Davis pepper spray , and one prof's response

Ken M,
I have registered the name Lovegasoline on Supertopo for my exclusive use and as such it is the representation of a real person. Many readers and participants of this forum know me and my identity and read the malicious lies that you are spreading about me.


I ask you again to be a man, and to substantiate with facts the malicious comments that you are publically circulating about me.

Occupy: Flash Mob Politics or Social Movement?
by Frank Gilliam on October 9, 2011



Occupy

One of the most interesting and entertaining phenomena of this political season is the so-called “Occupy” trend. Started a few weeks ago by a group generally referred to as Occupy Wall Street, people have been gathering at city halls, corporate headquarters, and other institutions of power across the United States to protest a wide range of social and economic ills.
Journalists, pundits, celebrities, and politicians have been offering their views on these gatherings. Some, such as Rep. Eric Cantor, have criticized them for inciting Americans to turn against Americans. Others, like LA Mayor Antonio Villaragoisa have issued statements of support for the Occupy participants. Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain says the participants need to quit complaining about corporations and take individual responsibility for their employment status. Even President Obama has recognized Occupy as representing the sentiments of many Americans.

What everyone wants to know, it seems, is what is this all about? Do these gatherings represent anything significant or are they simply the shenanigans of the idle unemployed.

One way to think of this is what I call flash mob politics. As anyone under 30 knows, a flash mob is a group of people who assemble in a public place and act out some random performance. The “mobs” are organized by social media and other forms of electronic communication (email, Facebook, Foursquare, etc.) but with little or no apparent leadership. The first flash mob started in 2003 at Macy’s in Manhattan when a group of about 70 people gathered around the rug department with the ostensible purpose of shopping for a communal “love rug”.

Occupy certainly shares some of the elements of a flash mob – they assemble suddenly in public spaces, they utilize information technology to organize, and the gatherings often have a performative aspect to them (e.g., people sing, dance, chant, drum). Where Occupy differs, however, is that it has vaguely political undertones. In many instances the target of their wrath is corporate greed; other times it is the plight of the under/unemployed; sometimes the focus is on a specific issue like climate change, the Afghan war, or medical marijuana; and in yet other cases it is all of the above and more.

As a vehicle for long-term social and political change, however, flash mob politics has severe limitations. In other words, social networking and coordination may not be enough to produce significant changes in society. For instance, how long can Occupy maintain its activities without material resources? Likewise, Occupy will ultimately have to develop a core narrative that explains its preferred policy and action agenda. Finally, it is hard to imagine that Occupy will be able to sustain its efforts without a leadership structure and a “face” of the group.

What American history has shown is that a social movement is the type of group action that can lead to significant change. Perhaps the biggest difference between social movements and flash mobs is that social movements focus on a specific goal and issue area. Although they share some things with flash mob politics – informality, diffused communications channels, and a list of strains and grievances – they pay much more attention to the identification of resources, continuous leadership, and strategic political opportunities all wrapped into a core narrative structure.

An example of a potent social movement is the modern civil rights movement (1950-73). Its narrative was about America living up to its fundamental values; it had resources and a strong leadership structure through the black church and civil rights organizations like the SCLC, the NAACP, CORE, SNCC and even the black Panthers (I would remiss at this point if I did not recognize the passing of Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth – a key and unsung hero of the Movement); it had charismatic leaders (e.g., Martin Luther King, A. Phillip Randolph, Ella Baker); and it was able to take advantage of a number of significant political opportunities (e.g., black voting power; general economic prosperity; shifting party politics, and international freedom movements).

To this point, flash mob politics is not a social movement. To be sure, increasing numbers of Americans are experiencing the type of anomie or social dislocation that is often present when social movements arise. However, for the flash mob model to become a social movement it must develop a clear core story of social change. And it has to be something more than generalized discontent or a hodgepodge of grievances. It has to put forward a value proposition outlining what is at stake; it has to identify what the target problem is; and it has to forward a set of actionable remedies. Resources, leadership, and strategy then follow. Then, and only then, is significant change possible.

Ken M

Los Angeles, Ca Nov 20, 2011 - 12:06am PT
It should not be forgotten that this act of using pepper spray is a source of great joy to the protesters.

I have been down to OWS sites, and have watched a number of confrontations on live video. Unfailingly, the protesters are as rude, provoking, and threatening as they think they can get away with, plus a little more.

Their goal is to provoke violence. They carry many many video cameras. I have seen things that I was personally at edited to appear considerably different.

They likely have provoked an incident that will result in damage to police careers (part of the 99%), and damage to the Chancellor's career (likely quite sympathetic to OWS).

They are turning the police against them, nationally. They are turning the Universities, a great natural ally, against them.

Why are Universities a TARGET? They are not part of corporations, nor of corrupt gov't. This is very sad.

Lovegasoline

Sh#t Hole, Brooklyn, NY Nov 20, 2011 - 12:36am PT
What we are seeing here is the true face of the USA.
We are witnessing the government's policy to use torture against its external enemies, now extended to a policy of using torture against its own citizens.Make no mistake about it: we are witnessing the government's torture of United States citizens for exercising their rights to free speech and peaceable assembly.


If you do not understand fascism, look carefully as this is its manifestation.
It will be justified, excused, spun, and legalized so as to confuse you as to what is up and what is down. Just like waterboarding the USA's prisoners isn't torture.


Make no mistake about what you are seeing at UC Davis.
DItto for UC Berkeley, Oakland, NYC, and elsewhere.

Lovegasoline

Sh#t Hole, Brooklyn, NY Nov 20, 2011 - 12:54pm PT
This was a peaceful protest in the American tradition.

.....................The tide has already turned and we have OWS to thank for it!

The 1% has already lost their control of our minds. Otherwise, they would not have to resort to the use of force and torture on the public. They have lost control of our minds and very soon they will lose control of the streets, because the streets is were this is all gonna go down.

They are at Bloomberg's house in NYC (for a tea party?) as I write this.

RELEASE THE NAMES OF THE PIGS WHO PEPPER SPRAYED AND TORTURED THE STUDENTS

THE AMERICAN PUBLIC HAS A RIGHT TO KNOW WHO ITS DOMESTIC ENEMIES ARE

IN THE LOGIC OF HOMELAND SECURITY THESE TWO PIGS ARE TERRORISTS, THREATENING THE HEALTH, LIFE, SAFETY, AND LIBERTY OF AMERICANS THROUGH THE THREAT OF, AND USE OF, VIOLENCE


ARREST THEM, PLACE THEM ON TRIAL, CONVICT THEM, AND SENTENCE THEM TO LIFETIME SENTENCES

If the powers that be cannot marginalize the protesters, cannot marginalize their protests to a tightly reduced message, cannot pin it on a single leader or leadership group to co-opt, buy-out, or discredit, cannot sequester them and/or herd them like cattle, cannot diminish their impact by interfering with their right to free speech, assembly, and petition, cannot shut them down by intimidating them by arrest and exaggerated charges, then they'll have no choice but to use violence to try to shut them down. But that's not going to work either.

Kevmn, since you have made yourself a mouthpiece and authority on the protest movement at UC Davis, can you please tell us some more in detail about what the protesters are and what they are protesting about specifically? Also, can you be more concrete and specific about the identity of the protesters. You've told us they are not students.

Also, why is the leadership of the school, now in hindsight, publically declaring their outrage at the abhorrent treatment of the peaceful protests and the assualt on their rights?

Thanks.

Lovegasoline

Sh#t Hole, Brooklyn, NY Nov 20, 2011 - 05:25pm PT

.........
PS: The Nazi's too had a really resourceful and intelligent scheme for recycling homes within land controlled by the German Reich. And when that program was insufficient to meet demand, a resourceful program for recycling housing in the East. Lots of people complained but what do you expect from sore losers and whiners? And still whining 65 years later. Also, a dirty bunch of folks from what I've heard.

Lovegasoline

Sh#t Hole, Brooklyn, NY Nov 20, 2011 - 06:19pm PT
Walking on wet grass is a bummer.

It makes me think of all those deeply inconvenienced white women who had to walk to the back of the bus when the (smelly) negroes took the front seats in protest.

And all those interrogators who have to now refrain from indulging in sadistic torture and have to use humane techniques. What's the point of even bothering being an interrogator these days now that all the fun has been taken out of it? Think of all those poor interrogator trainees who paid their dues and are now stuck in a career path where they can't torture.

Lovegasoline


Sh#t Hole, Brooklyn, NY Nov 21, 2011 - 01:07pm PT
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COINTELPRO


COINTELPRO (an acronym for Counter Intelligence Program) was a series of covert, and often illegal, projects conducted by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) aimed at surveilling, infiltrating, discrediting, and disrupting domestic political organizations.
COINTELPRO tactics included discrediting targets through psychological warfare, planting false reports in the media, smearing through forged letters, harassment, wrongful imprisonment, extralegal violence and assassination. Covert operations under COINTELPRO took place between 1956 and 1971; however, the FBI has used covert operations against domestic political groups since its inception.The FBI's stated motivation at the time was "protecting national security, preventing violence, and maintaining the existing social and political order."


The program was successfully kept secret until 1971, when a group of left-wing radicals calling themselves the Citizens' Commission to Investigate the FBI burglarized an FBI field office in Media, Pennsylvania, took several dossiers, and exposed the program by passing this information to news agencies. Many news organizations initially refused to publish the information. Within the year, Director Hoover declared that the centralized COINTELPRO was over, and that all future counterintelligence operations would be handled on a case-by-case basis.

Covert operations under COINTELPRO took place between 1956 and 1971;