I Hate Conventions

And I’m not sure I like people who bother to protest at conventions. But I hate police trying to intimidate the protesters at conventions even more.

     posted 27 August 2008 by Michael Scott Moore

  1. Some knotty issues here. As the video shows, there are clearly provocateurs, whether they’re from the police or the wacko Free Mumia end of the left, in the crowd itself. Not addressed at all is the issue of whether they had applied for, or were granted, permits, which, at an event like this where security issues are high (they caught a bunch of “master race” meth-heads on a mission to assassinate Obama yesterday, don’t forget), is an important consideration. The video is fragmented enough that a narrative doesn’t emerge very clearly, nor are we shown (nor would we be, I gather, from what seems to be the producers’ agenda) whether the police were taunted or otherwise fucked with. Taunts are just taunts, but police have been taught to fear these people and regard them as an “enemy,” so that has to be taken into consideration. All of that said, the American security state, which we see in action here in Berlin every time the Undersecretary of Agriculture or somebody visits, has clearly gotten out of hand. At least no heads were cracked—such progress we’ve made at Democratic conventions in 40 years!

    — Ed Ward    Aug 27, 01:53 pm    #

  2. Mike: You really should have been in the middle of something like the 1999 WTO event in Seattle…there were a bunch of ball busters that called themselves protestors among us, but the police had so much restraint, they (the ball busters) practically wrecked the city in 48 hours. I think every police organization around the world got lessons from Seattle, and being there, I don’t blame them.

    — e    Aug 27, 02:00 pm    #

  3. Seattle’s where it changed. I know there were provocateurs, and I know one big group in Denver specifically said it wanted to re-create Chicago in ‘68. I also know about the white supremacist meth-heads. But as long as the march stays peaceful you don’t surround it and treat everyone like a potential criminal. These methods are new. They’re as alarming as “designated protest areas.”

    I think Ed’s right — over the last 8 or 9 years the police have been taught to treat protesting citizens as the enemy. The idea seems to be a military-psychological one of “maintaining control” and showing who’s boss. (N.B.: the protesting citizens?) I really doubt American protesters have grown more dangerous since the Sixties, even with those black-masked anarchists. But now the cops look like stormtroopers.

    — Mike    Aug 27, 02:36 pm    #

  4. Yes, the 8 or 9 years since Seattle. I’m not trying to be a cynical dick here, because I was in the middle of it, and people went nuts. Spooky nuts. The police were so scared of looking intimidating, they quit being allowed to be intimidating. It was a joke. I don’t think American protestors have grown “more” dangerous, either, but a crowd can get ugly, and let me tell you, you can have a “What the fuck” moment in the blink of an eye. The methods are new because even the (legit, legal and non-violent) protestors stood by the police in Seattle and said it was all fucked up. (I don’t mean stood by them, but we sure weren’t critical of their chaos that prompted the reaction, even with a few bumps on the noggin).
    Completely changed world after November 1999. I am kind of lucky(?) I guess I was in the middle of it.

    — e    Aug 27, 03:22 pm    #

  5. It’s good to be sceptical, ask questions and to put things in a historic context.

    But then there’s this

    — Bowleserised    Aug 30, 06:17 pm    #