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An Instructive Afternoon in Ferguson

November 30, 2014 Bruce Gagnon, www.space4peace.blogspot.com , ,
The brand new looking police department and municipal court building was likely built on the backs of black residents paying these outrageous "fines" over many years. Those in power are not likely going to be eager to shut off that pipeline of easy cash anytime soon. It's a modern plantation system and the Michael Brown killing gave local black residents the impetus to express their pent up rage. My first, middle, and last reflection on the painting of the boards on the windows was what I'd call a typical American reaction to such things - create a facade, a false front, an illusion, go Hollywood. I asked several of the white folks painting the boards if doing so was not an admission that things are not really changing - after all the boards are still up in the windows and you are just trying to make the best of a bad situation. It was when I said that that several of the folks got the most agitated with me - the only thing worse than putting up a false front in America is for someone to challenge the illusion. Let's all go on pretending that everything is just fine and dandy.

Six Days After Grand Jury, Protests Continue

November 30, 2014 Staff, www.PopularResistance.org , , , ,
Protests continued in Ferguson and across the country six days after the grand jury decision resulting in no indictment was announced. On Saturday Officer Darren Wilson resigned from the Ferguson Police Department. National Guard troops continue to patrol in Ferguson. Protests stop business as usual in cities across country. Ferguson Action urges walk out on Monday, December 1 -- WALK OUT OF SCHOOL, WALK OUT OF WORK, SAY NO MORE TO POLICE MURDER. There has been no response from the power structure in St. Louis, Missouri, or Washington, DC to respond to nationwide protests about the issues of justice for Mike Brown, militarization of the police, racially unfair policing and the divide between blacks and whites in the United States. The inability of government at any level to respond in a positive way to the concerns of citizens will continue to fuel the fire of revolt. On Monday at 4:00 in Washington, DC on Pennsylvania Avenue the first of ongoing protests begin at the U.S. Department of Justice.

Did Police Set Autos On Fire During Ferguson Protests?

November 30, 2014 Che Lank, www.youtube.com , ,
This video captures images worthy of investigation. The video seems to show military-clad police setting fire to a car outside of auto parts store. The store and the one next to it burned down. In other videos where fires were started or stores had windows broken you can hear protesters saying 'leave that store alone' or 'don't start a fire'. We know organizers in Ferguson trained 600 people in nonviolent resistance tactics. Burning cars and looting building is not part of that training, indeed typically people are taught that the idea is to grow the movement into a larger movement and that looting and rioting is counterproductive. We are not saying that all the fires were started by police, but this one raises questions that deserve investigation -- were other fires started by police?

Ferguson: The Evils Of The Grand Jury System

November 27, 2014 Lauren Regan, www.cldc.org , , , ,
A grand jury is a secret tribunal where a citizen is forced to answer questions by a prosecutor, often against their will. They are not allowed to have an attorney in the grand jury room to advise them while the questioning takes place. There is no Judge in the grand jury room to oversee the fairness or legitimacy of the proceedings. The prosecutor alone determines what evidence will be provided to the grand jurors, and that alone forms the basis of their deliberations and their determination regarding whether a felony indictment will issue. The prosecutor becomes the grand jurors’ friend: he controls their bathroom breaks, meals, and whether they can return to their work, families, and lives.

Los Angeles PD Arrest Hundreds Ferguson Protesters

November 27, 2014 Tre'vell Anderson, Samantha Masunaga, Taylor Goldenstein and Brittny Mejia, ,
Police made another mass arrest in downtown Los Angeles on Wednesday night, the third day of protests against a Missouri grand jury's decision not to indict a Ferguson police officer for the fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager. LAPD officers arrested about 130 people after corralling the protesters at 6th and Hope streets. "When they will no longer comply with our requests and when it becomes dangerous, when they start running in and out of cars and put the public at risk, then we have to take action," LAPD Chief Charlie Beck said. He said those arrested would be booked on a misdeameanor charge and bail would be set at $500. About 30 more protesters gathered late Wednesday near Staples Center and headed north toward LAPD headquarters. As the protesters walked, police warned them not to block traffic.

Veterans For Peace: Report From Ferguson

November 27, 2014 Bruce Gagnon, www.space4peace.blogspot.com , ,
Last night (Nov. 25), I had the chance to ride around St. Louis and Ferguson with Veterans For Peace (VFP) Executive Director Michael McPhearson who is also serving as co-chair of the Don't Shoot Coalition. I was quite impressed with the planning and coordination that is going around the protests that continue both in St. Louis and nearby Ferguson. We made stops at several 'safe houses' where food, medical workers, and other volunteers were assembled to give aid to people who are currently protesting or have been released from jail. The VFP office is real close to the county jail where most of those arrested have been taken. We also stopped to join a protest of a couple hundred people that were blocking street intersections in a 'trendy' part of west St. Louis.

Post Ferguson Reaching Tipping Point: No Business as Usual

November 26, 2014 Ferguson Action Team, www.fergusonaction.com , , , , ,
We are at a national tipping point and we are organized and ready to sustain this movement. Below is a calendar of actions for the next few days. We ask that you join us in solidarity to make it clear to the country and the world that enough is enough. Below are suggested actions from Thursday through Sunday from the Ferguson Action Team. Remember at Michael Brown's family, there will be an empty chair at the Thanksgiving table. Discuss that with your friends and family. Leave an empty chair for Michael and others missing as a result of police violence. On Saturday, turn out big and include 4.5 minutes of silence for Michael. On Sunday consider Jeremiah 6:14-15: “They have treated the wound of my people carelessly, saying, “Peace, peace,” when there is no peace. They acted shamefully, they committed abomination; yet they were not ashamed..." And, on Monday -- a mass walkout.

Across The US People #ShutItDown Over Ferguson

November 25, 2014 Staff, www.PopularResistance.org , , , ,
Across the country anger built as people began to understand that the Ferguson grand jury rather than having a prosecutor seeking the indictment of Officer Darren Wilson who killed Mike Brown, played the role of defense lawyer to prevent an indictment of Wilson. Prosecutor Robert McCulloch, who should have recused himself but refused to do so despite conflicts of interests, announced the decision of the grand jury sounding like a defense lawyer for Wilson. The corruption of the grand jury process began with him and grew from the roots of systemic racist police enforcement in Ferguson. There have been numerous informed commentators making the point that the grand jury was handled in a way so that the "prosecutor" got what he wanted -- no indictment.

Protests Across US In Response To Grand Jury Decision

November 25, 2014 Staff, www.PopularResistance.or , , , , ,
Across the United States, the grand jury's decision sparked mainly peaceful protests as Americans spoke out on racial bias and police violence, issues so raw and emotional that they are often like a tinderbox waiting for a match. In New York marchers chanted "Black lives matter" as they snarled traffic in Times Square. In Chicago, demonstrators walked up Lake Shore Drive carrying banners that read "Justice for Mike Brown" - the 18-year-old who was shot and killed in Ferguson on Aug. 9 by police officer Darren Wilson. In Seattle, protesters blocked a downtown street in a "die-in" protest as they lay down on the ground. Protesters in both Boston and Seattle observed the 4.5 minutes of silence that the Brown family requested after the decision was announced, with protesters in Boston then marching from City Hall to the statehouse. Police in Ferguson used smoke canisters and trucks to force waves of violent protesters down the street away from the police building soon after sporadic gunshots were heard. Flames from a burning car rose into the night sky.

Day After Grand Jury Take To The Streets

November 25, 2014 Hands Up United DC, www.PopularResistance.org , , , ,
Day ­After Verdict Rally/March -- 7:00 p.m. Mt. Vernon Square Park, Washington, DC The Hands Up Coalition DC will peacefully assemble at the Justice Department every Monday at 4:00 PM, beginning December 1, 2014 Hands Up CoalitionDC Condemns Ferguson Grand Jury Findings Calls on Justice Department to Intervene and Adopt 6 Urgent Demands November 24, 2014, Washington, D.C.—The Washington-based Hands Up CoalitionDC condemned the findings of the Ferguson Grand Jury that exonerated white Police Officer Darren Wilson for his August 9, 2014 shooting and killing of unarmed black teenager, Michael Brown. "The entire Grand Jury process was abused from day one in this case," said coalition spokesperson, Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo. "The system is anti-black, the policies are anti-black, shooting first and asking questions later is anti-black and slandering slain black men and women in choreographed leaks to the press after these people are dead and can no longer speak for themselves is anti-black."

Campaign Against Police Brutality Grows With Grand Jury Decision

November 24, 2014 Staff, www.PopularResistance.org , , ,
St. Louis County District Attorney Robert McCulloch announced the decision of the grand jury in the killing of Michael Brown: the grand jury found no probable cause to indict Officer Darren Wilson of any charges. The grand jury began hearing testimony from August 20th and met on November 24th deliberating for two days before reaching a decision. The grand jury met 25 days, heard from 60 witnesses over 70 hours, including three medical examiners. The task of the grand jury was to determine whether there was probable cause to indict Officer Wilson -- it was not their task to determine his guilt that would have been decided in a trial. For the last 100 days organizers have been preparing for this day. In Ferguson hundreds of people have been trained in nonviolent direct action. Across the country people have organized to respond to this verdict. Actions are planned from coast to coast. To find an action near you visit: http://fergusonaction.com. The United States may be approaching a tipping point on the issues of systemic racism and police abuse throughout the country, especially against African Americans. This is an important issue for us to confront so that the stream of killings by police officers comes to an end.

Judge Upholds Right To Record Police In Ferguson

November 23, 2014 Igor Bobic, www.huffingtonpost.com , ,
A federal judge in Missouri issued three court orders on Friday upholding the rights of the public to record and document law enforcement officers on duty, after several violations of a previous agreement between the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the County of St. Louis and the City of Ferguson. The announcement comes ahead of a grand jury decision on whether to indict Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson, who shot and killed 18-year-old Michael Brown in August. District Judge John A. Ross granted three court orders against the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the County of St. Louis and the City of Ferguson in response to a preliminary injunction by the American Civil Liberties Union.

Ferguson And The ‘Us Vs. Them’ Illusion

November 23, 2014 Robert C. Koehler, www.commonwonders.com , ,
The political, governmental and media consensus of who we are — is blind and deaf to history and locked into us-vs.-them thinking. Security, whether domestic or international, is a game played against presumed and, often enough, imagined enemies. Thus, prior to the governor’s decision to call out the Guard, the FBI had issued an intelligence bulletin warning local officials that “the announcement of the grand jury’s decision … will likely be exploited by some individuals to justify threats and attacks against law enforcement and critical infrastructure,” according to the Washington Post. If nothing else, this sort of consciousness remains utterly unaware of its own contribution to the trouble. As law enforcement ups its level of militarized authoritarianism, it agitates the elements predisposed to regard it as the enemy and seek its humiliation and defeat. This is a small segment of the protesters, but no matter. Preparing for war requires, first of all, an oversimplification of the social context in which the preparers operate. Once this is accomplished, the warnings become self-fulfilling prophecies. In other words, what matters is that there’s an “enemy” out there.

Protests Against State Violence Go Worldwide

November 23, 2014 , , , , , , ,
Mexican activists were joined yesterday by solidarity protests in the United States and around the word. Under the banner of “Todos Somos Ayotzinapa – Todos Somos Ferguson,” a number of demonstrations in the States were intended to stand with Mexican organizers and the 43 students abducted, along with the U.S. community of Ferguson, Mo. Any day, a grand jury there is expected to decide whether or not to indict officer Darren Wilson in the killing of unarmed teenager Michael Brown. At a rally in New York’s Union Square last Sunday, protesters held signs in Spanish saying, “Your son could be number 44” — eerily reminiscent of an earlier rallying cry: “I Am Trayvon Martin.” Protesters also called attention to the role of U.S. policy and trade agreements — including the proposed and controversial “Plan Mexico” — in fueling the drug war that has terrorized the country over the last several years, and was accelerated under the presidency of Felipe Calderon, beginning in 2006. Simultaneous protests for Ayotzinapa were held in France, Spain, Germany, the United Kingdom and other countries.

Popular Resistance Newsletter: No Rest Yet

November 22, 2014 Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, www.popularresistance.org , , , , ,
The end of the year is turning out to be among the busiest times since the early days of the occupy encampments. Many Popular Resistance campaigns are coming to fruition and key conflicts around the country and world are at critical moments. After mid-December and through mid-January there should be an opportunity to reflect and plan for 2015, but for now, we are running at full speed on issues that impact all of us. If you can get involved – we need you. The Grand Jury's announcement in Ferguson is expected imminently and many have issued a nonviolent call to action. The FCC has its next hearing on Dec. 11. The TPP negotiators are coming to Washington, DC on Dec. 7 and campaigns to stop the extreme extraction of fossil fuels are in critical moments. All of this and more means that your involvement is needed however you are able to participate.
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