Adam C. Lipscomb wrote:
>Kat wrote:
>
>
>> John D. Giorgis wrote:
>>
>> >At 11:48 PM 7/18/01 +1200 K.Feete wrote:
>> >>the protests have been remarkably violence-free, concentrating on
>> >>property distruction or the like.
>> >
>> >Sigh.
>>
>> Yes, John, we all *know* you think money is blood...
>
>Kat, you're way off the map on this one. To my mind, the fact that I
>supported some of the goals of the WTO protestors in no way legitimizes the
>destruction a group of anarchist thugs performed. I've been to my share of
>protests in my life, and I've never supported rioting, which is what
>happened in Seattle. I really don't know what else you can call a group of
>masked individuals smashing the windows of private businesses and throwing
>things at the police. I don't support the sometimes overzealous response of
>the Seattle police, mind you, but dingdangit, those were people's
>livelihoods that were getting trashed. If some mook decides to drop his
>flipping giant puppet and throw a trash can through the window of my
>business, you can bet your buns I'll consider it violence, and I'll respond
>appropriately.
Possibly I'm misinformed, but I didn't hear/see any of this. Mind you, I
didn't see it on TV *ever*; I only heard NPR coverage. And read the stuff
put out by the protesters. From what I *heard*, even from NPR, there were
a few episodes of smashing/bashing, a few dumpsters on fire, a lot of
creative and nasty-minded stuff done to billboards, posters draped over
buildings, and (this being the goal) the WTO building was essentially
barracaded. But I didn't hear anything like, say, the LA riots; there was
no looting and very selective damage- even NPR said that. If it was a
riot it was an awfully *controlled* riot.
It *was* a riot. Bad things *did* happen. But....
></geezer>
>
>What ever happened to non-violence? A silent march is way more impressive
>than a bunch of unwashed, masked, drum-beating, giant-puppet toting,
>tomato-costume-wearing punks. In my day, we dressed up to march. Sunday
>best, to show The Man we were there to politely point out the error of his
>ways, and by God we got stuff done!
>
http://adbusters.org/campaigns/question/toolbox/reports.html
Four reports from four different protesters, all insistant, I might add,
that the action was intended to be a *non-violent* protest. The only
violence they describe is being attacked by police and riot squads with
tear gas, clubs, rubber bullets, pepper spray, et cetera; at least, for
the first few days. Later on things apparently changed. One quote:
Later, once the "state of civil emergency" was officially announced and
the
real protestors began to dissipate due to the curfew imposed and the
increasing threat of aggressive tactics from the police, things turned
sour. That's when the chaos turned into riots and involved mostly people
who were not necessarily informed or committed to the real issues behind
the WTO protest. And unfortunately, this is largely what was captured by
the media and featured in the news which is disappointing to those who put
so much effort into resisting violent measures.
I realize this is biased information, and would be pleased if you could
direct me to something put out by someone else.
Kat Feete
------
Oh, come on. Revelation was a mushroom dream that belonged
in the Apocrypha. The New Testament is basically about what
happened when God got religion.
- Terry Pratchett
