[Seattle-editorial] Submission: Oct 6 & 9th Demonstrations

[Mark Taylor-Canfield]

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Thank you,

Mark Taylor-Canfield

> 
> ANTI-WAR PROTESTS SCHEDULED FOR OCTOBER 6TH
> MAY TEST US GOVERNMENT’S TOLERANCE OF 
> POLITICAL DISSENT
> 
> Nation-wide protests directed at the policies of
> George W. Bush and demonstrations challenging his
> call
> for war with Iraq are planned for the weekend of
> October 6 – 7. Information on the demonstrations is
> available at the official website for the events:
> www.notinourname.net.  Demonstrations are being
> planned in Chicago, Washington DC, New York, Los
> Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle, with many
> smaller
> communities also participating.
> 
> The American Civil Liberties Union and the National
> Lawyers Guild will be watching
> the political events closely to see how law
> enforcement agencies will handle the potentially
> large
> crowds expected to gather to rally against the new
> “Bush Doctrine” of
> increased American military intervention around the
> world. During demonstrations against the IMF and
> World
> Bank in Washington DC on September 27, police
> arrested
> at least 650 demonstrators, including bystanders and
> journalists, in a major roundup after protesters
> without march permits vandalized several businesses.
> 
> Given recent accusations of constitutional rights
> violations perpetrated by police and government
> agencies since the WTO protests in Seattle in 1999,
> and in the tense aftermath of  9-11,  many civil
> rights advocates and the National Lawyers Guild 
> are worried about the  increased militarization of
> local US police forces and the use of military
> personnel at political demonstrations
> -www.geocities.com/urbanwarrior_northwest/film.html.
> 
> 
> Famous civil rights attorney Arthur Kinnoy told law
> students at Seattle University 
> last year, “The current strategy of the authorities
> since the WTO protests is just to say, ‘arrest them
> all and sort it out later.’” That policy has
> resulted
> in millions of dollars in legal settlements to
> victims
> of police misconduct and to citizens whose civil
> rights have been violated by local governments. 
> 
> The protests this weekend are intended to be
> peaceful
> but the organizers (which include a  broad coalition
> of peace and justice groups) fear that their message
> may once again be overshadowed by confrontations
> with
> police if cooler heads don’t prevail. 
> 
> The city of Seattle is especially tense at the
> moment.
> Seattle NAACP Vice President Carl Mack stated on KVI
> radio earlier this week that the African American
> community will do “whatever necessary” to protect
> themselves from police officers.  Tensions over
> perceived racism in the community has escalated
> since
> the latest shooting of an African American man by an
> off duty King County officer. The Robert Thomas case
> sparked a demonstration in April which resulted in
> the
> blocking of traffic on Interstate 5. 
> Church and community leaders plan to organize more
> marches and protests to bring attention to the case,
> including potential civil disobedience. They are
> demanding the prosecution of the officer who shot
> Thomas. A sit-in against racism was held in Mayor
> Greg
> Nickels’ office in which a local civil rights group
> demanded police accountability.
> 
> Several recent anti-corporate globalization protests
> (WTO Protest Anniversary, 
> “Reclaim the Streets” and “A20”)  resulted in
> injuries
> to protesters. Civil rights groups including the
> city’s own Seattle Human Rights Committee blame the
> injuries on an overly aggressive police force which
> has no independent citizen review board. 
> As a result, Seattle Copwatch and other groups are
> giving workshops on how to observe and videotape
> police activity at the anti-war demonstrations on
> October 6 to document any potential police
> brutality.
> 
> Seattle’s representative in Congress Jim McDermott
> has
> evoked intense controversy around the nation with
> his
> recent trip to Iraq and his harsh criticism of
> George
> W. Bush.  
> In response, ultra conservative talkshow host
> Michael
> Savage has called for reinstatement of the House
> Un-American Activities Committee and immediate
> military trials for any citizen or elected
> representative suspected of  “cooperating with the
> enemy”.
> 
> In addition, the entire west coast of the US has
> been
> closed to trade since September 27 because of a
> dispute between the Pacific Maritime Association and
> the Longshoremen’s union (ILWU). Protests and
> pickets
> are currently taking place on Seattle’s waterfront
> and
> at other port cities in Oregon and California.
> 
> An anti-war rally is scheduled in Seattle’s
> Volunteer
> Park at 1PM with a march to to Westlake Center at
> 3PM.
> The event organizers promise to present music and
> speakers who will challenge Bush’s insistance on
> invading Iraq.  Some protesters claim that 
> Bush’s friends in the oil and defense industries
> stand
> to gain billions from the war effort.
> 
> Some of the outrage against the Bush administration
> comes from the fact that many citizens still wonder
> whether Bush should even be their president since
> questions still remain regarding the controversial
> presidential election. And many of these angry folks
> are members of the Democratic party.
> 
> > 

> 
> CIVIL RIGHTS ADVOCATES CLAIM ARRESTS AND ATTACKS
> ON JOURNALISTS, BYSTANDERS AND PEACEFUL PROTESTERS
> AND
> THE USE OF MILITARY PERSONNEL AT IMF/WORLD BANK
> DEMONSTRATIONS IN NATION’S CAPITOL THREATEN FIRST
> AMENDMENT RIGHTS AND FREEDOM OF PRESS
> 
> Numerous reports of police brutality and civil
> rights
> violations by law enforcement agencies in Washington
> DC have upset many civil rights groups, media
> journalists and attorneys in the aftermath of 
> anti-IMF/World Bank protests which took place Sept.
> 27
> – 29.  Particularly distressing to reporters were
> the
> arrests and physical abuses of journalists on the
> scene. Washington Post reporters Michael Bruno and
> Christina Pino-Marina recounted their arrests in a
> recent newspaper article which can be found at
> washingtonpost.com. “Despite having identified
> ourselves as news reporters several times, we were
> grabbed forcefully by police officers in riot gear,
> handcuffed and led to Metrobus No. 8771 with 34
> protesters and an indignant United Press
> International
> reporter.”  
> 
> Also arrested were a Canadian photojournalist for
> Magnus Photo, a freelance reporter for the
> Washington
> Times, a journalist for US News and World Report, 2
> reporters for the Washington DC Independent Media
> Center and 4 other IMC reporters from national
> affiliates. Some of these journalists have
> complained
> that their equipment was confiscated by police and
> never returned, representing a clear case of illegal
> search and seizure. Many other journalists were
> detained by law enforcement during the arrests,
> obviously making it very difficult for them to meet
> their obligation to report on the events to the
> American people.  Some IMC journalists claim that
> they
> were specifically targeted by police.
> 
> When journalists are attacked and intimidated by
> police, we worry that our government has indeed
> stepped over the line and become a police state.
> These
> are the very tactics which US government officials
> claim represent an attack against democratic values
> in
> other nations. 
> 
> Attorney Mara Verheyden-Hilliard told reporters at
> the
> demonstrations that "mass sweeps" have become a
> "repeated practice in recent years,"
> Verheyden-Hilliard told the press that "there needs
> to
> be more people in government who stand up for
> people's
> right to express their First Amendment rights."
> 
> Additional reports of commuters being arrested while
> on their way to work (including John McGill, a
> consultant for the Agency for International
> Development) and other bystanders and legal
> observers
> who were attacked by police can be found on the
> Washington and Baltimore Independent Media websites,
> including video clips and photographs. 
> 
> Other serious complaints include: 
> 1) incidents of entrapment when demonstrators were
> not
> allowed to leave the protests and were arrested
> 2) the beating of peaceful protesters with batons
> 3) denial of access to legal counsel
> 4) denial of food and water for up to 12 hours while
> painfully handcuffed 
> 5) denial of information regarding charges against
> those arrested
> 6) federal law enforcement agencies photographing
> and
> videotaping suspected “protesters”
> 7) the use of military personnel (some say this
> violates the “Posse Comitatus Act”)
> 8) the police ordering legal demonstrators to
> disburse
> 9) the use of public mass transit vehicles to hold
> prisoners
> 10) inappropriate and dangerous use of chemical
> agents
> (pepper spray) by law enforcement officers
> 
> These are the very same complaints, which the
> Committee For Government Accountability presented to
> the city of Seattle’s official investigation into
> the
> events of the 1999 WTO protests. It is clear that
> the
> same tactics are being used in our nation’s capitol
> and at almost every major demonstration in the US
> since the WTO demonstrations.
> 
> If this is the way in which our government chooses
> to
> deal with political dissent, it will probably only
> contribute to the radicalization of an entire
> generation of activists. This is obviously
> counterproductive and is not what the government is
> trying to achieve. 
> 
> > It is the responsibility of all compassionate,
> responsible citizens to demand that our rights be
> protected as guaranteed by the US Constitution. It
> is
> time for people to speak out and demand justice
> before
> our ability to dissent and to report on the truth
> are
> erased by a nation obsessed with protecting national
> security at the cost of our individual liberty. We
> doubt that the founding fathers would approve of the
> current state of affairs in the US.
> 
> "I am... for freedom of the press, and against all
> violations of the Constitution to silence by force
> and
> not by reason the complaints or criticisms, just or
> unjust, of our citizens against the conduct of their
> agents." --Thomas Jefferson to Elbridge Gerry, 1799.
> ME 10:78 
> 
> 

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