http://www.juancole.com/2009/06/washington-and-iran-protests-would-they.html
Informed Comment
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Washington and the Iran Protests: Would they be Allowed in the US?
<snip>
Moreover, very unfortunately, US politicians are no longer in a
position to lecture other countries about their human rights. The kind
of unlicensed, city-wide demonstrations being held in Tehran last week
would not be allowed to be held in the United States. Senator John
McCain led the charge against Obama for not having sufficiently
intervened in Iran. At the Republican National Committee convention in
St. Paul, 250 protesters were arrested shortly before John McCain took
the podium. Most were innocent activists and even journalists. Amy
Goodman and her staff were assaulted. In New York in 2004, 'protest
zones' were assigned, and 1800 protesters were arrested, who have now
been awarded civil damages by the courts. Spontaneous, city-wide
demonstrations outside designated 'protest zones' would be illegal in
New York City, apparently. In fact, the Republican National Committee
has undertaken to pay for the cost of any lawsuits by wronged
protesters, which many observers fear will make the police more
aggressive, since they will know that their municipal authorities will
not have to pay for civil damages.
The number of demonstrators arrested in Tehran on Saturday is estimated
at 550 or so, which is less than those arrested by the NYPD for
protesting Bush policies in 2004.
I applaud the Iranian public's protests against a clearly fraudulent
election, and deplore the jackboot tactics that the regime is using to
quell them. But it is important to remember that the US itself was
moved by Bush and McCain toward a 'Homeland Security' national security
state that is intolerant of public protest and throws the word
'terrorist' around about dissidents. Obama and the Democrats have not
addressed this creeping desecration of the Bill of Rights, and until
they do, the pronouncements of self-righteous US senators and
congressmen on the travesty in Tehran will be nothing more that
imperialist hypocrisy of the most abject sort.
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Full post at:
http://www.juancole.com/2009/06/washington-and-iran-protests-would-they.html