Rising to the Challenge of Repression in Copenhagen

Commentary on Repression in Copenhagen

This updated version includes the report that inspired it, and corrects some errors.

It's approaching 5:00pm in Copenhagen, and this was to be the day people whose lives are affected by the brokers of energy would make their move to reclaim the Bella Center.

We haven't heard much new since the arrest of Tadzio Mueller, a spokesman and ideologue of Climate Justice Action. Tadzio is co-editor of turbulence:

http://turbulence.org.uk/

...and he is one of the leading advocates of SYSTEM CHANGE to prevent climate change. Tadzio was nabbed by men in plainclothes as he peacefully left the Bella Center Tuesday afternoon. There are no reports that he has been charged with any crime. But it is clear that the "World Police" have once again co-opted the protective forces of yet another venue, and have acted to prevent system change.

10 years ago in Seattle, heavily armed men in police garb staged a police riot in Seattle, and were recorded on video attacking citizens even on their own property, in their own back yards, because they happened to be within a few miles of a temporary jurisdiction controlled by the traders of the world.

These are not your local authorities. They are a force of occupation, and they have left behind their citadels in every city they have occupied, and this is now also true the the "Olympic Villages" where surveillance cameras and federal control of local police remains.

The world has seen the local police of Copenhagen transformed in to an international force of repression, a force contrary to the democratic spirit of the town and its people.

But this is not the news.

The news is that Climate Change is now understood by the people of the world as an economic problem, rather than a technical one. The solution must be economic, and therefore, political. The energy traders would like to play with the energy of our world as a commodity. They insist that the value of the chips in their casino must be 100s of times greater than all the real goods in the world, therefore devaluing the rest of us. Enron proved that energy, and everything else, could be commoditized, justified by creative accounting. Even with the demise of Enron, and the accountants of Arthur Andersen, the trend continues.

And now the energy traders are trading carbon.

Carbon credits have become a commodity already, casino chips for the group that has impoverished the world for decades. The World Police exist only to protect and extend their dominion, and now they have come to Copenhagen to co-opt the civil servants of the town, and silence of the voices of civil society.

It was less than a month ago that the legal preparations were made for the arrival of Barack Obama and his Casino Economists. Laws were drafted in a rush to allow the police to round up legitimate opponents of the international oligarchy, without enough notice to allow local opposition to take hold. Like so many cities, Copenhagen will be permanently scared by the legions of centurions who have taken control of the city.

The power of the pen amazes me. I am amazed at how a quiet intellectual can run afoul of official skullduggery simply by stating the need we have for system change, in very few words. He has a very small voice compared to the media conglomerates of the world. But the word is out, and we must make sure that the news reaches the entire world.

SYSTEM change is needed - not a greenwashed commodity exchange that will trade the lives of people for chips in the casino of the power brokers.

David Roknich
Writing from Galesburg, Illinois
10:45 AM CST

Why co-operate with Copenhagen cops?

Emily Apple
Tuesday 15 December 2009 16.30 GMT

"Few of us fought back against policing at the Copenhagen protests, but mass repression requires mass resistance"

We've long had a problem with preventative policing in the UK – it is something I have been subject to, and have campaigned against. However, the level of repressive policing displayed in arresting more than 1,000 people at the weekend in Copenhagen far exceeded anything we have experienced in this country.

I joined the march as a police observer, my aim being to monitor events and compare how the Danish police treated protesters. I was near the back of the march. There was a large contingent of people wearing black hoodies, some anarchist flags were waving, but where I was, there was no trouble. The atmosphere was good, and my friend and I commented on how lovely it was to see so few police officers on such a large demo.

The change came suddenly – I saw some people running forward, and in the time it took to turn round to see why they were running, the police had used the grid system of the roads to kettle the march into several sections by driving vans through it, and deploying riot police to stop anyone leaving. The kettle was tight, and it was an effort to walk from one side to another. The mixture of people ranged from parents with children, Hare Krishnas, socialists and anarchists. All had one thing in common – they had done nothing other than join a demonstration.

We tried to leave the kettle through an open apartment block. However, this led only to another road full of handcuffed people sat in lines. As soon as the police saw us watching this scene, we were also grabbed, thrown to the floor and arrested. We later learned that all the people in the kettles were also arrested.

My experience differed from many of the others arrested because I refused to sit still and join the lines of people waiting to be put on buses – I could not bring myself to co-operate with a humiliating, degrading procedure. It wasn't pleasant and I ended up with a few bumps and bruises and a punch to the face, but it was far more empowering than waiting for hours compliantly, and I felt much stronger because of this resistance.

Mass repression requires mass resistance and we have to be able to say no when dealing with large policing operations such as this. Many people understandably looked terrified, and for a large number, it was the first time they had been arrested. However, arrests on this scale required co-operation from arrestees – people were not actually physically forced to sit in lines, they could have moved. Where we were, detainees vastly outnumbered the police, and they would not have been able to handle large numbers of people being incompliant, and there certainly would not have been the resources to arrest so many people.

Spirits in the steel holding cages were high and resistance was in the air. Some broke down the doors of their cages, and the large warehouse echoed to caterwauling and chants of "No justice, no peace! Fuck the police!" The police nearly lost control of the situation, being forced to send in riot police and dogs, and it showed what could have been possible if more had resisted.

Unfortunately, we are too often the agents of our own repression. The culture of obedience and fear of reprisals is often too much for people to challenge. However, the rewards and sense of empowerment that come from refusing to co-operate far outweigh any consequences.

The Danish strategy of preventative arrests was rushed through at the last minute, and was almost certainly illegal. Given the fuss that has been made over kettling in the UK and the recent HMIC report on protest policing, it is very unlikely we will see such tactics on our streets, but this doesn't mean there won't be further repressive policing operations, and where necessary we must be ready to resist and challenge such actions.

photos from the flikr photostream of Fil Kaler

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