robjira,, define ‘the ‘peaceablr’ part of peaceable assembly’ please.

I have never heard that it includes gathering wherever you wish to gather, on
private property or on public, and staying as long as you wish to stay .

Dear Heterochromatic, I recall a proviso in the US constitution that guarantees the right of “the people” (though the who this euphemism actually refers to is as nebulous now as it was in imperial Rome)to peaceably assemble and petition the government…a government that has become increasingly dismissive toward such petitions. Furthermore, what is transpiring is civil disobedience, an American innovation that has been in use since the time of Henry David Thoreau, and which has been reasonably successful in making the US a mature, civilized culture. It may be that I’m misunderstanding your sentiment, but it sounds as though you’re offering excuses for the creeping authoritarianism which threatens to undo the modest progress the US has made in living up to its stated ideals. Please correct me if I’m mistaken.

acreaming pain: Chris advocates and has participated in nonviolent protest, as well as protesting eloquently for months on end here on Truthdig,made videos, spoken in churches, colleges, and other venues, written books and generally taken the high road in every possible way.
  This great beginning which has called itself “Occupy” is a leaderless movement, and that is a partial reason for its strength.  Nobody is boss, nobody is trying to imprint an ideology on it.  It is finding its own way, which is creative and unique—and in addition a priceless gift to all of us, asking us to add our efforts to theirs in any way we can, and help out.  Opportunity knocks!

This is why I don’t understand the undue criticism of Hedges on TD about why he doesn’t offer solutions and organize protests.

Just heard this minute about the fact that in Oakland last night the cops were overheated enough to fracture the skull of Marine veteran Scott Olsen.

THIS KIND OF POLICE OVER-KILL—LITERALLY!—HAS
            GOT TO STOP!

Non-violent self-control is a huge learning experience for all concerned. Those who succeed in the enormous job of anger management and nonresistance,even when they suffer physical pain, realize an inner sense of victory that outlasts the sudden rush of adrenalin that results from returning violence for violence. They realize that the unjust violence used against nonviolence is essentially demeaning to those who use it and disempowers them morally, which is the worst kind of defeat because it decreases self-respect.
  Could be that many police in these needless but required “engagements” based on force, realize (though only dimly) what is happening, which arouses an element of unease and apprehension in them, since they are taught to think there is no other way for them to treat confrontation.
  The over-reliance on equipment would seem to indicate something like that is at work. When dogs, horses, noise and gases are used against unarmed civilians involved in legal political activities, the terror-inspiring imbalance is impossible to ignore. Who is more terrorized is a question that has not been much examined.

tolstoy——”....enormous rift opening in our society, symbolized by the NY police
who restrained on one hand.”....

it’s about time that someone here stopped call the NYPD brutalizers and
understood how well they’ve handled themselves.

(BTW…that Baloney guy got a 10day loss of pay and a transfer to a shit job in the
ass-end of Staten Island.

Is anyone really surprised?  The para-militarist are convinced that OWS is not a
flash-in-the-pan and must be changed into an insurgency.  At least it will have
the effect of exposing the hypocrisy of the Empire and the sham “government of
the people” to the world.

PatrickHenry, October 26 at 2:53 pm Link to this comment

Just a stone throw away from becomming a riot.

True, but it is the police doing the rioting.

doublestandards/glasshouses, October 26 at 9:39 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

Starting salary for a rookie police officer in Oakland is $90,000.

Starting salary for the Oakland P.D. is slightly in excess of $70,000. Search engines, a researchers friend.

exexpat, October 26 at 11:15 am

Are you a agitprop agent? Your words are false, your intentions suspect. There have been non-violent revolutions, try and study up. Nonviolence is the only hope to avoid the inevitable fascism that will descend upon us should anyone be foolish enough to actually listen to government infiltrators like yourself.

Violence, on the part of the establishment, using the police and national guard is almost inevitable.. But violence as this ass suggests, on the part of the demonstrators is the doom of the protest movement.

Our leaders—particularly the president—should be paying attention to the enormous rift opening in our society, symbolized by the NY police who restrained on one hand vs. the Oakland gestapo. Not far from whippers on camels and Mubarak, is it. Anger control is becoming more and more vital to avoid serious violence.

robjira—- they don’t. not under common law or US constitutional law or california
state law or Oakland ordinances.

Just a stone throw away from becomming a riot.

10,000 marbles please.

I don’t get it.  Why demonstrate in front of Oakland’s City Hall?  The demonstrations should be in front of Bank of America, Wells Fargo and the Federal Reserve. 

Leave Oakland City Hall alone.

Dear Heterochromatic…yes they do.

Governor Brown should call in the National Guard to protect the protesters against the police mob. Seriously. It is time to stop the police (and our military, and our elected officials) from being the club carrying henchmen for the corporate elite.

Of course, we all know what the national guard did in Kent State, Ohio during the antiwar protests. So I am being slightly sarcastic when I say we need the national guard to protect us. But hell, somebody needs to step up to the plate and protect free speech rights. Don’t expect mainstream media.

“It’s difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it.”  ~ Sinclair Lewis

http://www.notonemore.us/peacequotes.htm -  Peace Quotes

Dear monkeymind…...the people have every right to assemble and petition….they
don’t have a right to camp out right in front of city hall forever.

Those in the “One Percent” know that the most effective way to destroy any
organized protests is to make violence the most visual component.  Attack
peaceful people and eventually they will fight back.  If they don’t, make it look like
they are anyway.  I live in NYC and know that the violence against OWS protesters
is bad.  It isn’t being reported because the violence is currently going in the wrong
direction.  A White Shirt hitting a college kid or a mounted cop trampling a
middle-aged school teacher won’t gain much sympathy from most Americans, but
once they can get that kid to hit back on camera….oh, boy, the mobs are hurting
American heroes!

GENERAL STRIKE. The organized workers must respond to this act of state terror, we can’t abandon these protesters!

“THE RIGHT OF THE PEOPLE PEACEABLY TO ASSEMBLE!”

Where’s the Center for Constitutional Rights?  The movement needs a legal
defense team ASAP. The blowback from the establishment has just begun, they
will try to provoke a violent response from the protestors. The cops allege bottles
were thrown, I don’t believe it, no eyewitnesses can confirm it. Unprovoked attacks
must be legally challenged.

The article failed to note that the MSM, including the ABC chopper that had been overhead, all left the area before the first assault. And live feeds, ALL live feeds, went down for about the first ten minutes of the assault. This was when the Police opened fire with their “non-lethal munitions”, unprovoked, on the massed demonstrators. LRAD was deployed and also reported to be used.

I bet the police had a lot of fun.

Looks like a bloody war-zone. I’ll pray they get the camp back, the police can only keep this up for so long. Gotta spread that video!

Surprise, surprise. The state does not respect non-violence; it only tolerates non-violent dissent to a point. Time to up the ante?

It seems possible that OWS is entering a new phase in its relationship with the corporate oligarchy, as exemplified in the response of the Oakland police-fiefdom. In the first phase, OWS was tolerated (albeit ridiculed & condescended to) by authorities, presumably because it was assumed to be some fad-ish, ultimately short-lived phenomenon. But as OWS continues to catch fire and unite as a trans-regional, trans-national movement, whatever remains of the “good will” of the ruling class will soon extinguish. Expect more heavy-handedness to come, and not just in Oakland.

Be strong and smart my OWS comrades.

It was bound to come to violence because the rich and powerful are not about to give an inch without a struggle. As peaceful as they have been ( on the protestors side) the protests will become more violent as the police infiltrate and initiate the violence themselves- because that’s what they do. Massive boycotts and nationwide general strikes would be great means of nonviolent confrontation- but I’m not sure we’ll see that.

Why did the police attempt to deny using flash bang grenades even though they
knew the videos would confirm it?  That kind of blatant lying demonstrates
they’ve been given a generous carte blanche. Flash bang grenades, yes.  The
purported shooting of “beanie bags” in media accounts, no. 

It sounds like provocateurs are throwing things now at OWS sites in total
contradiction to the consensus of non-violent resistance.  I hope there was
some video footage and identification of them, unless that’s another blatant lie.

The Tues. sweep brought in CA statewide forces in response to an undated
eviction order.  This is setting a more entrenched precedent for dissembling
and de-legitimizing the occupiers.  If they can be portrayed as crapping in the
rat infested encampments, then that could keep unions and more clearly
defined groups from joining.

There may also be the feat that anti-war groups could converge with the OWS,
like in DC a couple of weeks ago, in addition to the potential of strikes. Oakland
isn’t an event happening in isolation.  It’s not coincidental that lesser-known
crackdowns are occurring in the same time periods.

What do you expect? Is Mehserle out there back in uniform? This is the justice system.

greetings from Nepal where this California ex-pat social worker is appalled at the scenes from Oakland. The eyes of the world are watching now. Governor Brown, President Obama, rise and lead with compassion against this unlawful attack on the 1st Amendment: the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.