tagged w/ Police State
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Should we not ask ourselves how many of us have taken the blue pill?
V
22 May 2012
By Patrick Martin
President Barack Obama on Monday praised the performance of Chicago city officials and the Chicago Police Department after a week of violence, repression and frame-ups directed against antiwar demonstrators in the city.
Speaking at the conclusion of the NATO summit, Obama paid tribute to Mayor Rahm Emanuel, his political crony and former White House chief of staff, and added, referring to the thousands of police mobilized against protesters, “Chicago’s finest did a great job under significant pressure and a lot of scrutiny.”
What was this “great job?”
• Downtown Chicago was effectively shut down for four days, Friday through Monday, not by the protesters, never more than 5,000 people, but by a huge mobilization of police and paramilitary forces who frequently outnumbered the demonstrators. The entire area around McCormick Place, site of the summit, was under lockdown.
• Police arrested well over 100 demonstrators in the course of the week, including more than 60 Sunday, a day of tense confrontations in which police continually vented their hostility towards the demonstrators, who were opposing the US-NATO war in Afghanistan and other imperialist military interventions.
• The violent dispersal of the protesters late Sunday afternoon was entirely one-sided, as described by the Chicago Sun-Times—a staunchly pro-police tabloid—which headlined its account, “Riot Gear Cops Rain Down Blows on Protesters.” The beatings were so widespread and indiscriminate that one of the newspaper’s own reporters was among those bloodied. At least 25 demonstrators were injured, with a dozen requiring hospital treatment.
• Most ominously, five protesters were arrested in police raids targeting individuals supposedly preparing “terrorist” attacks on the NATO summit. The same two informants fingered all five men, after the undercover cops had circulated widely among the protesters looking for anyone they could instigate or entrap.
The charges of “conspiring to commit domestic terrorism during the NATO summit,” brought before the Cook County Circuit Court, are a deliberate attempt to intimidate opponents of the US-NATO war in Afghanistan and other imperialist military interventions either under way or being planned by the Obama administration.
The whole machinery of provocation and frame-up, erected over the past decade in the name of the “war on terror,” is now being used against the democratic rights of working people and youth who oppose the policies of the American government. As the World Socialist Web Site has consistently warned, the methods tested out against immigrants and Muslims are now being unleashed against the American people as a whole.
The Chicago frame-ups of antiwar protesters follow in the footsteps of previous provocations: last month’s arrest of five Cleveland-area Occupy protesters on similarly trumped-up charges; the systematic police violence against Occupy encampments last fall and winter; the FBI raids on the homes of antiwar activists in Minneapolis and Chicago in the fall of 2010.
They are part of a broader assault on democratic rights being carried out by the Obama administration, which has gone even further than the Bush White House in erecting the scaffolding of a police state. Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act, which gives the president the right to order the military detention, without trial, of anyone he designates as a terrorist threat, including US citizens. Obama has sharply increased targeted assassinations of alleged terrorists, including the murder of US citizens, and openly defended the president’s supposed unilateral “right” to do so.
Both big business parties are systematically shredding the Bill of Rights and stripping the American people of their constitutionally guaranteed rights.
These heavy-handed measures expose the fraudulent character of the claims by Democratic and Republican politicians that American imperialism is on the side of “democracy” and “freedom” when it wages wars against countries that possess vast reserves of oil and natural gas, or occupy strategic locations adjacent to such resources.
America is the most heavily policed of the industrialized countries. The combined forces of repression—local and state police, the military, the FBI, the CIA and other intelligence agencies, the vast apparatus of the Department of Homeland Security, the endless armies of private security personnel—number in the many millions.
In the final analysis, this vast apparatus of repression testifies to the crisis of American capitalism, not its strength. The more acute the social tensions, the more charged the political atmosphere, the deeper the resentment of working people towards the privileged elite, the more the ruling class is compelled to surround itself with what Marx and Engels described as the essence of the state—“bodies of armed men.”
The working class must take a warning from the events in Chicago on the role of the police, including their informants and provocateurs, and the role of the Obama administration.
The decisive issue is the political clarification of the working class and the development of a mass, independent political mobilization of working people and youth based on a socialist and internationalist program. Only such a mass movement, fighting to take political power and establish a workers government, can forestall the drive towards repression and dictatorship by the corporate elite and its political defenders, both Democratic and Republican.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrXyLrTRXso&feature=relatedShould we not ask ourselves how many of us have taken the blue pill?
V
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This video was created as an example of the importance of filming the police. Video provides transparency, accountability, and an accurate account of incidents that occur. It is no secret that the United States has a serious problem with police abuse, brutality, and corruption. It is essential for civilians to document their encounters with police officers to ensure transparency, accountability, and safety to all of those involved.
Police departments have, for too long, tried to bully, intimidate, threaten, arrest, or otherwise harass law abiding citizens from recording the activities of law enforcement in public. Enough is enough! It is time for all of us to take a stand and expose police brutality when we witness it. Even if the officers behavior is correct, and justifiable, we still encourage the recording of the police activities for the transparency and accountability that is desperately needed in many departments.
If you see something, film something, the freedom of press begins with you!
If you feel the need to upload this video to your Youtubes, please contact us and we will make sure you acquire a high quality version of the film with our info. And please, add our links in the description, thanks
More information about the clips in order of appearance:
ORIGINAL FOOTAGE Suspect with Crowbar Shot Outside Carls Jr Monterey Park
http://youtu.be/bY5ioBvrYIg
New Footage of Oscar Grant Shooting (with sound)
http://youtu.be/S0P8TSP2YJU
Cops on Camera (multiple segments)
http://youtu.be/tE8Xom38Rd8
Citizen attacks Baltimore Police -- caught on tape
http://youtu.be/mFFsWF3FoLI
Houston Police BEATING Teen Suspect Chad Holley
http://youtu.be/Lvy976QKuS4
Police Brutality: NYPD Beat Man's Legs w/ Baton For Not Getting Up!
http://youtu.be/j5I_lwQyxNI
FREEDOM WATCH WITH JUDGE NAPOLITANO
http://youtu.be/GUHgagrnfIc
MSNBC on NYPD Police Brutality during Occupy Wall Street Lawrence O'Donnell with "The Last Word"
http://youtu.be/Zgr3DiqWYCI
Raw Video: Police Beating Caught on Tape
http://youtu.be/uHjpOsGYxMo
Paris Texas Police Officer Throws Teen on Car
http://youtu.be/4LSrBDhjJ58
Raw Video: Deputy Shown Kicking Teen Girl
http://youtu.be/ipb_PeXOdT4
#OWSwest #J20 #SFPD Attacks Innocent Protesters; Officer M. Ali #619 Breaks My Cam
http://youtu.be/oGju4u7yVRA
Raw Video: Ala. Officers Fired After Beating Man
http://youtu.be/uN41h0GEmys
Cop Punching Handcuffed Man Video Now Has Sound
http://youtu.be/D1KJcnNShW0
Surveillance video: Iraq War veteran beaten
http://youtu.be/D2IWFaI-poM
Sante Fe cop caught beating handcuffed teen; fired, rehired!
http://youtu.be/Q6MKuKJ9Kws
officer beating 66-year-old man suffering from dementia
http://youtu.be/2FAbUZd3zoM
Female Cop Tirelessly Beats Man with her Baton
http://youtu.be/X3JiilljhOQ
Police Brutality: Dog Walker w/ Camera Beaten By Cops!
http://youtu.be/wBlvSMd_D7w
ABC Reporter Arrested in Denver Taking Pictures of Senators
http://youtu.be/m7F49dUaZMw
http://youtu.be/_TPucQHtHZs***********************READ DESCRIPTION***********************
This video was... more
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The recently leaked PDF document " Internment and Resettlement Operations" dated Feb 2010 is a long and fascinating document. This document appears to be a "soup to nuts" manual on setting up and running resettlement camps and penal facitilies both in and outside the US. In the manual people are put into differencet classifications. Each of these classifications will have different treatments specified for each of them. http://members.beforeitsnews.com/story/2156/559/US_Internment_Camps_Inmate_Classifications:_Which_One_Are_You_In.htmlThe recently leaked PDF document " Internment and Resettlement Operations"... more
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Doug Hagmann said high-level, reliable sources told him the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is preparing for “massive civil war” in America... “We have problems... The federal government is preparing for civil uprising,” he added, “so every time you hear about troop movements, every time you hear about movements of military equipment, the militarization of the police, the buying of the ammunition, all of this is... they (DHS) are preparing for a massive uprising.” http://www.beaconequity.com/we-are-preparing-for-massive-civil-war-says-dhs-informant-2012-05-03/Doug Hagmann said high-level, reliable sources told him the U.S. Department of... more
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Video documentation by local activists and independent media shows that police officers and county deputies from across Minnesota have been picking up young people near Peavey Plaza for a training program to recognize drug-impaired drivers. Multiple participants say officers gave them illicit drugs and provided other incentives to take the drugs. The Occupy movement, present at Peavey Plaza since April 7th, appears to be targeted as impaired people are dropped off at the Plaza, and others say they've been rewarded for offering to snitch on the movement.
Local independent media activists and members of Communities United Against Police Brutality began investigating police conduct around the Plaza after witnessing police dropping off impaired people at the plaza and hearing rumors that they were offering people drugs. We videotaped police conduct and interviewed participants, learning some very disturbing information about the DRE program.
more at link....
Oh my...You gotta see this sh!t!Video documentation by local activists and independent media shows that police... more
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The first Iraq Genocide Memorial Day was held earlier this month in memory of those who died as a result of sanctions and the US-led invasion... On the 16th anniversary of Albright stating her endorsement of half a million dead Iraqi children as being “worth it” to continue the UN sanctions against Iraq, the silent holocaust of Iraq’s children is now to be annually commemorated. http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/2012/05/29/madeleine-albright-and-the-iraqi-genocide/The first Iraq Genocide Memorial Day was held earlier this month in memory of those... more
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Considering the current state of world peace and NATO's Responsibility to Protect (R2P) policy and to maintain a proper sense of balance, George Orwell's book "1984" should be reviewed periodically. In the spirit of the NATO Summit in Chicago, I present a few quotes from that textbook-for- tomorrow… http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=30954Considering the current state of world peace and NATO's Responsibility to Protect... more
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Terrorism charges have long been used for political repression because they are premised on the legitimacy of state violence versus the illegitimacy of non-state violence. But the question of legitimacy was in fair measure the reason why anti-NATO protesters were in Chicago. Member states claim the right, through NATO, to commit political violence at will. The protesters, rightly in my view, counter that (1) the reasons given by NATO for committing violence are lies intended to deceive populations into supporting armed aggression and (2) were the real reasons for NATO violence given they would be deemed illegitimate and therefore the violence itself is illegitimate. http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/05/25/black-bloc-anarchists-and-state-terrorism/Terrorism charges have long been used for political repression because they are... more
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NATO arrives everywhere violently. Chicago was no exception. Residents were terrorized for days. Many are still recovering. For some, it's from hospital beds. Others are behind bars. Chicago cops upheld their odious reputation. The city is notorious for being America's police repression capital. http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2012/05/police-brutality-during-chicago-nato.htmlNATO arrives everywhere violently. Chicago was no exception. Residents were terrorized... more
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It’s been said many times that the war is a self-sustaining industry that requires a constant threat overseas to keep the machine thriving at home. Looking at the millions if not billions of dollars spent on securing “national special security events” against its own citizens, it’s clear that protesters have become the threat that has allowed, in part, the warfare state to flourish on American soil. http://original.antiwar.com/vlahos/2012/05/21/war-inc-shifts-homeward/It’s been said many times that the war is a self-sustaining industry that... more
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Decreasing in proportion to the rise in military spending are our civil liberties; our representative government; the balance of powers within the government; resistance to policies of warrantless spying, imprisonment without charge, torture, and assassination; and the health of our news media. The war machine has become the greatest destroyer of the natural environment we have. And the shifting of funding from all other areas to the military has had disastrous results in as many fields as we might choose to name. http://warisacrime.org/content/lies-and-consequences-our-past-15-warsDecreasing in proportion to the rise in military spending are our civil liberties; our... more
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If you doubt the possibility of a conspiracy to bring America to it's knees and perhaps install a totalitarian dictatorship through the conversion of our republic into a democracy you need only look to the changes in our laws... The list is in no particular order. However, nothing on the list existed in American law at the time the list was compiled... Any one of the listed items would be a clear warning that the totalitarian state is very near, and a significant number of perhaps five or more could possibly suggest that the freedom we have once enjoyed and the preservation of our Great Republic has been lost. http://lewrockwell.com/orig11/sullivan-c10.1.htmlIf you doubt the possibility of a conspiracy to bring America to it's knees and... more
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A gripping, deeply informative account of the plunder, hypocrisy, and mass violence of plutocracy and empire; insightful, historically grounded and highly relevant to the events of today. This documentary is about the foreign policy of the United States. It demonstrates the importance of the political economy, the Mafia principle, propaganda, ideology, violence and force http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article31417.htmA gripping, deeply informative account of the plunder, hypocrisy, and mass violence of... more
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If nothing else, this war has been effective at one thing: it gives cover for the steady erosion of human rights. Indefinite detention and surveillance -- is there reason to believe any of this will end so long as the U.S. is at war? When the government signs off on twelve more years of active intervention, it essentially ensures that the next two or three presidencies will continue to wage egregious attacks on our freedoms. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anthony-gregory/war-in-afghanistan_b_1539749.htmlIf nothing else, this war has been effective at one thing: it gives cover for the... more
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What is the legacy of the massive Sunday protest that brought out an estimated 15,000 people? One lasting effect, on both the city and the protesters, is how the Chicago Police Department behaved over the much-hyped weekend. According to Sarah Gelsomino with the National Lawyers Guild and the People's Law Office, the NLG received 70 separate claims of police misconduct from Sunday's events. "The majority of those incidences are baton strikes to the head and face," said Gelsomino. "We saw broken collar bones, broken arms, teeth knocked out, heads bashed in, lips busted and a numbers of concussions." http://www.chicagonow.com/chicago-muckrakers/2012/05/70-reports-of-police-misconduct-on-sunday-at-nato-protest-says-national-lawyers-guild/What is the legacy of the massive Sunday protest that brought out an estimated 15,000... more
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Here's some news for those who still somehow believe the political left in Washington cares about the People. After U.S. Senator Rand Paul introduced an amendment that would have ended armed FDA raids on raw milk farmers and legalized free speech about the curative properties of medicinal herbs, nutritional supplements and superfoods, are you curious how many Democrats voted in favor of this? Zero. http://www.naturalnews.com/035977_farm_freedom_FDA_Senate.htmlHere's some news for those who still somehow believe the political left in... more
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