ok. so around here, there's a big military presence. there are even people involved who used to be cops, now retired, who are involved.
people in the group are all excited that it looks like the local sizzlean are "escorting" the marches. they think it's cool that the sizzlean give people the thumbs up. there's a lot of "the po po are part of the 99% too!" A lot of people have relatives who are cops. And yeah, cop pay sucks around here. Last time, I checked, cops start out at $30k/year salaries.
i really don't give a shit one way or another. I totally understand why people aren't interested in getting arrested. I certainly am not. I have felt differently in my life, sure. I can understand why people want to feel that what they are doing is legal, normal, sanctioned, part of a tradition of protest.
i also hear the grumbling on this list and have kind of chuckled myself at the way that people ask permission - get permits - to protest. It's just so, ha ha, "Hey you," says the officer and you turn and say, "yes, sir! How high sir?"
I totally agree that people who come to these events with bourgeois hopes of having their protest sanctioned by the law, to be seen as within the law, etc. are people who shouldn't be pressured or pushed into doing anything to break the law.
But there's been grumbling on this list, and I'd like to hear the other side - if there is one.
shag -- http://cleandraws.com Wear Clean Draws ('coz there's 5 million ways to kill a CEO)