[lbo-talk] NYPD acts like pigs

[Liza Featherstone]

I certainly didn't mean to imply that these particular plaintiffs had  
deliberately provoked cops or claimed they lived in a "police state."  
This was a more general comment -- I have been to and covered many,  
many protests and seen many protesters taunting cops on purpose, and  
heard many, many demonstrators yelling "this is what a police state  
looks like." This is extremely common and it's important to be honest  
about that to a left audience, so that readers know these folks are  
not just whiners or macho show-offs but actually have a real case.  
The sentence wasn't a description of the RNC protesters -- I agree  
they were extremely disciplined.

Liza

Begin forwarded message:


> From: Paul <paul_ at igc.org>
> Date: February 19, 2007 12:50:07 PM EST
> To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
> Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] NYPD acts like pigs
> Reply-To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
>
> Doug H. forwarded Liza F.'s Nation Blog:
>
>> <http://www.thenation.com/blogs/notion?bid=15&pid=166939>
>> Free Speech in New York City? Fuhgeddaboutit! Liza Featherstone
>>
>> In summer 2004, citizens who peacefully protested during the
>> Republican National Convention in New York City were subject to mass
>> arrest, lengthy detention under horrible conditions and a wide range
>> of other civil liberties violations.
>>
> ..........
>
>> I'll be writing about these documents in more detail soon in the
>> magazine......
>>
>
> Good for Liza - she is doing "god's work"!
> It is clear that these practices are not a local issue...it seems  
> that each
> year law enforcement throughout the U.S. has been pushing the
> constitutional envelope with tactics that attempt to "preempt" and  
> curtail
> peaceful dissent during these big (and small) protests.  And the  
> mayors and
> police chiefs concerned frequently publicly cite police practices  
> at the
> previous big protest as "lessons" and precedents that they are  
> drawing upon.
>
> BTW, along with the ACLU lawsuits, the NYC-RNC protests have also  
> led to a
> number of successful lawsuits from NLG and independent attorneys.    
> And
> more are underway.  I am told that, when the day is done, the list of
> successful legal challenges and the total bill for civil actions  
> may be
> quite high in NYC.  So hopefully, drawing on the progressive legal
> capacities present in NYC, new process is underway that will begin to
> reverse past trends.
>
>
>
>> .... Obviously, it's annoying when protesters over-
>> dramatize their victimization by police, deliberately provoke cops,
>> or claim that we live in a "police state." (We don't.)
>>
>
> Is there some reason I don't know about for this sentence?  AFAIK,  
> not even
> the NY police (nor even Fox News!) have raised a charge/defense of
> "deliberate provocation".  Not one single time.  A striking  
> hallmark of the
> RNC protests was that these were VERY disciplined, "mature"
> protesters.  Likewise, AFAIK, none of the lawyers, nor protest
> spokespersons have ever been quoted as saying we live in "police
> state".  These are very serious plaintiffs.  The City's lawyers DID  
> claim
> that the protesters "overdramatized" their victimization by police  
> -- so
> far, in every major case the judges have ruled that to be an  
> outright lie.
>
> As the list knows from my posts during the RNC I was in close  
> contact with
> a large number of the on-scene legal observers at that time and I  
> have seen
> several of the videos to be released.  Is Liza on to something I  
> have missed?
>
> Paul
>
>
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