[Foundation-l] Occupy events: Are you OK?

[kgorman at berkeley.edu]

I've been active in the bay area protests in the last several weeks. I am
essentially okay, although I have witnessed most of the most severe police
actions to go on in the bay.  I haven't been arrested or shot yet,
although I have been batoned and teargassed. I know at least one
Wikimedian in the area has been arrested a couple times.

Although I'm certainly greatly sympathetic to Occupy's goals, I have
become active more over repugnance at the police reaction than anything
else. There are few things I value more than free speech, and it has
completely shocked me to see peaceful protests violently repressed. I
never thought I would see anything like this in the US, let alone the bay
area.

During last week's police action on Sproul Plaza at UC Berkeley, I tried
to start a conversation with a UCPD officer after the morning round of
beatings but before the night round.

Me: “Does it bother you that you guys are beating students for peacefully
assembling? Especially here, the birthplace  of the free speech movement?”
Her: “Encampments are illegal.   We aren’t trying to stop free speech,
we’re trying to enforce the law.”
Me: “But you’re literally beating the shit out of students just for being
here.”
Her: “Tents  are illegal.  There are three tents up there. We must enforce
the law.  We can use as much force as is necessary to enforce the law.”

The police attacks that night were substantially more violent than the
ones that morning (which were the ones that got videotaped and shown on
Colbert et al.)  I couldn't (and really, still can't) believe that police
officers were literally beating peaceful protesters at the historical
center of the free speech movement.

Sadly, the combination of Occupy and a extra heavy academic load has
totally decimated my Wikipedia time.

---
Kevin Gorman
user:kgorman-ucb

> 2011/11/17 Milos Rancic <millosh at gmail.com>
>
>> I came from pub and before going to bed, I checked emails and news.
>> And I saw that the conflict with police is escalating. As many
>> Wikimedians participate in OWS and other Occupy protests in US, it
>> would be good that you report here what's going on with you.
>>
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