[lbo-talk] Oakland occupy, first hand account

[Chuck Grimes]

Thanks for posting this account. Sounds like a typical day in yore. The 
tactic of going mobil by the cops was used when they were caught off guard. 
They used tan four door Plymouths with six guys in full gear. They were so 
heavy they were resting on the rear springs which made their ability to 
drive difficult so the loaded sedans swirved a lot. They would try to cut 
off the moving crowds in downtown Berkeley's narrow side streets, bail out 
of a couple of sedans and start a running battle. This was very scary action 
because you could get trapped and beaten badly. I was really lucky to see 
these actions but not get my ass kicked or arrested. So I understand the 
reported observer's descriptions. They ring a deep truth. Yes there is 
humiliation. Yes I wanted a battle, but my common sense and cowardice told 
me, get the fuck out. I admired the guys that stayed to fight and risk 
everything to the last moment to escape.

I know nobody wants to be labeled violent. But, just look at where the 
maximum violence comes from---the cops, the system of repression, the damned 
mayor's office, the rich bourgeosie who live in overpriced condos in high 
rent downtown tony O-town, and of course the developers, banks, credit 
business agencies. The latter are the elite power of Oakland, just like 
everywhere else.

The cops are trained to motivate and drive their internal violent behavior, 
channel it into a set of ritalistic maneuvers. This is the deep training 
used by the military to train soldiers to kill without asking questions or 
have doubts. The first step is to de-humanize the `enemy.' The enemy has no 
human worth. They are potato bugs, disgusting things to be crushed with some 
heavy object. There is the comradarie of killing, the club of killing, the 
mystique of killing. But there arises a profound disgust with killing, which 
is afterall a sickening thing to do. It builds up over time with the numbers 
of those killed to the point of nausea, well until you wish somebody would 
kill you.

I saw this in my climbing partner, because he killed animals in a research 
pharma lab as part of quality control, i.e. his job. He killed all sorts of 
animals: frogs, mice, rats, rabbits, cats, dogs, and primates in moderate 
quantities. It disturbed him in a deep psychic way that left him sleepless, 
depressed, angry, and potentially violent, a disgusting person. He also 
became addicted to various pain killers. Knowing him gave Hinduism a big 
boost---he violated the great unity of Being---a kind of unforgiveable 
treason.

The essence of nazism is this death cult, this blood cult of mass death. War 
is this cult and we can see the results in the vets of Iraq and Afghanistan, 
the destruction of human souls in the living. You can also see its effects 
on two reporters, Robert Fisk and Chris Hedges. You can smell the death on 
them, in their dark view of human nature and in their writings. They have 
seen so much of this destruction, that they have fallen into the abyss of 
death.

CG