To Be We the People Once Again

[WilliamPitt]

(Image: Jared Rodriguez / Truthout)

To Be We the People Once Again
By William Rivers Pitt
Truthout | Op-Ed

Thursday 04 July 2013

Did you hear about Jeffrey Olson? The guy from San Diego who wrote things like "No thanks, big banks" and "Shame on Bank of America" in water-soluble chalk on the sidewalk? He was looking at thirteen years in prison after getting busted on a variety of vandalism charges, but on Monday, a jury of his peers found him not guilty, and he was free to go.

Now there's a happy story for the Fourth of July, right? A common citizen, exercising his First Amendment right to say bad things about a bank in street chalk that won't survive the next downpour or the first hose spray, goes up against the bad guys and winds up walking free.

According to Olson, his motivation was entirely straightforward: "Wall Street banks nearly drove our economy into the ditch." Isn't it great that we live in a country where a man like Jeffrey Olson is free to express himself in a non-destructive way?

Um...

Wait...

Jeffrey Olson was arrested, and arraigned, and had to get a lawyer, and was tried in a court of law, and was required to stand behind a defendant's table in a courtroom for a jury decision that could have taken his freedom for thirteen years...because he said bad things about banks in chalk on a sidewalk? A man was prosecuted all the way to a jury verdict for speaking his mind with art that would disappear with the next rainstorm.

I suppose, given the trend toward total retaliation in this country these days, that we should give a giggle and a smile for Jeff Olson for having slipped the noose. Dozens of Occupy protesters faced jail time in districts all over the country after committing savage crimes like spending time in a public park, standing still in the face of sanctioned police riots, and taking a face full of mace for being on the wrong corner at the wrong time.

The rest: http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/17378-to-be-we-the-people-once-again

[Solly Mack]

1. K&R

[WilliamPitt]

2. Up

[malokvale77]

3. K & R

[gtar100]

4. More evidence of the insanity of corporate rule.

I only wish it would stop. But those same people who made it happen also woke up today and looked at their schedules to see what to do next.

[ReRe]

5. K&R

[annabanana]

6. k&r..... holy cow!! n/t

[MineralMan]

7. Such is civil disobedience.

Mr. Olson engaged in that activity. A moron of a DA and a moron of a judge did the rest. Civil disobedience requires an arrest and even a trial to be truly effective. His example may well prevent other morons from charging people who do such harmless protests in the future.

Without an arrest, civil disobedience has no benefit. Without airing the disobedience in a court of law, no precedent is set.

Henry David Thoreau understood that, and explained it concisely and even entertainingly in his essay, "Civil Disobedience." That essay informed many since it was written, and has become how civil disobedience is understood. It's worth reading, if only for his description of why his short stint in jail was necessary for his action to have meaning. Here's a link to it:

http://thoreau.eserver.org/civil.html

[Zorra]

10. The champion of non-resistance to all status quo authority lectures us about

civil disobedience.

Cool story, bro.

[Zorra]

8. + 7,000,000,000 nt

[Enthusiast]

9. Kicked and Recommended!

I agree completely, WilliamPitt!

[summerschild]

11. K&R

[lsewpershad]

12. Funny

how we howl about the clamp down on protestors in other countries when we prosecute and sentence, pepper spray, club and corral those who protest here in the Democratic and oh so free USA.

[Dustlawyer]

13. We are going to have to protest in larger and larger numbers

if we want our privacy back and all of the other rights they have taken. Who was the asshole DA that decided to pursue this? Was he over zealous or paid off?

[marmar]

14. k/r

[ChiciB1]

15. Here's More Of The Same...And

this was the Occupy I was with. Many, many people with their kids were always allowed to "play" and chalk at this area... funny how we got "eye-balled" every time we met at this park. They took out the benches, people in condos around didn't want riff-raff, down grading the area. And there were homeless that DID come there. Still we were only meeting. I finally left when we were down to around 5 or 6 people still wanting to make a statement.

I haven't been back up there, I live further south, but was told that they've now removed this downtown park completely. I didn't confirm this, I have bad memories, but wouldn't doubt it.

Again, the rich people in the condos that grew up around the park, felt THEIR rights and/or surrounding view wasn't "tasteful" I guess. We used to see them looking down from their balconies, then the POLICE always arrived!

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20120411/article/120419927

[The Straight Story]

16. This is where we are headed (and where others once were):

Reporting live from just this side of the Berlin wall.....

"Folks, we have with us Ivan Grenski, not his real name and his face is blurred out, to shed some light on what life is like behind the iron curtain."

Reporter: First an update on the captured American citizens. They have been held captive now 15 months with no trial or charges. They have went on a hunger strike for Christmas but are being force fed nightly. Rumor has it that some of them have been interrogated using unconventional means. Ivan, you told us earlier you had been in jail before, what was it like?

IG: It is horrible! Our government uses people for labor. They pay a small pittance that they get back by overcharging us on items we need or taking it to pay fines. They create new laws to punish the things people do and use that as excuse to put you in jail. But it is nothing compared to what political prisoners go through. The government calls them terrorists and tortures them, so have not seen their family in many years.

Reporter: You mentioned earlier about the police, what is it like living there?

IG: We are watched always. They read our letters, listen to our calls, they track all of our movements. Drones fill the skies and cameras are everywhere to keep us in line. You cannot go to public gatherings without being accosted. Peaceful protests end in mace and beatings. The police can do as they wish. Me? If I have a yard sale I must get a permit - we used to be able to have such sales and no one noticed, now the drones match up things from high above to keep us in line. They see everything, who drives to your house, when, and so on - they say it helps to crack down on drug dealers.

We have more crime now than ever before because nearly everything we do is a crime.

Reporter: We have had reports that many can buy their way out of prison. Is this true as far as you know?

IG: Yes, oh my yes. The wealthy do not often go to prison. They pay fines. The banks here control the money and our politicians love money more than the people. Our coal plants? They are built in the poorest of areas because of the health problems - yet we are told they are safe. The wealthy buy up large sections of land as buffer zones and force all manner of places to be built far from them. Nuclear plants, slaughter houses, prisons, etc.

Many poor have been executed for crimes. Few have the money to fight charges against them.

....