MY SUMMER VACATION AT G8 WITH PLUTO IN SAGITTARIUS
by Pallas180
Last Saturday night, June 5, 2004 a friend and I arrived in Savannah on our way to Florida, unaware of the G8 conference taking place in the vicinity or that Sonny Perdue, the governor of Georgia had declared martial law for six counties including Savannah and Sea Island which is about 60 miles away and where dimson and the G8 are having their meeting. ( I don't think the rest of America knew that Georgia was under martial law either) .
Although the dignitaries are going to Sea Island, many of the bureaucrats accompanying the leaders were booked into hotels in the Historic Section on the river which is the charming area tourists visit. It's usually booked up every weekend and this weekend was no exception, but more about that later.
We went to the Bennigan restaurant next to the hotel for dinner and realized that many of the patrons were not the usual tourists. It wasn't difficult to pick out plain clothes cops, feds, and even a likely couple of "contractors" with Irish brogue sitting around the bar, mostly displaying sullen faces with blank eyed stares, which occasionally and sneakily fell on us. When we left the restaurant we noticed the hotel next to ours had police cars with names of at least six different municipalities, towns, and counties parked outside.
Now you would think knowing that I would have checked the cities we were stopping over in, but you would have thought wrong. I didn't.
Nevertheless, blissfully unaware of what lay ahead, on Saturday morning we headed down to the historic area ourselves. On the way I saw the Georgia National Guard patrolling the streets. I saw humvees all over town. I saw small tanks. I saw jeeps. I saw young kids wearing their Georgia National Guard camouflage outfits and very nervous serious faces. And I thought of Kent State. I saw black metal cages the cops and the guard were putting together. Pens. Not wooden saw horses that say 'don't cross this line'but PENS to hold people in ! Uniforms and army and cops were all over with guns tied to their legs like gunfighters.
I saw a very small Coast Guard boat on the river, more like a rubber raft with two machine guns, one at either end of the boat, riding up the river, and harassing a tourist paddle boat. . And though I previously had thought people who talk about black helicopters should be wearing tin hats, sure enough, I saw two fly over our hotel. If tourists and residents weren't alarmed before, they had to be at these sights, as I was. A person quickly becomes imprinted with a siege mentality.
And what was all this for? The local paper had been publishing that there were going to be thousands of protesters and windows might be smashed and they could expect violence.
The organized protesters, mostly residents from the areas (represented by the activist but peaceful Mars in the Libra 4th house and some labor unions had obtained permits and printed their schedule of speakers and affirmed they meant this to be peaceful protest against violations of free speech and the G-8 actions.
The "townies" told me police had announced anyone carrying a sign will be arrested, no bail and that on Monday they will be stopping cars and searching them and can do so without any reason. Of course they can. But we will be leaving on Sunday before we can be subjected to this indignity.
There are 25,000 cops in the town of 20,000 residents.
There are 25,000 cops, sherriffs, troopers, correction officers on loan, FBI agents, and other federal govt. people driving white vans with U.S. govt. plates who have descended on this town.
Savannah makes it's money through the historic old houses dating from the 1700's bringing tourism.
At first Savannah thought it would be wonderful to have the G 8 meeting nearby. But on this day , certainly the townspeople were doing a quite a lot of rethinking this idea.
The town was almost empty of tourists except for some 50 or so brave or ignorant souls. Empty streets means you're not making lots of money and not feeling terribly cheerful about it. The townspeople of Savannah are feeling deceived and wondering why the media intimated there was going to be "terra" and why the military was putting on such a scary and heavy handed show.
We walked around the old city and stopped to listen to an outdoor concert which was interrupted by a caravan of 10 or more police cars followed by a government van with sirens blaring , slowly circling the square, twice, where we and some thirty other tourists sat listening to the concert. The noise of the sirens ever growing closer and louder caused everyone to look and finally stand up to see what had happened. Nothing had happened. Two young guardsmen with walkie-talkies and batons marched around the square eyeing the tourists. This was a practice exercise in instilling fear. Nazi Germany replayed.
I now understand the expression "I'm freaked." Anger vies with revulsion within me at what this government is doing and what I am seeing. POLICE STATE. If I were younger and healthier I would protest with them. You can feel it. The cops are looking to make trouble....where there is none. And they will. They are too dense to understand that those young people who announced they will be protesting are protesting for them too.
I saw a group of young 20 to 30 year olds eating at an outdoor restaurant. The cops and guard cordoned off the street with police cars and humvees and stood around about 15 thick in a bunch in front of the diners looking at them. I don't know if these kids knew they were surrounded on the other sides also, but they sat there quietly eating at their outside tables. Nothing about them said they were protesters. They might have been or might not but they had the misfortune to look young in a town taken over by martial law. They must have been in fear. There was not a smile to be seen. But they didn't look up or acknowledge the show of force. What bravery and absolute guts. Mars in Libra.
Meanwhile, this administration arranged that all 2400 reporters from all over the world would have to stay in Savannah while the meetings went on 60 miles away. The government people also reserved entire blocks of hotels in the downtown district - and then canceled the rooms at the beginning of the weekend without any remuneration to the hotels. . Massive deception. It was decided if the government booked the hotels the protesters wouldn't be able to and would have no place to stay. . "Lack of people, lack of money."
I'd think the events of the last couple of days would indicate that not many Savannahians are going to be voting for dimson after this.
Foreign press may report what really went on, but the home press is going to very "circumspect".
The town was shocked at the military and government actions but they'll be very quiet about it.
Yhis country has become a populace victimized; stripped of the civil liberties that our government espouses it is spreading around the world, a gulag, under an administration which acts as occupiers in its own country and under the guise of protecting the "homeland" is ready and able to commit violence against its own people.
This country is presently in the control of the military.
I never in my life thought I would see in America what I have seen happening in the town of Savannah. It made me angry at that Governor, and the police and plainclothes people. They are giving press releases that they are there to protect the people of that town, and have convinced some townies of that, while others have just left town or closed business for the week. It sure didn't look to me as if they were there to protect people. Quite the opposite. Their function appeared to be to instill fear and intimidate the populace. They succeeded.
We left on Sunday, and were followed by a Sheriff's white truck which pulled up close in back of us and followed us for a way. I could see the uniformed driver talking on his phone as he followed our car. I knew he was checking our plate with his HQ. We must have passed the test. He put the phone down and peeled off .
I've never seen my government act this way, not even immediately after 9/11 in New York City.
By Tuesday, the local paper reported there had been a couple of marches and a gathering at the designated site, lovely old Forsyth Park. 100 protestors showed up in total.
Reports of non happenings appeared in the local paper. 25 "activists" made an unscheduled march and were immediately surrounded by troops in riot gear, who later said they were sure they were going to make trouble.
http://www.savannahnow.com/stories/060804/2222812.shtml"Free speech and the Right to Assemble" seem to have slipped through the cracks along with the Constitution of the United States.
The British end every speech with "God Save Our King/Queen"
I'm moved to end with "God Save Our Country From Those Who Are Sworn To Protect It Because They Are Destroying Everything This Country Is Supposed To Represent.
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