"The People Versus the Police" Naomi Wolf

[in_cog_ni_to]

America’s politicians, it seems, have had their fill of democracy. Across the country, police, acting under orders from local officials, are breaking up protest encampments set up by supporters of the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement – sometimes with shocking and utterly gratuitous violence.

In the worst incident so far, hundreds of police, dressed in riot gear, surrounded Occupy Oakland’s encampment and fired rubber bullets (which can be fatal), flash grenades, and tear-gas canisters – with some officers taking aim directly at demonstrators. The Occupy Oakland Twitter feed read like a report from Cairo’s Tahrir Square: “they are surrounding us”; “hundreds and hundreds of police”; “there are armored vehicles and Hummers.” There were 170 arrests.

My own recent arrest, while obeying the terms of a permit and standing peacefully on a street in lower Manhattan, brought the reality of this crackdown close to home. America is waking up to what was built while it slept: private companies have hired away its police (JPMorgan Chase gave $4.6 million to the New York City Police Foundation); the federal Department of Homeland Security has given small municipal police forces military-grade weapons systems; citizens’ rights to freedom of speech and assembly have been stealthily undermined by opaque permit requirements.

Suddenly, America looks like the rest of the furious, protesting, not-completely-free world. Indeed, most commentators have not fully grasped that a world war is occurring. But it is unlike any previous war in human history: for the first time, people around the world are not identifying and organizing themselves along national or religious lines, but rather in terms of a global consciousness and demands for a peaceful life, a sustainable future, economic justice, and basic democracy. Their enemy is a global “corporatocracy” that has purchased governments and legislatures, created its own armed enforcers, engaged in systemic economic fraud, and plundered treasuries and ecosystems.<snip>

More at link:
http://www.nationofchange.org/people-versus-police-1320158599

[redqueen]

1. Our "enemy is a global 'corporatocracy'"

Indeed.

K&R

[Jackpine Radical]

2. Well, if anyone in America is equipped to "get it,"

Naomi Klein is.

Yes, it's a worldwide revolution--driven, I'm convinced, by the incredible power that inheres in the free bidirectional exchange of information made possible via the Internet.

I recently re-read some Tielhard, and see his dreams coming true.

[ZombieHorde]

6. Is Naomi Klein Naomi Wolf's real name? nt

[FiveGoodMen]

9. Check out the pictures and judge for yourself

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naomi_Klein

Born May 8, 1970 (1970-05-08) (age 41)
Montreal, Quebec, Canada

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naomi_Wolf

Born Naomi Wolf
November 12, 1962 (1962-11-12) (age 48)

[Raksha]

11. Thanks for the Wikipedia links.

I should have looked them up in Wikipedia myself instead of trying to write about them off the top of my head. I just corrected an error in my earlier post based on what I read there about Naomi Wolf.

[Jackpine Radical]

14. Brain fart.

[Raksha]

10. Naomi Klein and Naomi Wolf are two different people.

You are thinking of Naomi Klein, author of The Shock Doctrine, the book that made history by outlining the game plan or strategy for economic hegemony and the destruction of democracy. Naomi Wolf who was recently arrested at OWS in New York is the author of The End of America: A Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot which I haven't read yet, although I've read several of her earlier books.

[Jackpine Radical]

15. You are right.

And this is not the first time I've gotten the 2 tangled up in my head.

[tnlurker]

3. K&R

For later reading

[tk2kewl]

4. K&R

[ZombieHorde]

5. This paragraph is interesting...

"There are, unfortunately, many documented cases of violent provocateurs infiltrating demonstrations in places like Toronto, Pittsburgh, London, and Athens – people whom one Greek described to me as “known unknowns.” Provocateurs, too, need to be photographed and logged, which is why it is important not to cover one’s face while protesting."

[in_cog_ni_to]

7. It is a great point she makes! n/t

[babydollhead]

8. great article!

[Fire Walk With Me]

12. Frightening and true. Let's solve this!

[redqueen]

13. ...

:kick:

[nadinbrzezinski]

16. Lemme see...at the risk of using a non polite tern

The words Naomi could not use, but I will, are CLASS CONSCIOUSNESS.