Showing posts with label PMR. Show all posts
Showing posts with label PMR. Show all posts

Arbitary and Abusive Policing

Unmarked Police Squad Car
Port of Tacoma, Washington
August 4, 2008
Port Militarization Resistance Protest

The officer in this unmarked vehicle made sure to tell everyone where not to park.

He was telling people that their cars were too close to driveways and had to be moved - or that their vehicles would be impounded.

When asked how far away from the driveway cars were allowed to park, he responded, "Didn't you pass the driver's test? If you don't know, then read the book."

If I remember correctly, when I took the test the distance was 10 feet.

Is that right? In this case the cars were more almost certainly more than 10 feet away; they certainly were not blocking anyone's access to driveways.

Really, it seemed to me that the officer was just being mean. He was abusing his authority and threatening people, people whose cars were not blocking driveways, with the impounding of their vehicles.

Arbitrary and discriminatory abuse of power. Why are people mean to each other? What causes people to behave like that?

Is it fear? Low self-esteem? I want to know!

The world would be a much better place if people were not mean to each other.

link to larger version: Unmarked Police Squad Car

Two Weeks Ago

I already posted this, but want to return to a letter I wrote a couple weeks ago to advocate dropping charges against the Oly 26. This group of people protested against the use of the municipal port for the shipment of military cargoes related to the occupation of Iraq. Drop Charges Against Oly 26 Protesters

Medea Benjamin at the Green Festival (pt. 1)

This is part one of a multi part series of videos of a speech by Medea Benjamin at the Green Festival. Ms. Benjamin uses the example of Port Militarization Resistance when she mentions the promise of citizen action and civil resistance to stop members of the government from perpetrating acts of aggression. She also discusses the intricate connections between the anti-war and environmental movements.



Here are links to three adjoining videos (of the rest of her speech):

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four
 
Aldo Leopold: "We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect."

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