DNC Police State After Rage Against Machine Played

[sce56]

Run time: 02:09 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oA7hLPbxunc   Posted on YouTube: August 29, 2008 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: August 29, 2008 By DU Member: sce56 Views on DU: 1362

 
Did they get what they wanted from Obama?

http://ivaw.org
http://www.gp.org

All footage was shot yesterday, August 28, 2008. The police presence was as massive as I have seen since the DNC has been going on.

Iraq Veterans Against War statement:

"IVAW members in Denver on Wednesday where they led a march of ten thousand to the Democratic National Convention to deliver a message to Barack Obama calling on the Democratic nominee to endorse the three main goals of IVAW: Immediate withdrawal, full veterans benefits, and reparations for the Iraqi people.

Following a packed show at the Denver Coliseum where Rage Against the Machine and the Flobots encouraged the crowd to join IVAW's march, two squads of 25 IVAW members each formed up outside the venue and began marching to the Pepsi center. The squads were led by members in dress uniforms and combat uniforms, with thousands of supporters marching behind them in support.

When they arrived at the DNC, representatives of IVAW asked to meet with Barack Obama to present their message. After negotiations with the

Former Texas Lt Governor Ben Barnes came out of the convention to accept a letter from the IVAW members. Jeff Key, a former Marine said the IVAW members intended to stay in place until a representative from Obama's campaign came out to talk with them.

"I'm a patient man. I'm not going anywhere,'' Key said.

Key, a former Marine from Salt Lake City, and Liam Madden, a former marine from Boston, were then escorted into the convention where they met with Phil Carter, head of veterans affairs for the Obama campaign. IVAW is now waiting for a formal response to their request address the delegates from the podium.

Lt. Vince Porter of the Denver Police Department said the department coordinated the meeting with the secret service and Obama's office.

"The police in Denver have been exceptional and very, very supportive," Key said. "This cannot be an easy job for them either, and they've just been incredible."

The problem with the police was the amount of force and their similarities to the military in looks and actions.

The song is Dead Prez 'Walk Like a Warrior.' Dead Prez performed live at the State Capitol on Sunday.

[Bob Dobbs]

1. A week of intimidation and provocation, the current fascist reality.

The hyper militarization of the Denver police by the Ministry of Homeland Security will leave an ongoing layer of oppression on the sub-elite community here.
Already know as trigger happy cowboys who kill innocent people with impunity, the elite protection corps are now armed for warfare against the people. Denver is a test market for the new amerikkkan fascism.

Thanks a lot, Democratic National Convention.
Change for the worse.

[iamthebandfanman]

2. yeah

because the DNC totally hired them all and picked them all out ?

sorry, im sure you think yourself a grand revolutionary.. but atleast blame the right people instead of throwing the word fascist around like its cake.

ill tell you whats a change for the worse,
so called 'anarchist' that organise themselves.

dont blame the only people trying to change things, blame bush and the last 8 years of laws being enacted that let them do whatever they please in the name of national security..

hey, atleast they didnt put you behind fences 10 blocks away and slap up a sign proclaiming 'free speech zone' like they did at the RNC last time around.

[Bob Dobbs]

11. What happened in Denver WAS fascism.

The "free speech zone" was blocked from view of the Pepsi Center by the giant mainstream media tent and you had to walk a circuitous mile long route to get there. The hypocrisy of that arrangement was massive.

The Democratic Party was complicit in authorizing "Homeland Security", busholini could not have done it without the cooperation of the Democratic Party. The Democratic Party was complicit in arming the Denver Police with $50 million in military equipment appropriate to warfare. Who then is the enemy?

If you think the militarized police are there to protect you "bandfan" then you are hopelessly naive.

Obama will not be allowed to change the global corporatist economic system. He will not be allowed to dismantle the military/security/information complex, and until these things are done, NO REAL CHANGE will occur.

You can whine from behind your computer keyboard about the way things are, but until courageous progressives take to the streets like the heroic activists in The Battle of Denver, nothing will change, nothing you can believe in.

[avaistheone1]

5. The change is our police forces since the advent of Homeland Security does not look good.

The police do not even look like human beings when they are geared up like this. I doubt they feel like human being either when they look like this either.

[MagickMuffin]

18. This has been happening even before 9-11 and the Ministry of Homeland Security

The three men said they’ve been protesting both Democrats and Republicans for years, calling their act “a freedom thing.” Redner said President Clinton’s Secret Service also employed protest zones. Elend encountered his first zones at the 2000 Democratic Convention in Los Angeles.

“There were these giant fences around this parking lot with a line of LAPD in riot gear on every side of the zone,” he said. “It was very much a prison.”

More: http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/news.aspx?id=11796


"This is a very clear legal case with clear precedents," said Tokaji. "In 1996, for instance, the Republican National Committee tried to have a free speech zone moved from an area next to the Convention site to one where demonstrators would be out of sight and earshot. That effort was successfully blocked in federal court."

More: http://www.aclu-sc.org/releases/view/100190





August 15, 2000
Web posted at: 10:36 p.m. EDT (0236 GMT)

From staff and wire reports

LOS ANGELES -- Civil libertarians on Tuesday said police overreacted to protests during the opening day of the Democratic National Convention, but police said their response -- which included the use of pepper spray and rubber bullets -- was "outstanding."

Police move in on foot, horseback. Disruptive behavior observed

A 'significant risk' for city

At least six people were arrested Monday night when a group of 50 to 100 demonstrators began throwing rocks and bottles at police on the fringe of a free concert by the band Rage Against the Machine outside the Staples Center, where President Clinton was speaking.

But there were signs the violence could be flaring again. A group of animal-rights demonstrators broke windows shortly after 3 p.m. (6 p.m. EDT) Tuesday in the downtown business district about seven blocks from the convention center. Forty-five people were arrested, bringing to 83 the number of convention-related arrests, an LAPD spokeswoman said.

Police had no immediate explanation for what caused the incident. They said those arrested would be charged with vandalism.

Some demonstrators set bonfires with leaflets and scraps of wood torn from protest signs. The concert came to an abrupt stop when an LAPD commander interrupted to announce that fans had 20 minutes to disperse or face immediate arrest. Police pulled the plug on the electricity to the stage.

Within minutes, a line of police on horseback charged into the fenced-in area, cutting off one of the two main exits. While many confused protesters rushed into a narrow alley, others were pinned against the chain-link fence. Police on horseback were observed battering stray protesters with clubs as they rushed toward the exit, Reuters reported.

Protesters argued they were not given enough time to comply with police demands. "There was no way for people who wanted to leave to get out of that event last night," said Jim Lafferty, head of the left-wing National Lawyers Guild. Lafferty said he saw police club people who were scrambling to get out of their way and shoot them in the back with rubber bullets as they fled.

"This was a huge overreaction. The LAPD almost started a riot. Their rubber bullets hit reporters and people following their orders to disperse ... This was the most outrageous thing I have ever seen," said the veteran activist.

More: http://archives.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/08/15/convention.protests.02/index.html



Then there was the MASSIVE protest at the rnc in NY in '04. At least the Feds couldn't stop the protest march that went on for about 6 hours. I have 4 hours of the March on tape. C-SPAN aired the whole event. It WAS beautiful ;=D I still get chills watching it.

[avaistheone1]

24. This is how our Homeland Security dollars are being used.

and I am pissed.

[Frank Booth]

3. Oh, those poor prep school revolutionaries

whose rich parents forked out 65 bucks so their "oh so independent" sons and daughters could enjoy some crappy nu-metal concert. Really makes the heart weep. :cry:

[iamthebandfanman]

4. well what i love is

lets not blame the laws that have been enacted the last 8 years in the name of fighting some mythical monster( IE the patriot act) for the way law enforcement get away with things... oh no..
lets blame the DNC presidential convention......

and then they wonder why they are scoffed and laughed at.

i swear, the only thing worse than a neo-con is an organising 'anarchist' with no real purpose but to disrupt and be self righteous.

being angry doesnt make you a revolutionary.. it does infact require some strategy, rational, logic and organisation...

[Bob Dobbs]

12. You don't know what you are talking about.

The concert was free in support of Iraqi Veterans Against the War.

How did your vote to stop the war in 06 work out?

Whining behind your computer keyboard is so effective.

[Quantess]

6. All I can say is, I would have liked to have seen the show.

Rage Against the Machine, and Flobots (very promising).

[Bob Dobbs]

13. The show was incredible.

Wayne Kramer of the MC5, who played in the park in Chicago in 68 joined Rage on stage and performed the classic "Kick Out the Jams", and Rage gave a super inspired show.a

The Flobots are a wonderful Denver band that is highly committed to progressive action. (Best use of violin in Hip Hop ever.) Check out their web site at
http://www.fightwithtools.org/ and get involved.

[bjobotts]

7. Rap music demeans everything.Raging in rhyming harmony.Really helps the cause huh.

[bjobotts]

8. What's next ? A rebuttal with MC Rove?

[Bob Dobbs]

14. You don't understand the music so you demonize it?

Rage Against the Machine is a group of super progressive artists who have committed time and money to worthy causes.

This post smacks of ignorance and racism.

[Frank Booth]

17. I don't understand. Criticizing some Limp Bizkit wannabes is racism?

Is it because the lead singer has dreadlocks? I don't get it.

[Bob Dobbs]

19. The post demonized rap music.

That smacks of racism.

The ignorance comes in when you equate the progressive innovation of Rage Against the Machine with the derivative insignificance of Limp biscuit.

[1monster]

21. I don't deomonize Rap, but calling it music is simply wrong. It is nonmusical chanting.

Some of it is okay and even catchy.

Most of it is excruciatingly painful to hear...

That Rap on the YouTube was bearable.

You can enjoy Rap and even promote Rap if you want. Just PLEASE don't call it music.

[Bob Dobbs]

22. That is merely your provincial and regressive opinion.

You have a right to your opinion and the ignorant image of yourself it projects.

[1monster]

23. I'm not ignorant, honey. I'm a musican.

:crazy:

[Bob Dobbs]

25. Really, so am I.

That obviously hasn't minimized your racism and hebetudinous tastelessness.

[1monster]

26. Draw erroneous conclusions much? I don't like country music either. What does that

make me in your view?

Do you like Classical? New Age? Classic Rock 'n' Roll? Ballads? Rhythm and Blues? Calypso? Folk Music? I like all of those and more. I even have heard some Rap that I liked a lot (The Rap version of Red Red Wine comes to mind). But it still doesn't make tuneless chanting music. Poetry, maybe; music, no.

How incredibly ethnocentric of YOU to believe that because one doesn't share your taste one is racist.

:eyes: Never mind, you are not worth any more of my time.

[soulcore]

16. You obviously have NO CLUE....

as to how big a role underground hip-hop and rap have on the true underground movements fighting for peace and change.

I agree that organizing anarchists is the biggest oxymoron on the planet, but the IVAW and other peace groups are truly leading the way in calling for change. Not incremental change. Not change tied by the hands of corporate fascists, but REAL, positive, immediate change.

[Bob Dobbs]

20. Organizing anarchists is NOT AN OXYMORON!

Anarchist political theory is about DECENTRALIZED, REGIONALIZED, COOPERATIVE social structuring.

This stupid meme that organization is counter to anarchist theory is ridiculous.

[Waiting For Everyman]

9. Why aren't they at the White House?

Oh, yeah... b/c then they'd be (at the least) arrested, that might get a little too real.

What impressive nerve, they have.

[Bob Dobbs]

15. Over 500 activists WERE arrested.

The actions in Denver were VERY real and took courage and commitment of the activists to be realized.

What impressive nerve you have sitting behind your keyboard and whining.

Now THAT"S REAL!

[trthnd4jstc]

10. I love my Nation. I wish we could move away from Fascism. n/t

[eshfemme]

27. I'm glad that at least the IVAW were able to submit their petition to someone in the Obama campaign

Hopefully Obama can give them an answer. He's pretty good at dealing with veterans.

I do have to agree with the armor thing though. I think it'd probably be better if the police weren't so prepared for a riot. As someone from a neighborhood with good relations with the police, it saddens me to see stuff like this.