hmmm The first peace protest here, they sent out the swat team. I happened to be on a bus that was detoured around the thing and I thought the convenience store on the corner had ben robbed, that there was a hostage situation... something. Turns out that some kids did a die-off, lay down in the street and drew chalk outlines around themselves. While I don't think I agree with this (my own reaction at the time was that if this *isn't* something pretty serious I am gonna be pretty pissed off...cause now I am late) come on now, the swat team????? I saw more cops than civilians.
My own take on civil disobedience is as follows: it is a legitimate form of protest which may require a price to be paid. If you lie down in the street for whatever reason when you dont have a permit to do so, then you are yes causing a hazard to yourself and others and it is legit to arrest you. Often, this is the point, as in mass refusals to obey the segregation laws in the early 60's. Or they should maybe cite you :) 25 years is way too much, but I think a night in jail is sometimes appropriate.... If someone deliberately sets a fire that endangers people, that should be treated like any other arson. I don't think such tactics are effective, personally. I remember when I was in London and the IRA was putting bombs in the Underground... this did not endear their cause to me :) even though I do happen to believe that the British should not be in Ireland. Dana [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: > I mean the ones that are putting spikes in trees that end up hurting and > killing people with chainsaws. I mean the ones that have set fire to lumber > camps with people inside. > > While I think that the penalty is way too steep, I do think that making it > high enough to prevent it from being a common occurrence is wise. > > I don't think that the cost of the protests can be used to gauge the support > for the war. I mean a relatively small group of protesters can cause a lot > of damage. Think about what 100 or 200 pissed off college kids can do. > > Timothy Heald > Overseas Security Advisory Council > U.S. Department of State > > "that the free Constitution, which is the work of your hands, may be > sacredly maintained" - George Washington, Farewell Address 1796 > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Haggerty, Mike [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Friday, April 04, 2003 3:36 PM > To: CF-Community > Subject: RE: Liberate Iraq -- Even With Unclean Hands > > > Yeah, I know what you mean, it's just that I've just never heard of a > militant environmentalist doing much more than strapping himself to a tree. > I guess there can be a few bad seeds, but people are talking about putting > up laws that would severaly restrict the forms of protest allowed to thse > groups. In Oregon, a law was proposed to give someone 25 years for blocking > traffic in protest... someone could get less time for shooting a passerby. > > Now, this kind of law is unlikely to pass. What bothers me is the attitude > that something someone or a group of someones has to say is so troublesome > that we cannot let it be said, in whatever form it is going to take. If > protests are so expensive that police forces are being put out, doesn't that > say something about the real support for the war? > > M > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Friday, April 04, 2003 3:27 PM > To: CF-Community > Subject: RE: Liberate Iraq -- Even With Unclean Hands > > > I didn't say everyone, or even the majority were in these groups. I was just > saying that these groups do exist. The cops have a duty to protect the > store owners and citizens in the area of the demonstrations. That undercover > cop is going to be able to see who the trouble makers are and they can track > the groups. If it comes out that they are spying on the peaceful protesters > than I am of course against that. > > I mean it's like when people were complaining about the FBI tracking the > panthers. Well please remember that panthers were convicted on murder, drug > and robbery charges. They weren't peaceful. it's the same kind of thing. > > Timothy Heald > Overseas Security Advisory Council > U.S. Department of State > > "that the free Constitution, which is the work of your hands, may be > sacredly maintained" - George Washington, Farewell Address 1796 > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?forumid=5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?method=subscribe&forumid=5 Get the mailserver that powers this list at http://www.coolfusion.com Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
