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Indybay Feature
Police chase Minutemen/John Birch counterprotesters
Today, August 18th, in front of the Seattle Federal Building, the fascist groups Washingtonians For Immigration Reform, the Minutemen and the John Birch Society were confronted by a number of people from Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia and elsewhere representing various student, immigrant rights, anti-imperialist, anarchist and socialist groups and unions.
Here are some youtube clips available from the event. It is very interesting that the right-wingers were merging their anti-immigrant event with an anti-North American Union theme. The suspicious alliance of groups opposing the NAU has previously been covered on Indybay. Even though many leftists/some liberals make up the global justice movement which loudly criticizes antidemocratic international trade organizations and agreements such as NAFTA/WTO/G8 dialogues/IMF loans and so forth, the North American Union protesters seem to have a paleoconservative constituency. It is also notable that the size of the crowd is quite a bit larger than the minutemen/antiminutement standoffs in the south-bay area which tend to be 1-2 dozen people in size.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLDtfRhougw&mode=related&search=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndy3BFgvtfk
Reportback (from http://seattle.indymedia.org/en/2007/08/261169.shtml )
To make the situation more festive a number of balloons filled with water and glitter were thrown in the direction of the fascists. The cops responded with brute force, employing pepper spray and assaulting numerous people (including members of the press). Some people were sent to the hospital,
while others were chased by cops on horses through the city streets, tackled and assaulted by the cops (with one demonstrator claiming that he
felt like the cops were attempting to break his arm).
One Olympia resident, Mark Wedeven, an active member in the social justice community, a carpenter and a father of a young child was specifically targeted by the cops, assaulted and was brought to King County Jail where he is under investigation for 3rd degree assault of an officer.
Please help by putting pressure on the jail.
Call the jail number (206 296 1234) and inquire about Mark's condition, his charge, his bail amount (if it has been set yet, what is it, etc.), when his arraignment will be, etc. Tie up the phone systems and let them know how upset you are.
Keep updated for more posts on either Portland or Seattle Indymedia.
On another note, something very interesting happened at the demonstration. A dozen or so demonstrators came with protective shields that proved very effective in defending the resistance from the fascists and many advances by the cops.
Check out the victory statement posted in Seattle
Indymedia:
http://seattle.indymedia.org/en/2007/08/261162.shtml
Mainstream media coverage:
http://www.komotv.com/news/local/9239366.html
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003843360_march19m.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLDtfRhougw&mode=related&search=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndy3BFgvtfk
Reportback (from http://seattle.indymedia.org/en/2007/08/261169.shtml )
To make the situation more festive a number of balloons filled with water and glitter were thrown in the direction of the fascists. The cops responded with brute force, employing pepper spray and assaulting numerous people (including members of the press). Some people were sent to the hospital,
while others were chased by cops on horses through the city streets, tackled and assaulted by the cops (with one demonstrator claiming that he
felt like the cops were attempting to break his arm).
One Olympia resident, Mark Wedeven, an active member in the social justice community, a carpenter and a father of a young child was specifically targeted by the cops, assaulted and was brought to King County Jail where he is under investigation for 3rd degree assault of an officer.
Please help by putting pressure on the jail.
Call the jail number (206 296 1234) and inquire about Mark's condition, his charge, his bail amount (if it has been set yet, what is it, etc.), when his arraignment will be, etc. Tie up the phone systems and let them know how upset you are.
Keep updated for more posts on either Portland or Seattle Indymedia.
On another note, something very interesting happened at the demonstration. A dozen or so demonstrators came with protective shields that proved very effective in defending the resistance from the fascists and many advances by the cops.
Check out the victory statement posted in Seattle
Indymedia:
http://seattle.indymedia.org/en/2007/08/261162.shtml
Mainstream media coverage:
http://www.komotv.com/news/local/9239366.html
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003843360_march19m.html
For more information:
http://seattle.indymedia.org/en/2007/08/26...
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Comments
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It is incorrect to refer to conservative groups, especially the John Birch Society as "fascist". Those who do so are operating with a false understanding of the political and economic spectrum and are therefore really libeling these patiotic groups.
Fascism is an economic system wherein business is owned privately, but controlled in large part by the central government. Moving to the left you find Nazism where government owns and controls some business and industry, then Socialism where the government owns major industries, and finally Communism -- total government ownership and control of a nation's capital means of production).
The John Birch Society is a supporter of free enterprise capitalism on the economic spectrum and a Constitutional Republic on the political spectrum -- the type of federal government our Founding Father's created and envisioned. Said form of governance is slipping away in large part due to the redefinition of terms.
To say that communism is left wing and fascism is right wing, would place America squarly in the middle of the spectrum on the left -- or somewhere between nazism and socialism. The concept of government, limited to its constitutional authority of protecting the rights of the people is a thing of the past so much so that it is almost completely removed from the public conscience. You won't find what our founding fathers created anywhere on the modern political or economic spectrum.
Consequently, those operating within this deceptive spectrum naturally confuse the rightful place of conservative, patriotic groups. The truth is these groups abhor fascism, nazism, socialism and communism because they involve government regulation -- essentially government theft of private property and infringement of other God given rights.
As America has ideologically moved further and further to the left, patriotic groups like the John Birch Society seem more and more "right wing" when they have always stood for that which made America great. The formula of our founders created a nation that produced the most prosperous and free people in the history of the world. Moving away from those Constitutional principles has caused our nation's economic and moral decline.
The writer is understandably confused.
Fascism is an economic system wherein business is owned privately, but controlled in large part by the central government. Moving to the left you find Nazism where government owns and controls some business and industry, then Socialism where the government owns major industries, and finally Communism -- total government ownership and control of a nation's capital means of production).
The John Birch Society is a supporter of free enterprise capitalism on the economic spectrum and a Constitutional Republic on the political spectrum -- the type of federal government our Founding Father's created and envisioned. Said form of governance is slipping away in large part due to the redefinition of terms.
To say that communism is left wing and fascism is right wing, would place America squarly in the middle of the spectrum on the left -- or somewhere between nazism and socialism. The concept of government, limited to its constitutional authority of protecting the rights of the people is a thing of the past so much so that it is almost completely removed from the public conscience. You won't find what our founding fathers created anywhere on the modern political or economic spectrum.
Consequently, those operating within this deceptive spectrum naturally confuse the rightful place of conservative, patriotic groups. The truth is these groups abhor fascism, nazism, socialism and communism because they involve government regulation -- essentially government theft of private property and infringement of other God given rights.
As America has ideologically moved further and further to the left, patriotic groups like the John Birch Society seem more and more "right wing" when they have always stood for that which made America great. The formula of our founders created a nation that produced the most prosperous and free people in the history of the world. Moving away from those Constitutional principles has caused our nation's economic and moral decline.
The writer is understandably confused.
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