I spent the entire night of September 25-26, 2009 following the g20 protests on Twitter, YouTube, and many related websites that were steaming live information about the event and I drew many important lessons from a night that will go down in infamy in American history.
On the 25th, thousands of protesters (possibly millions according to some online accounts) descended upon Pittsburgh, PA to demonstrate for various causes at the G20 Summit. It was the second day of marching. There were socialists, anarchists, and environmentalists; everyone from veteran protesters who were marching in the 60s to wide-eyed college kids drawn by the idealism and excitement. Some were there to protest peacefully while others were there to cause violence and property damage.
One man, who has yet to reveal his real name, caused over $20,000 of damage singlehandedly by smashing between 12-15 shop windows during the march.
To contain such instigators, and to keep demonstrators on the marching path, the Pittsburgh Police Department was dispatched in full riot gear. For a currently unknown reason, violence broke out. Both sides claim that the other acted first. As seen in the video link below there were helicopters with floodlights, APCs with loudspeakers and sound cannons, tear gas, rubber bullets, ballistic beanbags, and German Shepherds (as seen in another video taken on site.) Police did not hold back when attempting to disperse crowds and used all legal force at their disposal. They were caught off guard in February, they wouldn’t be caught off guard now. There was general chaos in the city and it spilled over into a university campus and involved innocent bystanders.
In some YouTube videos, sizable crowds of college kids can be seen running for safety away from police.
This video gives an excellent sense of the police crackdown from a student’s point of view.
From this perspective it may seem that we live in a fascist state that oppresses those who speak out against government policies. However, a closer examination of the organizers of the march reveals the truth behind the violence and subsequent propaganda.
On Twitter an energetic young woman tweeted a link to a video which seems to show police oppressing peaceful protesters who are simply acting under the 1st amendment.
See the video here.
A closer look reveals that the man with the megaphone who is spontaneously spouting libertarian rhetoric on a spur of the moment feeling is actually a grizzled revolutionary with a track record of arrests and public disruption. This man is Luke Rudkowski of WeAreChange.org This group was founded on the premise that the terrorists attacks of 9/11/01 and the resulting collapse of the World Trade Center in New York City was planned and administered by the U.S. government. The group’s activities since then have been focused on disrupting police organizations and organizing garish protests. Rudkowski himself has been arrested for disruption in New York and Los Angeles. The website brags of such accomplishments. This organization largely contributed to disruption in the city.
Another Anarchist who was largely responsible for organizing the riot from Twitter was Mike Gogulski of nostate.com. A self-described, “Future stateless person,” Gogulski is an unabashed anarchist who no longer lives or works in the U.S. but has vowed to overthrow the current system of society. Through Twitter on his cellphone he was able to coordinate fellow protesters’ movements by tweeting where police officers were, where they were going, and what they were planning to do. Anyone who wanted to see these tweets just had to look at a feed entitled “#resistg20.” (There was also a more open feed entitled “#g20” where many points of view were expressed.)
What are we to think then? Are we to dismiss this as the act of a fringe group of radical revolutionists who have no real power? No.
A group like this is never powerless because of their ability to organize with startling speed and efficiency. Also, such groups have the ability to infiltrate lumbering, overstuffed bureaucracies such as the U.S. Government and institute policy behind an OZ like curtain of secrecy. The Communist Party had a lot of success doing this between the 1920s and 1950s. (Read “Witness” by Whittaker Chambers to gain some perspective.)
So is this proof of a fascist/communist/socialist revolution? No.
Whenever you see protesters in the streets calling for an end to the excesses of capitalism or demanding the downsizing of government you’re seeing a nation’s desperate cry for help, but not in the way you might think.
The election of Barrack Obama inspired millions of people to have faith in government and to expect corporate waste to end. This clearly hasn’t happened. Instead we’ve seen the government get into bed with corporations such as GM. This one act of buying out and running GM realizes two of the greatest fears that Americans have. The election of Barrack Obama to the White House didn’t unify the nation as has been claimed. It raised the hopes of millions only to make government waste and corporate abuses of power worse.
Basically, Americans are feeling control of their lives and of their country being taken from them and they are scared. People are doing drastic things in the hope of regaining their control. Some are calling for the drastic overhaul of healthcare while others attend violent rallies like the one in Pittsburgh. This is one factor contributing to a larger problem.
A feeling of helplessness and despair about our roles in the world is at the heart of radicalism and unrest in this country, regardless of political leanings or socioeconomic status. Americans and the people of the world don’t want partisan domination of government. People don’t like either party! They want the freedom to control their own lives and have their voices heard.
This one problem of disenfranchisement is very complex by itself as it encompasses spiritual, economic, physical, political, and intellectual facets which each have been significantly complicated over the past century. (I’ll address each of those in subsequent posts.)
Next Week: How Twitter and Social Networking are Making Mass Media obsolete.
Related Material: “An Open Letter to G20 Protesters”
Crossposted from Peter Lajoie: A Cutting Edge Perspective