Friday at Cal Davis

photo: Louise Macabitas

Angus Johnston at Studentactivism.net has a detailed narrative of the pepper spray incident at Cal Davis from Friday.


via Lili Loofbourow, who writes:

Even against an institutional backdrop that’s becoming more and more famous for meting out unnecessary violence to peaceful people, his behavior must be understood as somewhat exceptional. Look at his face as he sprays them (as best you can–he’s partially hidden behind a mask). Then fast-forward to the end of the clip (around 6:15), when the students announce to the officers that they are offering them “a moment of peace,” that is, the option of leaving without further escalating a truly horrible situation. They cry (in one of the most moving instances of the human mic I’ve ever seen) “You can go! You can go!”

It’s transcendently brilliant, this tactic–the students offer an alternative in a high-pressure situation, a situation that no one wants, but which seems inevitable in the heat of the moment. It’s an act of mercy which, like all acts of mercy, is entirely undeserved. Watch the other officers’ surprise at this turn in the students’ rhetoric, after they had (rightfully) been chanting “Shame on you!” Watch the officers seriously consider (and eventually accept) the students’ offer.

At around 6:15-6:30 they say "you may take your weapons and our friends, and go." What is "winning" in this instance? Letting them leave, but without the people they arrested? That was probably unrealistic. Getting Pike investigated, and possibly suspended or fired? I assume he was following orders issued, formally or not, from much more powerful people, although that is by no means a justification. If the Cal Davis chancellor(see below) is made to resign, big deal, she'll just go be a chancellor or university president somewhere else. People who hold such offices tend to be careerists who jump from one city and one gig to the next every 5 or 6 years anyway. But that doesn't mean they shouldn't be made to resign or be fired. Ian Welsh recently described the OWS movement as necessary but insufficient. Maybe disciplining cops who do things like this falls under the same category.



I also wonder how many regular people are even all that aware of these kinds of things, or buy the spin they are likely to hear from establishment news sources about how the cops had no choice, etc. (I'm reminded of the bumper sticker I still see from time to time that says "I don't believe the liberal media." Which of course could mean more than one thing these days, including the traditional reactionary stance, but also a mistrust of faux progressives, or an ironic or nihilist stance.)

But I still wonder, why did they do this? I tend to assume the cops, and by extension UCD, want the students to react violently, so they may look bad, and to do this the made themselves look bad, at least to people who are open to holding such a view, and don't automatically give authority figures a pass.

But of course many do give authorities a pass, and assume they mean well in practically all instances, apart from the usual few bad apples, etc. So I wonder to what degree the Occupy movement serves as a sort of Rorschach for people, whether they're "low-information voters" or troglodytes who want to know what their favorite talk radio blowhard thinks before they decide, people who want NPR to tell them what to think, people who'd rather watch Dancing With the Stars, and so forth.



More from Johnston:

UC Davis chancellor Linda Katehi released a statement last night in which she said she “deeply regretted” students’ actions yesterday, actions that “offer[ed] us no option but to ask the police to assist in their removal.” But of course you can’t regret something that someone else did, something you had no control over.

For the actions she did have control over, and will have control over in the future — the violence of her police — Katehi expressed no regret. She was, she said, “saddened.” She was “saddened to report that during this activity, 10 protestors were arrested and pepper spray was used,” and “saddened by the events that subsequently transpired to facilitate their removal.” No regret. Not even an active voice.
[...]
Lt. Pike has received a salary in excess of $100,000 from the people of California each of the last three years. More than 40% of his 2010 salary came from student fees.

Gawker:"Here's a cop, just casually pepper-spraying peaceful protesters"



2.Keiser Report: Vampire Banker Hunter (E212)




Uploaded by RussiaToday on Nov 19, 2011
Every week Max Keiser looks at all the scandal behind the financial news headlines. This week Max Keiser and co-host Stacy Herbert discuss the tiny rule changes and the Zombies behind the collapse of MF Global. Meanwhile, in Pennsylvania, a Keiser-Celente 2012 bumper sticker spotted! In the second half of the show, Max Keiser interviews Barry Ritholtz about the big lie that bankers did not cause the crisis and what MF Global means to the markets.

...

Ray Lewis at OWS

You may have heard of how the NYPD broke up Occupy Wall Street Thursday night, and how similar police actions, possibly federally co-ordinated, occurred at other Occupy cities. The photo above by Johnny Milano is of retired Philadelphia cop Ray Lewis being arrested at OWS, via The New York Observer. A commenter at Facebook wrote,

"It seems as if they wanted to humiliate him before putting him in the van. I've seen a lot of different NYPD faces since this started and I've begun to notice a schism of late, between nervous and unsure in one group and smug and disdainful in the other. I don't know how smart it was making an example out of him because I think a lot of police are likely ashamed at how this has proceeded, and this couldn't have helped."

see also

Two items from Think Progress:

1.Tanya Somanader,"New York Churches Shelter Occupy Protesters, Now Monitored By New York Police"

2.Zaid Jilani, "The Daily Caller's Michelle Fields faced abuse from the NYPD and help from protesters"

"Daily Caller reporter Michelle Fields — who faced off with actor Matt Damon earlier this year over education policy — and videographer Direna Cousins both claim they were attacked by the New York Police Department (NYPD) while covering the raucous protests in the Financial District today."

from Fields and the Daily Caller:

“The protesters came up to me right away and asked if I needed any medical assistance. They were actually very kind and helpful. It was the police officers who were very aggressive,” Fields added.

Cüneyt, "Square One":

And, to be nasty, I look at capitalism and I see the Congo. I look at Marxism and I see despots. I look at liberal democracy and I see raped Vietnamese women. I look at conservatism and I see lebensraum and Manifest Destiny. I look at anarchism and I see futility. I look at libertarianism and I see privilege confused for principle. I see the world’s ideologies, like its faiths, and I see ugliness, ruin, waste, and error. I pick from their corpses and I go back to work.

[via Abonilox]


...

Assorted OWS related clips 5 Nov 2011

The video above, "Gov. Scott Walker gets checked, Mic Checked!" is from a meeting this past Thursday, but the rest are from October:

Uploaded by IOccupyFor on Nov 4, 2011: When Wisconsin Governor gave a speech at Chicago's Union League Club the morning of Nov 3rd, he has some unexpected guests: Stand Up! Chicago

via newshoggers.com and Avedon Carol

below, October 21, 2011 McLaughlin: Occupy Wall Street Demands Are Preposterous!

I've heard of OWS protesters demanding free college tuition and demanding student loans being canceled, but I've never heard them demanding a 20 dollar/hour minimum wage as McLaughlin suggests they have, so I am skeptical. Have you heard or seen anything about this?



Naomi Klein @ Occupy Wall Street 10-06-2011




And here's a video of Naomi Wolf being arrested a week or so later[via Occupy Cyberspace, where she offers some comments about the events.]



And finally, here's snarky Sam Seder, "Prediction: Occupy Wall Street Will Outlast Erin Burnett's Show. Seriously." Uploaded by Seder on Oct 7, 2011. I tend to think he will be wrong, and the authorities will become more aggressive before the year is over, and this first round of OWS style protest will disperse, but we'll see.