What MSM won't show you from Chicago

[WhaTHellsgoingonhere]

Pardon the interuption...

I just returned from a truly amazing event here in Chicago. I joined the NATO demonstration, one attended by a crowd north of 10,000, and featuring powerful speakers from the US armed forces and Afghan community. The two dozen former military enlisted were there to denounce the war, their participation, their medals of "dishonor"--which, to a person they called a symbol of terror covered in a lie right before throwing them toward the very buildings which housed the conference--and to apologize for being agents of terror against the Afghan and Iraqi peoples. They added, the enemy is not 7000 miles away, the enemy is right here, in the board rooms of multinational corporations.

Here are my pictures, I hope you can view them.


<OK, I'll figure out how to post the rest of these pictures.>




...now, back to CNN/NBC/ABC/CBS and their voyeuristic coverage of police brutality.

[Ian David]

1. Bad links.

Sorry, Forbidden.
You don't have permission to access this URL on this server.

Please check the URL for proper spelling and capitalization. If you're having trouble locating a destination on Yahoo!, try visiting the Yahoo! home page or look through a list of Yahoo!'s online services. Also, you may find what you're looking for if you try searching below.

[Cobalt Violet]

2. I can only see the last picture. n/t

[BiggJawn]

3. Yahoo shut you off already.

That was quick! 4 minutes.

[L0oniX]

4. Yahoo epic fail

[freshwest]

5. Thanks. Can you post a slideshow of your pictures on YT? It'll stay up longer.

And thanks very much for an account of their words and deeds, especially this:

They added, the enemy is not 7000 miles away, the enemy is right here, in the board rooms of multinational corporations.

This has been a long time coming. Now we see it clearly, at last and that the world can agree on this.

[WhaTHellsgoingonhere]

6. Pictures reposted. I hope this works!

[dixiegrrrrl]

7. Good job!!!!!

[cbayer]

8. Great pictures and thanks so much for attending and sharing.

[One Voice]

17. Thank you!

For giving me permission to have one of your pics,
you did make my day by capturing my son in one
of them, (#7), I will sleep a little better knowing he is ok.

I've watched livestreams all weekend looking for him,
and worrying.

I did talk to him on the phone tonight, and told him
he is on DU so they looked it up, ha!
He got a kick out of that.

I'm glad you're all safe! And thank you again!!!

[PufPuf23]

19. Thank you nt.

[freshwest]

47. Yes, thanks for the pictures and the thread! Respect!

[HereSince1628]

9. 10K for an "international event", shit that's less than a bad day in Madison.

[WhaTHellsgoingonhere]

10. Which makes it all the more baffling...

...that you folks are going to give Walker a vote of confidence.

[Wellstone ruled]

11. Yo!! Mr. Mayor,these are the real people,not some ethic group you make up.

[mucifer]

12. I was there today. I was kinda hoping there would be more people.

[coalition_unwilling]

13. I'm so ashamed to call myself an American (and a Democrat) today. Shame on the

Chicago pigs, shame on Rahm Emmanuel and Obama and shame on the American people for what they are allowing to be done in their name.

[Capt. Obvious]

21. This post was alerted on

Went down 0-6

[coalition_unwilling]

22. Does that mean post was allowed to stand? I did not

receive any notification about this one, as far as I can tell.

[Capt. Obvious]

23. Yes

At Mon May 21, 2012, 10:33 AM an alert was sent on the following post:

I'm so ashamed to call myself an American (and a Democrat) today. Shame on the
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=709896

REASON FOR ALERT:

This post is disruptive, hurtful, rude, insensitive, over-the-top, or otherwise inappropriate. (See <a href="http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=aboutus#communitystandards" target="_blank">Community Standards</a>.)

ALERTER'S COMMENTS:

ashamed to be a democrat? perhaps u r in the wrong place.

You served on a randomly-selected Jury of DU members which reviewed this post. The review was completed at Mon May 21, 2012, 10:41 AM, and the Jury voted 0-6 to LEAVE IT.

Juror #1 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE and said: Alerter is troll hunting. Poorly.
Juror #2 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE and said: The poster is just venting.
Juror #3 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE and said: There are times when we should all be ashamed to be a Democrat. If we just blindly follow everything without questions, then we are no better than the Tea Party. This seems like a pretty significant moment when some of that reflection might be necessary.
Juror #4 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE and said: Personal opinion; as much as I disagree, DUers could point out the error of this poster's ways if they choose to, and they should.
Juror #5 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE and said: No explanation given
Juror #6 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE and said: Given the meaning and context, nothing at all wrong here.

Thank you very much for participating in our Jury system, and we hope you will be able to participate again in the future.

[coalition_unwilling]

25. Thank you for letting me know, fwiw. - n/t

[freshwest]

30. I wasn't on the jury, but don't believe that political points should be made with alerts. Unless the

Poster has a pattern of attacking all Democrats with right wing points which are pretty common as we are inundated with them daily by media. It hurt my heart reading that but I hope you do not consider Democrats such as my very anti-war representatives as the enemy. I consider what you wrote as a heartbroken comment and not a blanket accusation. We do expect a lot more from the Democratic Party.

My representatives have been figthing against all things to do with war, economic and inequality all their lives and they are getting old. They have had their lives threatened repeatedly by right wing nuts and been in a losing battle in Republican majorities but never lost their beliefs in opposing oppression and wars. There is no equivalency between my Democratic representatives and war mongering, fascist Republicans.

N/T

[coalition_unwilling]

31. I have been re-districted out of Diane Watson's (currently Karen Bass') district and

into Maxine Waters' district, so I share your feelings and have no complaints about my personal representative (current and future).

[WhaTHellsgoingonhere]

14. I'm watching the local news...

...and they're talking about 10 knuckleheads who clashed with the police.

No mention of the courageous former enlisted and their speeches or those of the Afghan women, one of whom delivered a poem several pages in length that, if I ever find the text to, I will post it here.

MSM...expectantly pathetic.

[Peregrine Took]

15. Knuckle Heads?

The police presence was astounding. As a native Chicagoan I was humiliated by this waste of money.

I was there in '68.

What is wrong with this city?

[WhaTHellsgoingonhere]

16. Believe it or not, there were a handful of knuckle heads...

Does that really surprise you?

And they gave the MSM the story they wanted follow, but not the real story, which was one that hoped to change the world.

[Peregrine Took]

18. I was there.

Saw a bunch of idealistic kids. Don't listen to what the MSM tells you. Fill up your tender noggin with propopaganda.

[freshwest]

26. Have their words been transcribed anywhere? It's easier to share that way.

[WhaTHellsgoingonhere]

28. I just posted this over at Occupy Chicago

Hopefully, something will turn up

Have transcripts of the former military's speeches and the poem delivered by the Afghan-American woman been posted anywhere?

Sunday, May 20, 2012: I just returned from a truly amazing event here in Chicago. I joined the NATO demonstration, one attended by a crowd north of 10,000, and featuring powerful speakers from the US armed forces and Afghan community. The two dozen former enlisted were there to denounce the war, their participation, their medals of "dishonor"--which, to a person they called a symbol of terror covered in a lie right before throwing them toward the very buildings which housed the summit--and to apologize for being agents of terror against the Afghan and Iraqi peoples. Some matters they spoke to included the sexual assault of women, both Afghan and Iraqi citizens, as well as US troops, and suicide and PTSD among the rank and file. They added, the enemy is not 7000 miles away, the enemy is right here, in the board rooms of multinational corporations. Finally, a woman from the Afghan-American(?) community delivered a powerfully profound poem several pages in length that, if I ever find the text to, I will post it here.

[freshwest]

29. Thanks, I'm hoping you'll find a link that is not going to go back to you. Not because I doubt it,

But some of the places I post won't allow 'blog' or personal recollections. It's become a problem with following things on the streams, which are live and then gone, sharing those empheral moments that would change perception so much.

It's part of the destruction of our history, or moreso, our present and future that M$M won't report such things. They want to make the protestors seem unreasonable or violent in order to censor these very important IDEALS from coming out and being considered by the public and part of the record.

We once had Senators like Kerry whose words were written down in the Congressional Record recording what they were ordered to do against the Gevena Convention. And the words were in speeches that were televised and archived to help people understand what the MIC is doing abroad.

There is so much suppression of the truth now. Those words ou wrote are exactly what millions of people need to hear now to tip the scales. Thanks so much for being there and if you find another source I can quote I'll pass it along.

[WhaTHellsgoingonhere]

33. Rachel just spoke about the troops and showed a blurp of one speech

She showed "dozens" of troops and said, no, it wasn't hundreds like the Vietnam War protest, but it was significant.

[freshwest]

34. This is not that era. Occupy does not have hundreds of thousands of college students and others of

Similar age with resources available to mobilize these things that we did. It was a good showing and media should be (I'm so tired of using that word) reporting ideas and ideals and not all these dog whistles to effect mass consciousness as they have been doing for a while.

I'll hunt up the Maddox piece and see how much of it I can get. Thanks so much for the heads up. I've been telling people in person I know, what they said by your words. They are older people that have not politically active but are being enlightened. They understand what is being said, having kept themselves free of the right wing propaganda that is blinding so many people.

And this makes sense, this is the tradition of those who have served whenever they realized they were betrayed. This is not new but to see a generation coming up after these years of propaganda and seeing through the lies is a great thing. Stay safe as you can, remain gentle and stay strong, I know this is hard on all of you. Let them know they have our support here.

[EFerrari]

37. Amy had a number of the vet's speeches yesterday

I posted it in Good Reads. She always has a transcript, too.

[freshwest]

38. Thanks, I'll search that out.

[pinboy3niner]

41. VIDEO is posted in the Video and Multimedia Forum and here's the transcript link...

Last edited Wed May 23, 2012, 05:47 AM - Edit history (1)

Video from Democracy Now! posted by midnight:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/101730094

Edited to add:

Democracy Now! also has the transcript posted:

http://www.democracynow.org/2012/5/21/no_nato_no_war_us_veterans#transcript

[freshwest]

45. Thank you so much for the link and now the transcript. This must be heard.

[WhaTHellsgoingonhere]

49. Afghans For Peace

Last edited Fri May 25, 2012, 01:48 AM - Edit history (2)

Thank you for finding these links, friends! I found myself fighting back tears as they ran down my face through many of the speeches.

The young Afghan woman I was alluding to above is Samira Sayed-Rahman of Afghans For Peace. This is the only except from her poem that I found in print.


I am a daughter of an [Afghan] refugee, and my taxpayer dollars are being used to kill my family. The media is playing this [Afghanistan war] as a "good war" and that it is helping to liberate Afghan women. Bombing Afghanistan into oblivion is not going to help these women. NATO occupation out of Afghanistan!

http://www.rawa.org/temp/runews/2012/05/24/making-illa-noise-in-chicago-against-nato-and-the-afghanistan-war.html

It is a raw, angry, hard-hitting and heartbreaking, stranger than fiction but based in fact poem. I followed a few links until I came to the Afghans For Peace website. Unfortunately, her speech is password protected. But in case you'd care to listen, here's the link.

http://afghansforpeace.org/archives/2646
http://afghansforpeace.org/

I've been reading around and many who were there agree that this was the most powerfully moving moment of the demonstration.

[WhaTHellsgoingonhere]

52. Afghans For Peace

Afghans for Peace members Suraia Sahar, Samira Sayed-Rahman, and Saba Maher.


The mother to the left, also a speaker, is carrying a picture of her son who succeeded at suicide on his fourth attempt after being deemed fit to serve.

[EFerrari]

43. Were you able to find it?

I should have given you the links last night but I was falling over.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/101628942

[freshwest]

44. Yes, I finally found it and I was punch drunk from lack of sleep myself. There were two more above

The post you made, and then someone posted me the video as well. I went and Rec'd them all, but need to go back and kick them as well. It was tears all the way watching the video, reminded of the big march in L.A. years ago. I was walking with a huge crowd there and sometimes would push the wheelchair bound young men who were my age but would not walk again. We couldn't 't even vote back then and they were being hauled off at the age of 18 to be maimed for life.

I see the carnage of this war almost daily, young men in wheelchairs negotiating their way through stores, sidewalks and trying to cross the streets, some only able to get in motion with straws held in their mouths. I see where they volunteer to help the disabled, their faces horribly scarred, and see the mix of fear and joy in their eyes.

I translated comments on the youtube page of the video, saying how happy and amazed they were at the sight of the 'young children men to stand up to your.. (didn't translate)' and 'I see still the miracle and wonder that is America' and 'I am beginning to love the USA again.' It was a most effective piece, and I appreciate Democracy Now for filming it in its entirety and making it available. Thanks to you, too, EFarrari.

[EFerrari]

46. I cried through the whole video, too, and that doesn't happen very often. n/t

[WhaTHellsgoingonhere]

51. I cried standing in the middle of a crowd. Several times.

My sunglasses couldn't hide the tears running down my face.

[WhaTHellsgoingonhere]

50. "Our enemies are not 7,000 miles from home...

My name is Vince Emanuele, and I served with the United States Marine Corps. First and foremost, this is for the people of Iraq and Afghanistan. Second of all, this is for our real forefathers. I’m talking about the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. I’m talking about the Black Panthers. I’m talking about the civil rights movement. I’m talking about unions. I’m talking about our socialist brothers and sisters, our communist brothers and sisters, our anarchist brothers and sisters, and our ecology brothers and sisters. That’s who our real forefathers are. And lastly—and lastly and most importantly, our enemies are not 7,000 miles from home. They sit in boardrooms. They are CEOs. They are bankers. They are hedge fund managers. They do not live 7,000 miles from home. Our enemies are right here, and we look at them every day. They are not the men and women who are standing on this police line. They are the millionaires and billionaires who control this planet, and we’ve had enough of it. So they can take their medals back.

[pinboy3niner]

42. See #41 for video and transcript links

And thankyou for posting your report and pics!

[freshwest]

32. Chicago historically was the city that celebrated the 'American Empire.' And all it entailed.

It is the source of Milton Friedman and others who put profits before people and home of the Chicago school of economics. As much as we dislike their philosophy, they are an enduring presence in the USA. This is to be expected, although most of us are not part of their world, their connections and power.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_school_of_economics

The PTB of Chicago has no reason to behave differently than they did in 1968 or differently than Bloomberg in NYC has acted in collusion with his Wall Street colleagues. What we need to understand is that they believe they are correct and that we are all wrong. We need to disabuse them of that belief in a way that they understand, but not fall into the role of criminals against civilization as they imagine. We must let them know who is playing that role now.

As far as the violence against protestors, that has been going on for centuries. When people say they can't believe this can happen here in the USA in this century, or that they see it as something new and more terrifying than ever before, they disregard the history of this country in favor of our vision.

I don't minimize the outrage of this. Having seen it up close years ago, it is torture seeing it again. The movement will long and painful and needs to be sustained in a peaceful manner. Things will get worse, we are witnessing the death throes of an empire that a large part of this country have benefited from for centuries. They will not let go from one or two years of protest, but will release gradually their unfair advantages if we sustain the flow of our vision against theirs. N/T

[WhaTHellsgoingonhere]

35. Chicago and the country could use another Jane Addams right about now.

Thanks for your thoughtful posts, freshwest. I've really enjoyed reading them. I wish I were as eloquent. I do my best

[freshwest]

36. Don't worry, you're doing great!

And thanks. I think I talk too much!

[Fire Walk With Me]

39. Isn't it stunning to witness in person how the MSM twist or ignore Occupy?

Appalling.

But...thank you very much for the thread, and for honoring the soldiers and their words and troubles. Quite obviously, few truly "support our troops"!

Best regards to Occupy Chicago!

[freshwest]

48. They ignored the thousands of anti-war protests during the Bush reign of terror as well.

We'd be networking on youtube, that time's version of what Occupy has on live stream now, sharing the videos as fast as we could, reported and networked there and elsewhere. We'd see the videos, we'd see the crowds. We'd see the people hanging banners off the bridges, meeting every single week in many locations to protest in our area.

Never on the local news, never on the national news. We'd talk back and forth, checking cable news, CNN, all of them. Not one peep, not one picture of the crowds we had in the streets that we'd had to make our own videos of in NYC, D.C., etc. despite the 'free speech' zones and all the harassment. We kept thinking that the media would have to cover some of the bigger crowds but we'd keep coming up with the same thing: 'Why isn't this on the news? There are thousands of us in the street in a major city, where are they?'

Because unlike the Vietnam protest era, where we watched blow-by-blow the 1968 Chicago riots, there is no longer the protection of millions of eyes. 'The whole world is watching' chant has gone cold as we realized that no one is watching except on the internet and the streets, to make us seem fringe. Instead, they filled the air time the entire day with purient swill and ignored their duty under the First Amendment to act as informers of the people that the government was doing wrong because their corporate masters abused that privilege. The media sold the world and many people here on the fraud that all the American people supported the invasion of Iraq.

Just put it on M$M and then it's real, but it's all propaganda for their owners. This won't get the attention that it deserves, the M$M is going to say we don't exist. Without Occupy supplying the numbers to even get negative M$M coverage, this would not have had the impact it did. The power of Occupy is partly in the name itself. We occupy this world, we live here, we exist and we do not agree with killing the people and the planet, damn it!

[WhaTHellsgoingonhere]

20. I'd be remiss not to add...

That the former troops also spoke to matters such as the sexual assault of women, both Afghan and Iraqi as well as US, and suicide and PTSD, among the rank and file.

Now who would want to hear something like that?

[Catherina]

24. Thank you for this thread

I'm watching one of the live feeds here http://www.ustream.tv/channel/jessehadden

It warms the cockles of my heart.

[WhaTHellsgoingonhere]

27. 10 to 15,000 protesters (see image)

The initial reports were based on police estimates, 2500!

[countryjake]

40. Thanks for sharing those great pics!

And thanks, too, for being there! That last aerial pic showing the blocks and blocks of marchers is inspiring!