn’s say EVERYONE!….
I compliment you on your post as usual…..
I seek to bring out that fact that same cops are being used by the SAME thing that brought the protestors out also….
I have NOT lost sight that frigging politicans and their back stage money
givers are the REAL problems…..
And like the solider’s going off to war wondering ‘WTF am I here?’
Many cops find themselves in the same situations…
I don’t condone violence….
But once on stage …
The actors DO play their parts
OK, points taken, but as regards your point on “actors playing their parts” there seems to be an assumption in that phrase that once in play in a protest, you take what you get. But legally, and thankfully, this aint so. Non-violent protesters like the kids sitting in a line, do not surrender their Fourth Amendment Rights to be free from excessive force by police. Specifically, non-violent protesters may additionally sue police and the municipality of county that employs them under this Federal law, 42 United States Code Section 1983 if they have been pepper sprayed while peacefully protesting, and we might note that this protection is not removed even if the protesters were arrested.
Which is where all this documentation may prove most effective. I suspect that the kids will already be consulting lawyers who should advise that John Pike is personally open to charges and being sued as indeed is his superiors, the University Board or Trustees and the Chancellor. Such actions in the past were simply not available to the abused protestor before new technology. It will be interesting to see how brave the Police are in face of that most terrible of American Urban monsters – the littigating Attorney
No, No…..
I mean….
If you put protestors out i/f/o cops sitting in the middle of the street…
You’re going have arrests…
That’s why there there….
When they huddle together and lock arms…
Cops have to handle that….
You do it like the Cops in NYC…
With MANPOWER…
NOT pepper spray which make all those great pictures the protestors can use
a SECOND TIME against the dumb cops….
The actors….
The Cops and Protestors DO play their parts…
There WILL be civil suits in which you and I the tax payer will pay protestors for dumb police mistakes….
But the Cops WILL be there everyday moving people…
That’s their job…..
And of course once a cop put’s someone under arrest they assume the responsibility
of their charges….
But I disagree with your last sentence….
If the Occupy Protest is just against the Cops ….
In my mine it is a failure….
As I say above……
The Cops are getting screwed right along with the protestors…
They have had their salaries cut, Benefits cut, bargaining cut, and ranking thinned thru layoff’s…..
The Problem Dave is NOT THEM….
It is those who send them to battle….
It those who give those politicians the money to prop up Wall Street, the Big banks,
The Guys who let you lend THEM money and they have YOU nickel and dimmed
to get your money back ABOVE the measly interest they pay you…
My friend …
PLEASE don’t NOT bne tricked into believing the COPs are the basic problem
They are NOT……
Putting lawyers on them will make protestor’s as individuals get some money….
and the lawyers richer
And the Master’s of the Universe will have fucked everyone again…..
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