Slog
News & ArtsWednesday, February 8, 2012
Oh, You Kids! Currently Marching, or Meanwhile on Broadway
Posted by Christopher Frizzelle on Wed, Feb 8, 2012 at 7:54 PM
A mini-parade of anarchists, maybe 40 strong, is currently marching up Broadway, in the middle of the northbound lane, trailed by cops on bikes (on the sidewalk) and cops in cars. The marchers are shouting—slowly, sing-song-y—"All cops are bastards! All cops are bastards!" The cops on bikes look bored and capable. A trash can just clattered to its side. There are at least three police cars and a larger police vehicle following them, slowly, at the speed that anarchists walk. It looks like a reverse procession.
12
40 anarchists.
All chanting the same thing, and marching on cue.
With a police escort.
At a specified time and place.
That is truly a vision of "anarchy".
13
@4: I don't know if I'd necessarily consider someone making a minimum of $64K a year "working class."
http://www.seattle.gov/police/jobs/benef…
http://www.seattle.gov/police/jobs/benef…
14
I'd like to know how many of those marchers would elect not to call the "bastards" if they were assaulted, or their home invaded, car stolen, menaced by a gunman, etc. Would they accept help from the bastards then? Reminds me of the PETA people. Until they swear off all modern medicine, much of which was developed with animal testing, I don't want to hear about it.
I would be so much more sympathetic if they chanted "some cops are bastards."
I would be so much more sympathetic if they chanted "some cops are bastards."
16
13, why not? 64k a year isn't all that much money. Or do you think cops should make $14 bucks an hour?
17
They have to participate in a minimum of one demonstration a month to meet the terms of their contracts with the feds.
18
Maybe it is two demonstrations and at least one window breaking. I'm sure some of them will be assigned by their government supervisors back to the Northeast once the weather gets better.
19
You guys have adorable anarchists :)
(Honest, its like watching a rewind version of 1993 everywhere else.)
@13 then you haven't grasped the idea of the Marxian (as opposed to marxist) class theory. Its not Weber, where you take the income as the sole base for defining class belonging but a simplification of society as a way to define it and the way it works.
(Honest, its like watching a rewind version of 1993 everywhere else.)
@13 then you haven't grasped the idea of the Marxian (as opposed to marxist) class theory. Its not Weber, where you take the income as the sole base for defining class belonging but a simplification of society as a way to define it and the way it works.
20
Goddesses, I am so fucking tired of these kids.
DO SOMETHING WORTHWHILE.
Look up the Montgomery Bus Boycott, do something like that. This shit? This breaking windows, marching up Broadway shit? Doesn't accomplish a fucking thing.
You know what works REAL well?
It's cliche as hell, but be the change you want to see.
DO SOMETHING WORTHWHILE.
Look up the Montgomery Bus Boycott, do something like that. This shit? This breaking windows, marching up Broadway shit? Doesn't accomplish a fucking thing.
You know what works REAL well?
It's cliche as hell, but be the change you want to see.
22
I don't see any indication -- here, on Twitter, at the OS website or facebook page -- that this was organized as an Occupy Seattle event.
I'm relieved that these protesters did not march under an "Occupy Seattle" banner.
As Chris Hedges argues in a recent article and in a conversation with one organizer with Occupy Oakland on KPFA yesterday, Occupy will only succeed as a nonviolent, mainstream movement that is accessible and appealing to a vast majority of Americans.
Hedges makes the case that if Black Bloc or other confrontational tactics become the face of Occupy, it will alienate the mainstream and fail.
If people feel compelled to organize and protest for a different cause, that is certainly their prerogative. I would hope that the organizers of any such action would make it clear that it is distinct from Occupy.
I'm relieved that these protesters did not march under an "Occupy Seattle" banner.
As Chris Hedges argues in a recent article and in a conversation with one organizer with Occupy Oakland on KPFA yesterday, Occupy will only succeed as a nonviolent, mainstream movement that is accessible and appealing to a vast majority of Americans.
Hedges makes the case that if Black Bloc or other confrontational tactics become the face of Occupy, it will alienate the mainstream and fail.
If people feel compelled to organize and protest for a different cause, that is certainly their prerogative. I would hope that the organizers of any such action would make it clear that it is distinct from Occupy.
23
@21 not to put you off your "citizen militia high" or anything but I think they are non-marxist anarchists... you know liberterian socialism perhaps but with a Bakuninist streak a mile wide that turns them off marxism?
On the other hand... a sure fire way to make damn certain theres more of them/us/you is to create an opposition. So ... sure... go for it.
On the other hand... a sure fire way to make damn certain theres more of them/us/you is to create an opposition. So ... sure... go for it.
26
@14 "I'd like to know how many of those marchers would elect not to call the "bastards" if they were assaulted, or their home invaded, car stolen, menaced by a gunman, etc."
It would happen to be so that I know a few of these people. Many if not all of them have been assaulted by the government. Had their home invaded by the government. Had their car stolen and/or tracked by the government. Menaced by a gunman HOLY SHIT DID YOU KNOW THAT POLICE OFFICERS HAVE GUNS! AND THEY MENACE! It's almost like they're human beings and have independent thoughts that aren't "I must protect the constitution" even while on their shift. Imagine that, in trying to snark against someone you have no idea what their life story is you pretty much described exactly why these people march at all. I'm sure they'd be proud
P.S. While it's extraordinary easy to point to good cops and say, hey, it's impossible for all cops to be evil and horrible, but to try and make the claim that ALL cops are worthy of praise I need only direct you to this video where cops repeatedly break the law, steal, cheat, kill all because they don't think they're being watched, and the vast majority get away with no punishment what so ever AND YES THE CITIZENS OF THIS COUNTRY HAVE EVERY RIGHT TO BE ANGRY WHEN JUSTICE FAILS. If you think cops are above the law I feel sorry for you, that's what these people are protesting (heaven forbid you should try to talk with one and understand their world view at all), the cops who willfully break the law and abuse their power for their own benefit. If those evil cops weren't around, you wouldn't have a small group of SO CALLED ANARCHISTS (I thought we were still calling them the heart and soul of the occupy movement? what the fuck ever stranger) running around talking about how evil the cops were. Even if we still did, at least I couldn't point to an almost 100 year long history of cops who are allowed to murder, cheat, lie and steal their way to escaping justice because of who they know. Be angry at the corruption, not the people trying to educate you about the police state we live in.
http://youtu.be/mFjQKcwbTdY
More...
It would happen to be so that I know a few of these people. Many if not all of them have been assaulted by the government. Had their home invaded by the government. Had their car stolen and/or tracked by the government. Menaced by a gunman HOLY SHIT DID YOU KNOW THAT POLICE OFFICERS HAVE GUNS! AND THEY MENACE! It's almost like they're human beings and have independent thoughts that aren't "I must protect the constitution" even while on their shift. Imagine that, in trying to snark against someone you have no idea what their life story is you pretty much described exactly why these people march at all. I'm sure they'd be proud
P.S. While it's extraordinary easy to point to good cops and say, hey, it's impossible for all cops to be evil and horrible, but to try and make the claim that ALL cops are worthy of praise I need only direct you to this video where cops repeatedly break the law, steal, cheat, kill all because they don't think they're being watched, and the vast majority get away with no punishment what so ever AND YES THE CITIZENS OF THIS COUNTRY HAVE EVERY RIGHT TO BE ANGRY WHEN JUSTICE FAILS. If you think cops are above the law I feel sorry for you, that's what these people are protesting (heaven forbid you should try to talk with one and understand their world view at all), the cops who willfully break the law and abuse their power for their own benefit. If those evil cops weren't around, you wouldn't have a small group of SO CALLED ANARCHISTS (I thought we were still calling them the heart and soul of the occupy movement? what the fuck ever stranger) running around talking about how evil the cops were. Even if we still did, at least I couldn't point to an almost 100 year long history of cops who are allowed to murder, cheat, lie and steal their way to escaping justice because of who they know. Be angry at the corruption, not the people trying to educate you about the police state we live in.
http://youtu.be/mFjQKcwbTdY
27
It takes brave douchebag assholes to march in the most liberal neighborhood in the most liberal city in the state. Keep coddling these cowards Mr Mayor and City Council.
29
@26 I never claimed all cops were wonderful. As I said, I'd be a lot more sympathetic to a "some cops are bastards" message. Personally, I'm a critic of the SPD, and believe they have an unacceptably high percentage of bad apples, and need a house-cleaning, starting at the top. . But it is absurd, insulting, and unrealistic to claim that all, most, or even the majority of cops are bastards. Most are good people who do a difficult and dangerous job very honorably. But yes, we should clear out the rot.
30
@14: By virtue of not speaking out against their "comrades" who do evil, *all* cops are indeed bastards. It's simply the club they choose to join by choosing to stay silent.
32
Ah. The intellectual rigor of the Right Wing as delightfully demonstrated by #21.
See Mr. Basil, Marxists are "Statists." I know you won't look it up so I'll tell you what that means.
It means a Marxist believes in a strong central governmental authority. Y'know. A government that can control via coercive methods all that former private property that those dirty commies hate so much.
While an Anarchist is staunchly opposed to any strong central government or large authority which utilizes coercion to gain compliance to it's laws. They are ANIT-statist.
So you see Marxists and Anarchists are directly opposite ideas of how a society should function.
Anarchists, in point of fact, have much more in common with libertarians. Much more in common with the Tea Party of the Right than anything from the left.
The more you know, right?
Ironic that a right winger all high on "Freedom!" uses the handle with "Lord" in it. A title with distinct totalitarian aristocratic roots - precisely the sort of thing America was founded to oppose.
It's true. Facts have that notorious liberal bias.
See Mr. Basil, Marxists are "Statists." I know you won't look it up so I'll tell you what that means.
It means a Marxist believes in a strong central governmental authority. Y'know. A government that can control via coercive methods all that former private property that those dirty commies hate so much.
While an Anarchist is staunchly opposed to any strong central government or large authority which utilizes coercion to gain compliance to it's laws. They are ANIT-statist.
So you see Marxists and Anarchists are directly opposite ideas of how a society should function.
Anarchists, in point of fact, have much more in common with libertarians. Much more in common with the Tea Party of the Right than anything from the left.
The more you know, right?
Ironic that a right winger all high on "Freedom!" uses the handle with "Lord" in it. A title with distinct totalitarian aristocratic roots - precisely the sort of thing America was founded to oppose.
It's true. Facts have that notorious liberal bias.
33
@14 Totally agree
On a different note, I met a nice policeman last night on my way home thanks to the anarchists. The police had the entire block closed and I had to ask an escort to walk to me to my front door. Normally, I'm pretty anti-cop. The anarchists gave me a chance to talk to a cop on a personal level. He was a very nice fellow and I felt bad that I often lump all cops together as jerks with power trips.
On a different note, I met a nice policeman last night on my way home thanks to the anarchists. The police had the entire block closed and I had to ask an escort to walk to me to my front door. Normally, I'm pretty anti-cop. The anarchists gave me a chance to talk to a cop on a personal level. He was a very nice fellow and I felt bad that I often lump all cops together as jerks with power trips.
35
Actually, @32 I think you are mixing up the words "Marxists" with the word "communists". You sound like you are describing communists a la Soviet Union or their satelites. But these distinctions mean very little to the people you are trying to educate anyway, because the American right and many of the rest too are a-historical and willfully disdainful of accurate knowledge. Its all about the feeling you can generate when you spout a word, pure lizard brain shit.
Advertisement
Most Commented on Slog
-
SL Letter of the Day: The Tell-Tale Handjob by Dan Savage
-
Foie Gras Tastes Like Cat Food by Callan Berry
-
Cap Hill Is Becoming a Little Like What? by Charles Mudede
-
SL Letter of the Day: Let Me Think... by Dan Savage
-
GOP Congressman: We Have to Ban Abortion Because Fetuses Are Masturbating In There by Dan Savage
-
Pizza Update: Breaking the 5-Minute Barrier by Goldy
-
President Obama Says NSA Spying Is "Transparent" by Paul Constant
-
Slog Bible Study: Leviticus 20:9 by Goldy
-
Less Than a Quarter of Americans Have Confidence in Newspapers by Eli Sanders
-
War Reporter Michael Hastings, Dead at 33 by Ansel Herz
Stranger Personals
The Stranger
RSSSeattle Art & Performance Quarterly
A complete guide to Seattle's current art, film, dance, and theater season.
Facebook
Twitter
Comments (35) RSS