Get your art history on through Pepper Spray Cop art

This take on "Liberty Leading the People" by Eugene Delacroix has the notable addition of UC Davis's now-infamous Pepper Spray Cop. It's by Brady Hill on Tumblr. More in the Washington Post article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/arts-post/post/pepper-spray-cop-works-his-way-through-art-history/2011/11/21/gIQA4XBmhN_blog.html

Ol' Blue Eyes says (sings) it all about "New York, New York" in 2011

Chemical weapons used on peaceful UC Davis protesters

The wars come home: UC Davis Police Lt. John Pike uses pepper spray to move Occupy UC Davis protesters who were blocking officers' attempts to remove arrested protesters from the Quad on Friday afternoon. FMI: http://www.davisenterprise.com/... Photo credit: Wayne Tilcock/Enterprise photo

Why have the police resorted to violence against Occupy Wall Street protesters?

Following last month's police brutality in Oakland, and today's summary eviction of the Occupy Wall Street camp (and don't forget Seattle and Denver -- see above photo from Oct. 29 by Craig F. Walker of The Denver Post), American activists are reaching the conclusion that "police protect the 1%". More at Police Violence Reveals a Corrupt System (The Guardian via Common Dreams).

Seattle activist Dorli Rainey, 84, reacts after being hit with pepper spray during an Occupy Seattle protest on Tuesday, November 15, at Westlake Park. Protesters gathered in the intersection of 5th Avenue and Pine Street after marching from their camp at Seattle Central Community College in support of Occupy Wall Street. Many refused to move from the intersection after being ordered by police. Police then began spraying pepper spray into the gathered crowd hitting dozens of people. A pregnant woman was taken from the melee in an ambulance after being struck with spray. Photo: JOSHUA TRUJILLO / SEATTLEPI.COM

Retired cop tells NYPD: "Don't be Wall Street Mercenaries"

Captain Ray Lewis (Ret.) of the Philadelphia police has joined Occupy Wall Street. His sign is perfect: “NYPD: Don’t Be Wall Street Mercenaries!” That's exactly what the NYPD has become, as we witnessed throughout the day today. (Thanks to Cognitive Dissonance in Laramie for the photo.)

Denver Police overreact (again) at Occupy Denver

Here's how my hometown of Denver looks to the world right now. This photo comes from Westword and was shot by Kelsey Whipple. It shows cops aiming guns filled with pepper bullets at protesters. Photos like this were in newspapers worldwide. Here's the view from the London Daily Mail: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2055243/Occupy-Denver-Police-use-rubber-bullets-pepper-spray-protesters.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

My gun is bigger than your nonviolence: Police raise weapons while making an arrest during the Occupy Denver protest in Denver on Saturday. (Craig F. Walker, The Denver Post). Photos like this were on the pages of newspapers throughout the world today.

Read more:Occupy Denver protesters, law enforcement officers clash; 20 arrested - The Denver Posthttp://www.denverpost.com/commented/ci_19223274?source=commented-news#ixzz1cHOwYtyh

Impromptu sculpture marks site of Oakland chaos

Who says that public art has to be planned? From the Oakland Tribune blogs: What's really attracting attention is a stack of cyclone fence, the remnants of a barrier that had been erected around the lawn area but was torn down by protesters. The stack of fencing resembles a sculpture and many people are walking up to take pictures of it. A police officer just went over to snap a shot as well. In photo, City of Oakland worker Norman Hall looks for tent stakes in the ground at Frank Ogawa Plaza at the site of the Occupy Oakland movement in downtown Oakland, Calif. (Kristopher Skinner photo).

For Occupy movements, "the point is to speak out, be heard and shed frustration in public"

Occupy Denver: Man in a hat reads his words and we amplify them

Occupy Wall Street is but three weeks old and Occupy sites are sprouting across America. I was at Occupy Denver yesterday to observe and to understand. I was fairly successful with the former and only partially successful with the latter. As I was casting about the web this morning, I came across some columns by Kevin Pinner on death + taxes out of Minneapolis. Minneapolis is a great alternative media city, a progressive city with a strongly Democratic mayor who supports Occupy Minneapolis. As Pinner points out, this outspoken stance is something that Occupy Wall Street lacks, as Mayor Bloomberg is obviously a charter member of the 1% (twelfth richest person in America) and a staunch apologist for Wall Street.

Still, this movement originated on the streets of Wall Street and not on Hennepin Avenue in the Twin Cities or Colfax Avenue in the Mile High City or Center Street in the Oil City of Casper, Wyo. When people gather in those places, they are taking their cue from OWS but it actually originates from a deeper place. Here’s how Pinner describes the many street protests in Greece:

Their causes are diverse, as are the people, which works for them, and can work for Occupy movements, too. The point is to speak out, be heard, and shed frustration in public, where the powers that be can digest it, where police can misbehave: that is part of the non-violent strategy’s power.

I felt that power yesterday in Denver. The point is to speak out, be heard and shed frustration in public. I wasn’t prepared for this. When Chris and I arrived on the State Capitol grounds, people were voicing concerns that covered a thousand topics: Unemployment, income inequality, expensive wars, bloated student loans, Wall Street, and so on. Each phrase that was uttered was repeated by the multitudes. At first that seemed redundant, even silly, until I realized that the speaker was counting on us to serve as his/her megaphone. One young woman spoke about her mom who worked two jobs to feed her and her sister. We all repeated her story loudly and suddenly her words were floating in the humid air above the state’s capitol building. Her story might drop into the consciousness of legislators as they enter the building to do business this coming week. We now knew her story and we might be carrying her story back to our towns and even writing about it on our blogs as I’m doing right now.

I am a veteran of many protests in rallies dating back to Vietnam. I am jaundiced and jaded. When I go to a protest, and because I am a Democrat, I expect to be harangued by an endless array of union reps, anti-war activists, aging Civil Rights marchers, lean-and-mean environmentalists, AIDs activists and so on. These are causes I believe in. These are causes that most Democrats believe in. In fact, the last time I was at a rally on the steps of the Colorado State Capitol, it was the Sunday before the start of the Democratic National Convention in August 2008. Speakers that day included Ron Kovic, Cindy Sheehan and Eldridge Cleaver’s widow. After the third speaker, my brain was fried. I went over to see what the counter-protestors were doing, hoping for some comic relief. I also visited with the young people crafting the puppets for that morning’s march. Later, the permitted march of about 1,000 souls got underway with a Denver Police escort.

The most important protest of the DNC convention happened on Wednesday. Rage Against the Machine played for a large crowd. The band then teamed up with  members of Iraq Veterans Against the War to lead an impromptu march to the convention center. It was a non-permitted march. The L.A. Chief of Police had warned the Denver Chief of Police to expect violence if Rage Against showed up. But the Denver Police took a different approach. They provided an escort for the non-permitted march by 3,000 fired-up young people. If I remember correctly, there were a few pot arrests but nothing serious. I was inside the convention hall, blogging from my seat. I should have been outside covering the march.

But in these “Occupy” days, it isn’t the march that is important. The people speak. Their words are amplified by the rest of us. In this way, we hope to bring about change that we all can believe in.


Read a sampler of Kevin Pinner’s “Occupy” columns here and here.

Welcome to Beijing...or Baghdad...or maybe St. Paul

This just posted on DemocracyNow site and I'm reprinting in full:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE http://www.democracynow.org/

September 1, 2008

Contact: Dennis Moynihan, Mike Burke

ST. PAUL, MN—Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman was unlawfully arrested in downtown St. Paul, Minnesota at approximately 5 p.m. local time. Police violently manhandled Goodman, yanking her arm, as they arrested her. Video of her arrest can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYjyvkR0bGQ

Goodman was arrested while attempting to free two Democracy Now! producers who were being unlawfuly detained. They are Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar. Kouddous and Salazar were arrested while they carried out their journalistic duties in covering street demonstrations at the Republican National Convention. Goodman’s crime appears to have been defending her colleagues and the freedom of the press.

Ramsey County Sherrif Bob Fletcher told Democracy Now! that Kouddous and Salazar were being arrested on suspicion of rioting. They are currently being held at the Ramsey County jail in St. Paul.

Democracy Now! is calling on all journalists and concerned citizens to call the office of Mayor Chris Coleman and the Ramsey County Jail and demand the immediate release of Goodman, Kouddous and Salazar. These calls can be directed to: Chris Rider from Mayor Coleman’s office at 651-266-8535 and the Ramsey County Jail at 651-266-9350 (press extension 0).

Democracy Now! stands by Goodman, Kouddous and Salazar and condemns this action by Twin Cities law enforcement as a clear violation of the freedom of the press and the First Amenmdent rights of these journalists.

During the demonstration in which they were arrested law enforcement officers used pepper spray, rubber bullets, concussion grenades and excessive force. Several dozen others were also arrested during this action.

Amy Goodman is one of the most well-known and well-respected journalists in the United States. She has received journalism’s top honors for her reporting and has a distinguished reputation of bravery and courage. The arrest of Goodman, Kouddous and Salazar is a transparent attempt to intimidate journalists from the nation’s leading independent news outlet.

Democracy Now! is a nationally-syndicated public TV and radio program that airs on over 700 radio and TV stations across the US and the globe.

Video of Amy Goodman’s Arrest: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYjyvkR0bGQ