OWS cannot be anti-cop AND successful

[packback]

http://milwaukeestory.com/index.php/2011/11/01/occupy-wall-street-cannot-be-anti-cop-and-successful/

Interesting take on police becoming the focus of our efforts. I think back to the WTO protests and talk to kids today and most of them don't even know what the WTO is or why the peaceful protests happened in '99 (only to devolve into violence and chaos). I agree that the second the cops become the focus the second we loose the opportunity to include a broad base of Americans who are still, as of this moment on the sidelines, but thinking about jumping in if things get just a tiny bit worse.

[SomethingFishy]

1. OWS is not "Anti-Cop" The Cops are Anti-OWS..

Or their bosses are. Either way this has been nothing but a peaceful protest right up until the cops show up. And if you haven't noticed the cops aren't waiting for protests to get violent, they are sending people in to stir up shit. Same old fucking playbook.

[Kennah]

3. At times, more generally, the cops are anti-citizen and the blue wall doesn't waver.

That's a bigger threat than a few anti-cop participants at OWS. OWS has NOT shown itself to be anti-cop.

[Cal Carpenter]

4. Thank you.

If the cops stopped sending infiltrators and disruptors into the sites, if the cops stopped following orders to violently attack peaceful protesters, then it'd be a different story.

But when the line gets drawn, like it has several times in NYC, in Denver and Oakland and elsewhere, it is clear whose side the cops are on.

It's great when the protesters chant 'YOU ARE THE 99%' when the cops are beating them down and cuffing them, I love the symbolism of that. But as long as the cops are wearing their badges, carrying their clubs and guns and tear gas canisters and rubber (and real!) bullets then they are not our friends.

I know what I'm saying (and what you've said) isn't popular around here but it needs to be said.

We can take it a step further and say that what the protesters are experiencing now has been pretty common in poor neighborhoods full of people of color for a long fucking time too. In fact, maybe this is where the discussion should be started.

[Downwinder]

7. +1

[U4ikLefty]

2. swing and a miss.

back to the dugout

[Cal Carpenter]

5. Every time the cops crack down more people show up

I said most of what I needed to above, but I wanted to add that tidbit in relation to your last sentence.

[ZombieHorde]

6. Don't express outrage when cops beat the shit out of you and your loved ones!

No speak out against violent thugs!

:sarcasm:

[MADem]

8. I don't think this should be all about the police, either. There's an arc to these things.

There comes a time when people get tired of the uproar and will look the other way while the police get "excessive." It's only way later that they see the point, but that's usually further down the line.

It happened in 68 and we got Nixon, Mister "Law and Order," as a consequence.


All I remember about the WTO protests were the anarchists making asses of themselves.


I wish there was more cooperation between the two sides. I think some places have less trouble than others.

[Quantess]

9. Oh my gosh, you're so right!

People who complain about police brutality are a bunch of ungrateful whiners. More people would attend OWS protests right now if we bong-sucking-liberal-commies adopted a more accepting attitude toward excessive force.
:spray:

[Ikonoklast]

10. Catapult that propaganda!

Your right-wing meme that OWS hates the cops got out there, good for you.

Seems that authoritarians always rush to defend those that beat, attack, and illegally do physical harm to peaceful protesters rush.

Oh, and every OWS person harmed by police swells their ranks, the police are trying to kill the Hydra, and are losing, badly.

[saras]

11. The cops can't be anti-cop. They need to clean house, independent of OWS.

[coalition_unwilling]

12. Thanks for your concern. The police are our best recruiting tool, and

we'd be fools to become anti-cop. As Gandhi did last century, we should welcome the cops' class treason and repression, because it sharpens class consciousness and makes the battle lines indelible.

Go cops! Madison Avenue could never have dreamed up as effective a marketing campaign for OWS as your brutality and thuggery.

[nadinbrzezinski]

13. They are in the middle of some very active PR

In Tulsa OK right now.

[coalition_unwilling]

15. Yeah, I'm aware. Also, Omaha, if I was reading correctly. Mao may

have said it best (rough translation): "All oppression breeds resistance." Trust most cops and 1%ers never to have read Mao, much less understood his wisdom.

[Fumesucker]

14. Welcome to DU..

I hope you enjoy your stay.

:hi:

[coalition_unwilling]

16. LOL! Thanks, I needed that! - n/t

[Cerebral Assassin]

17. Point

I think you have a point. Unfortunately, I don't think it's one that people are going to want to listen to.