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Welcome to Police State Sacramento!
The overwhelming, disproportionate show of force by several hundred CHP officers and others to repress the students and Occupy activists was typical of the repression by the National Security State that is taking place in the U.S. today.
Photo of cops on the West Steps of the State Capitol courtesy of WSWS.
Photo of cops on the West Steps of the State Capitol courtesy of WSWS.
Welcome to Police State Sacramento!
by Dan Bacher
I went downtown to the Capitol on Monday night to witness a scene like that of Berlin, Germany in 1933, Prague, Czechoslovakia in 1968, or Santiago, Chile in 1973. There were hundreds of heavily armed Robo-Cops, the servants of the Wall Street 1 percent, ominously poised in front of the West Steps of the Capitol, ready to crush the First Amendment, Constitution and Bill of Rights.
CHP and police cars were everywhere on the streets, making getting through the area around the Capitol very difficult. The sight of these troopers infesting the streets of Sacramento to crush dissent - all at great expense to hard working taxpayers like myself - made me livid! Downtown was on virtual lockdown.
A total of 70 brave student and Occupy movement protesters were arrested in the State Capitol Monday night for defending democracy and protesting the raising of university tuition and fees. However, these were not the only arrests, according to Cres Vellucci of the Occupy Sacramento Legal Team.
"As reported, there were 6 earlier arrests - 1 allegedly having a knife, 3 others for a banner hanging episode in the rotunda and 2 for having 'illegal' signs," said Vellucci. "All were cited and released earlier Monday."
"Additionally, a person arrested and released last night was arrested today for throwing rose pedals in rotunda this afternoon. She is in county jail on $1,000 bail," noted Vellucci.
That makes for a total of 77 arrests of people for exercising their First Amendment rights on Monday.
"We will keep you updated regarding the court cases sure to follow. The Occupy Sacramento legal team of about 36 lawyers is expected to take on this work," added Vellucci.
The overwhelming, disproportionate show of force by several hundred CHP officers and others to repress the students and Occupy activists was typical of the repression by the National Security State that is taking place in the U.S. today.
I have several friends who were dissidents in the Soviet Union, dissidents in the post-Soviet capitalist regimes and now dissidents here. They uniformly tell me that things here now are as bad or worse than anytime during their time in the Soviet Union (all were born after the time of Stalin.)
In the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc, with the exception of the East German police state, the people never had the absolutely ridiculous set of laws controlling every aspect of behavior and life like you do here in Jerry Brown's California and Obama's USA. They are amazed by how Americans have given up their rights and liberties so easily - while allowing their tax dollars to be used to fund unjust imperialist wars that have murdered millions and millions of innocent civilians across the globe.
One friend whose family members were leaders of Solidarity in Poland said to me over 10 years ago that everyday life in the U.S. was getting to be like life in martial law Poland. In fact, he was amazed upon moving to Detroit after his dad got out of prison that Detroit was actually more militarized and violent than Poland during martial law!
He was amazed by how heavily armed and brutal U.S. police were; in Poland under communism the police were not allowed to carry guns. He was appalled how Americans were so-brainwashed by the corporate media into thinking that they were "most free people in the world," when they weren't. I thought at the time that maybe he was exaggerating, but I have come to agree with his assessment.
President "NDAA" Obama and Governor "Repression" Brown have done what even George Bush and Arnold Schwarzenegger couldn't do - create an evil, intrusive police state that is unequalled in U.S. history. It was Republicans who paved the way to the police state, but it is corporate Democrats like Obama and Brown who have consolidated the police state and expanded it into areas Bush and Schwarzenegger never dreamed of.
Fortunately, all repressive regimes and empires eventually come to an end. Eventually, people in the U.S. will wake up, organize, remove their corrupt, evil rulers and re-establish democracy and the Constitution.
The Occupy movement is a good start, but it needs to develop a deeper analysis of society and how to create real change. However, we must not get trapped in the false Democrat-Republican debate; both parties are servants of Wall Street and must be replaced by parties and a government that truly reflect the needs of everyday working people, not a cabal of rich Wall Street banksters and parasites!
by Dan Bacher
I went downtown to the Capitol on Monday night to witness a scene like that of Berlin, Germany in 1933, Prague, Czechoslovakia in 1968, or Santiago, Chile in 1973. There were hundreds of heavily armed Robo-Cops, the servants of the Wall Street 1 percent, ominously poised in front of the West Steps of the Capitol, ready to crush the First Amendment, Constitution and Bill of Rights.
CHP and police cars were everywhere on the streets, making getting through the area around the Capitol very difficult. The sight of these troopers infesting the streets of Sacramento to crush dissent - all at great expense to hard working taxpayers like myself - made me livid! Downtown was on virtual lockdown.
A total of 70 brave student and Occupy movement protesters were arrested in the State Capitol Monday night for defending democracy and protesting the raising of university tuition and fees. However, these were not the only arrests, according to Cres Vellucci of the Occupy Sacramento Legal Team.
"As reported, there were 6 earlier arrests - 1 allegedly having a knife, 3 others for a banner hanging episode in the rotunda and 2 for having 'illegal' signs," said Vellucci. "All were cited and released earlier Monday."
"Additionally, a person arrested and released last night was arrested today for throwing rose pedals in rotunda this afternoon. She is in county jail on $1,000 bail," noted Vellucci.
That makes for a total of 77 arrests of people for exercising their First Amendment rights on Monday.
"We will keep you updated regarding the court cases sure to follow. The Occupy Sacramento legal team of about 36 lawyers is expected to take on this work," added Vellucci.
The overwhelming, disproportionate show of force by several hundred CHP officers and others to repress the students and Occupy activists was typical of the repression by the National Security State that is taking place in the U.S. today.
I have several friends who were dissidents in the Soviet Union, dissidents in the post-Soviet capitalist regimes and now dissidents here. They uniformly tell me that things here now are as bad or worse than anytime during their time in the Soviet Union (all were born after the time of Stalin.)
In the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc, with the exception of the East German police state, the people never had the absolutely ridiculous set of laws controlling every aspect of behavior and life like you do here in Jerry Brown's California and Obama's USA. They are amazed by how Americans have given up their rights and liberties so easily - while allowing their tax dollars to be used to fund unjust imperialist wars that have murdered millions and millions of innocent civilians across the globe.
One friend whose family members were leaders of Solidarity in Poland said to me over 10 years ago that everyday life in the U.S. was getting to be like life in martial law Poland. In fact, he was amazed upon moving to Detroit after his dad got out of prison that Detroit was actually more militarized and violent than Poland during martial law!
He was amazed by how heavily armed and brutal U.S. police were; in Poland under communism the police were not allowed to carry guns. He was appalled how Americans were so-brainwashed by the corporate media into thinking that they were "most free people in the world," when they weren't. I thought at the time that maybe he was exaggerating, but I have come to agree with his assessment.
President "NDAA" Obama and Governor "Repression" Brown have done what even George Bush and Arnold Schwarzenegger couldn't do - create an evil, intrusive police state that is unequalled in U.S. history. It was Republicans who paved the way to the police state, but it is corporate Democrats like Obama and Brown who have consolidated the police state and expanded it into areas Bush and Schwarzenegger never dreamed of.
Fortunately, all repressive regimes and empires eventually come to an end. Eventually, people in the U.S. will wake up, organize, remove their corrupt, evil rulers and re-establish democracy and the Constitution.
The Occupy movement is a good start, but it needs to develop a deeper analysis of society and how to create real change. However, we must not get trapped in the false Democrat-Republican debate; both parties are servants of Wall Street and must be replaced by parties and a government that truly reflect the needs of everyday working people, not a cabal of rich Wall Street banksters and parasites!
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It is good that your friends from the socialist world finally realize what a mistake it was to come to this backward country that is in reality no different from Nazi Germany and never has been different. This is Nazi USA.
On Flashpoints, KPFA, 94.1 FM, at 5 p.m. on March 5, 2012, Steve Zeltzer reported from the Sacramento education rally that a police horse charged an 8 year old girl, who was interviewed by Steve. It is at http://www.kpfa.org/archive/id/78436 Hopefully, that will soon be on the Flashpoints website at:
http://www.flashpoints.net/
The latest fascist horror is the Democratic Attorney General's promotion of fascism, in particular, illegal killing of people who happen to be American citizens. He also promotes fascism at home. See
"Military tribunals and assassination" 7 March 2012
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/mar2012/pers-m07.shtml
Excerpt:
"In a speech Monday at Northwestern University Law School in Chicago, Attorney General Eric Holder painted a chilling picture of the future of the United States as envisioned by the Obama administration, in which military tribunals and extrajudicial assassinations are permanent, codified features of the American judicial landscape."
"Holder’s speech included a sweeping assertion of quasi-dictatorial presidential powers, including the power of the president to secretly sign death warrants for any person, including US citizens, without any form of judicial review. Holder also defended the power of the president to order the abduction and imprisonment of any person, anywhere in the world, and to try that person before a military tribunal."
See also:
"Eric Holder’s Pathetic Rationale for Assassinating U.S. Citizens"
By Matthew Rothschild, March 5, 2012 ttp://http://www.progressive.org/eric_holder_pathetic_rationale_for_assassinating_U.S_ctizens.html
"Attorney General Holder defends execution without charges" by Glenn Greenwald, 3/6/12
http://www.salon.com/2012/03/06/attorney_general_holder_defends_execution_without_charges/singleton/
The daily police state terror in the workingclass communities has existed for as long as anyone can remember. The last 30 years is described in The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander. Jim Crow, segregation and slavery are all forms of fascism, and this country has always reeked of fascism.
Labor history is filled with police state terror, murder and frame-ups. This country was built on the genocide of Native Americans, enslavement of Africans and the vicious exploitation of the labor of all nationalities, including children.
This police state has resulted in a very weak labor movement which means we have no healthcare system, but rather a death system, making the US the most backward country in the industrialized world, with the highest infant mortality and lowest life expectancy in the industrialized world. This is all to maximize profits, the primary goal of capitalism.
If you vote either Democrat or Republican for any office, you vote for fascism as these two parties are the twin parties of war and fascism, sponsored by the same capitalist class, to maximize their profits, the greatest profits being in oil and munitions.
If you want anything to change, you have to support a labor movement that can carry out a general strike and you have to vote for the parties that represent serious change, namely:
1. Peace and Freedom Party
http://www.peaceandfreedom.org/home/
and
2. Green Party
http://www.cagreens.org/
http://www.gp.org/index.php
On Flashpoints, KPFA, 94.1 FM, at 5 p.m. on March 5, 2012, Steve Zeltzer reported from the Sacramento education rally that a police horse charged an 8 year old girl, who was interviewed by Steve. It is at http://www.kpfa.org/archive/id/78436 Hopefully, that will soon be on the Flashpoints website at:
http://www.flashpoints.net/
The latest fascist horror is the Democratic Attorney General's promotion of fascism, in particular, illegal killing of people who happen to be American citizens. He also promotes fascism at home. See
"Military tribunals and assassination" 7 March 2012
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/mar2012/pers-m07.shtml
Excerpt:
"In a speech Monday at Northwestern University Law School in Chicago, Attorney General Eric Holder painted a chilling picture of the future of the United States as envisioned by the Obama administration, in which military tribunals and extrajudicial assassinations are permanent, codified features of the American judicial landscape."
"Holder’s speech included a sweeping assertion of quasi-dictatorial presidential powers, including the power of the president to secretly sign death warrants for any person, including US citizens, without any form of judicial review. Holder also defended the power of the president to order the abduction and imprisonment of any person, anywhere in the world, and to try that person before a military tribunal."
See also:
"Eric Holder’s Pathetic Rationale for Assassinating U.S. Citizens"
By Matthew Rothschild, March 5, 2012 ttp://http://www.progressive.org/eric_holder_pathetic_rationale_for_assassinating_U.S_ctizens.html
"Attorney General Holder defends execution without charges" by Glenn Greenwald, 3/6/12
http://www.salon.com/2012/03/06/attorney_general_holder_defends_execution_without_charges/singleton/
The daily police state terror in the workingclass communities has existed for as long as anyone can remember. The last 30 years is described in The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander. Jim Crow, segregation and slavery are all forms of fascism, and this country has always reeked of fascism.
Labor history is filled with police state terror, murder and frame-ups. This country was built on the genocide of Native Americans, enslavement of Africans and the vicious exploitation of the labor of all nationalities, including children.
This police state has resulted in a very weak labor movement which means we have no healthcare system, but rather a death system, making the US the most backward country in the industrialized world, with the highest infant mortality and lowest life expectancy in the industrialized world. This is all to maximize profits, the primary goal of capitalism.
If you vote either Democrat or Republican for any office, you vote for fascism as these two parties are the twin parties of war and fascism, sponsored by the same capitalist class, to maximize their profits, the greatest profits being in oil and munitions.
If you want anything to change, you have to support a labor movement that can carry out a general strike and you have to vote for the parties that represent serious change, namely:
1. Peace and Freedom Party
http://www.peaceandfreedom.org/home/
and
2. Green Party
http://www.cagreens.org/
http://www.gp.org/index.php
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