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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsDave Zirin: Why We Must Protect Next Year’s Boston Marathon from Ourselves
from The Nation:
Why We Must Protect Next Years Boston Marathon from Ourselves
Dave Zirin on April 20, 2013 - 3:04 AM ET
If emerging victorious after being down 3-0 to the Yankees in the 2004 playoffs should have taught us anything, its that the people of Boston are tough as hell and never lose faith. After Mondays bombing of the Boston Marathon and the following days under lockdown, we are already seeing that resilience emerge. Already, people in the city are talking about how the Marathon next year is going to be bigger and better than ever. Already runners are signing up in droves. Already according to one website, the race in 2014 could have 15 to 20 times the number of people attempting to qualify. As Raymond Britt, a Marathon analyst who ran the 26.2 mile course for 13 consecutive years said, We believe its an extraordinary sign of the running communitys desire to support Boston. They want to come to Boston in 2014 to defend her honor, take our race back from evil, to prove the spirit of freedom will prevail over all. Bloomberg News also ran a story about the commitment of runners to retake Heartbreak Hill in 2014.
I in no way doubt that next year will be a celebration of the citys stouthearted fortitude. I have no doubt that people will arrive in droves to witness the spirit of freedom prevail. But I do think we need to separate the bravery of those who will gather in 2014, and what the security imperatives will undoubtedly be. We need to critically examine whats proposed and, if necessary, raise our voices in protest.
Safety is paramount of course but there is a difference between safety and submitting without dissent to being under a kind of martial law. I want to describe the possible dystopic scenario that next years marathon could bring and Im not pulling this out of a pamphlet written by Glenn Beck. Im speaking from the experience of having been in Vancouver right before the 2010 Winter Olympics, South Africa right before the 2010 World Cup, and London right before the 2012 Summer Olympics. In each of these cities, security meant raiding the homes and offices of "people of interest." It meant spying on activist groups planning legal protests. It meant a particular level of surveillance and harassment of black and brown communities, especially but certainly not exclusively the Arab and Muslim communities. It meant displacement of many of the homeless and those in nearby low-income housing to create a security perimeter. It meant, in the case of London, surveillance drones flying overhead. In all of these cities, there were so many video cameras that you couldnt so much as scratch your behind without fearing that someone was making a note. In all of these cities I felt safe, but safe in the way you feel in quiet, empty campground. Its eerie, even if you arent thinking about the collateral damage needed to feel so safe. In all of these cities, after the games, much of this top-notch surveillance equipment becomes a normalized part of law enforcement. As one police chief said when I was in London, Its not like we can just put them back in the box. .......................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.thenation.com/blog/173961/why-we-must-protect-next-years-boston-marathon-ourselves
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Dave Zirin: Why We Must Protect Next Year’s Boston Marathon from Ourselves (Original Post)
marmar
Apr 2013
OP
It's pretty simple--cordon off the highest risk areas and search bags, like at a lot of other events
TwilightGardener
Apr 2013
#1
TwilightGardener
(46,416 posts)1. It's pretty simple--cordon off the highest risk areas and search bags, like at a lot of other events
in stadiums, etc. Have more police watching the crowd. Set up a bigger security perimeter to prevent things like vehicle bombs. Nothing will be foolproof, and they don't need to go crazy with metal detectors, etc., but to have the security situation next year remain exactly the same, with no changes, would be kind of stupid. I don't think that will happen.