Protester Shot in Head, Run Over in Genoa

Max Sawicky sawicky at bellatlantic.net
Sat Jul 21 17:08:44 PDT 2001


. . . cops & soldiers should be encouraged to *retreat* when confronted by the masses, whether they are engaged in civil disobedience or throwing rocks. . . .

All well and good, but in some cases, perhaps this one, no avenue of retreat is offered. So the choice could have been seen by the police as kill or be killed. Restraint on their part -- if this be the case -- is asking a lot.

The duty of conscious radicals is to know where this line is and discourage people from crossing it.

As ever, when I see the news clips, I think of what a politically uncommitted person is supposed to conclude. (My usual preoccupation with politics.) There are mobs of people clearly fighting police, not playing pitty-pat. One of these people is killed. Instead of approaching the police about to heave a fire extinguisher, he could have been somewhere else, doing something else. Criticism of police in this context lacks basic credibility. A movement without basic credibility isn't going anywhere. If you can't get a simple story like this straight, who would trust you to reorganize society? What sane person would trust you with their lives?

mbs



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