Posts tagged “police brutality”

March 4: two campuses, two experiences

I received the following update and photo gallery from my cousin, Kat Williams, who is a doctoral candidate at UCLA:

We had fun yesterday [Ed. March 4]. I made the banners. Actions were fairly decentralized. My department lost the big march early on as we were carrying large drums. We had a nice slow-motion procession through Royce Quad carrying the banners in a line. Lots of people taking pictures, though I haven’t seen any yet. Then we met up with other protesters for the sit-in at the Chancellor’s office, bringing a dance party to that hot hallway. You can find video of it on Facebook. [Ed. I haven’t found this yet video at The Daily Bruin.] While there, we also did a couple of rounds of Guerilla Yoga Drill to bring some meditative mindfulness to the sit-in. Though asked not to leave, we took our dance party/march to south campus and the court of sciences. About 8 bike cops were following us until we did more Guerilla Yoga Drills, then they took off. We headed back to our recently-renovated million dollar lawn (Dickson Plaza) for a picnic. We spotted Peter McLaren on the way and brought him along for a sandwich. Good times in the fight for public education. We took this quote as our guide:

“If I can’t dance, I don’t want to be a part of your revolution.” -Emma GoldmanKat Williams
UCLA doctoral candidate, folklorist

Video: AggieTV

Excellent student journalism from UC Davis' AggieTV. Watch as UC Davis students peacefully march and protest in support of public education. Eventually, they encounter police in riot gear who beat the students with batons, shoot them with pepper balls and use TASERs on the students (only one TASER is visible in the video, though the sickening sound of the TASER is quite audible in the background). Uploaded to bring this video out from behind the walls of Facebook.

And then, there was UC Davis. Another case study in how a police force can commit acts of violence and terror against a student population, release a statement saying that “no one was injured”, get it reported by the mainstream media to the entire world and everyone can just switch back to watching The Bachelor. Take a look at the on-the-scene reporting from UC Davis’ AggieTV with reporters Ericka So and Nicki Sun. They did an excellent job of bringing the story to the world. Ms. So and Ms. Sun did a far better job than the pap I saw on CNN anchored by Ali Velshi on March 4 and continue to find on cnn.com right now.

Really CNN? The lead point in the headline is that traffic is snarled? Not that police beat a female student unconscious (see video) with a baton at UC Davis? Oh yeah, you COMPLETELY LEFT THAT OUT OF YOUR REPORTING. Why CNN refuses to report on police brutality against American students continues to elude me. Honestly, if there is an explanation other than that they implicitly support a fascist police state, please leave it in the comments because I am all eyes and ears!

The key phrase to listen for in the video is “You guys ready to augment?” That is when the shit is about to hit the fan. I guess any of you potential protesters out there should memorize that phrase and know to cover your soft bits if you hear it.

When confronted with these two divergent experiences within the same University system, it is important to remember that March 4 wasn’t just about these two campuses. It was a nationwide Day of Action.

There have been clashes with police. Most notable was the takeover of a freeway in Oakland which ended, one officer estimated, in 150 arrests. One student was injured in that incident, though reports differ as to the severity of his injuries. Students were also arrested or detained in New York, in Michigan, and elsewhere, though rarely in large numbers…[but] today’s protesters rarely articulated immediate demands, and administrators rarely engaged with them. Today was more about activists talking to each other, working with each other, than it was about talking to or working with — or working to overthrow — university power structures. That part comes later. That part starts March 5.Angus Johnston
Historian, Blogger

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“The situation ended without incident as students gradually left the scene.”

This policeman is captured on film as he is about to smash his baton down upon his victim on Friday, November 20, 2009, outside Wheeler Hall on the campus of the University of California at Berkeley.

Image: @thedailyclog

This policeman is captured on film as he is about to smash his baton down upon his victim on Friday, November 20, 2009, outside Wheeler Hall on the campus of the University of California at Berkeley.

The headline here is taken from CNN’s shameful coverage of the events of the past week at the University of California system. It refers specifically to a UCLA protest, while the image above comes from UC Berkeley, but it is apropos nonetheless. Remember, the UCLA protest included students being maced, beaten with batons, tasered, and arrested. There is no bastardized version of the English language in which it is possible to make such incidents equate linguistically to “ended without incident.”

CNN is lying to you. MSNBC makes no mention(1, 2) of the police brutality in California or New York City. Fox News? They have been hosting a 24/7 webcam feed for over a year so they can keep an eye on the protesters outside the Marine recruiting station in Berkeley, but they have not made a single mention of the UC protests, at least nowhere I can find online. And of course no one is talking about the students in Vienna marching on the US embassy in support of the UC uprising or the occupations of the various Universities across Europe or how this is a global movement in favor of free or cheap education.

Corporate media are not interested in giving you the truth. They have a singular interest: maximizing profit for their shareholders. That’s why you should consider donating to independent media outlets, places like Democracy Now!, IndyMedia and little ol’ me! If you find yourself at a site that is giving you information that you are not getting from CNN, MSNBC, Fox, and their ilk, throw a dollar or two at the proprietor of the site. You would be amazed at how far that would go if everyone did that. So, check out my brand new, ass-kicking, Ruth Gator Binsburg donation button if you are so inclined. But even if you can’t spare a square, keep fighting the good fight!

Thanks, @erinacb!

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Footage: NYPD brutalize UC solidarity marchers with batons

From Occupy California: On November 19th, people in support of the University of California occupations marched in solidarity (in NYC). During the night, the police beat some of the marchers.


The following response to this brutal police action is posted at Occupy California along with this video:

Dear NYC Marchers,

we here are speechless at the despicable actions of the NYC police. We send our solidarity to all that have been brutalized by the police in this struggle. As we continue fighting we will face the state’s escalating violence. We must band together in solidarity to support all those comrades who will inevitably fall victim to capitalism’s last defensive stand. We cannot express how much we appreciate you standing in solidarity. As occupations and other radical actions are spreading around the world, we know that our struggle will contribute to revealing capitalism, the state, and all others forms of oppression as the shit that it is. From Greece to the UK, from Vienna to Heidelburg, from Santa Cruz to New York, we want fucking everything! Most of all, we want justice!

fuck the pigs.
an autonomous committee
Inside UC Santa Cruz Occupied Kerr Hall

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