“Our house was small, and when you grow up with domestic violence in a confined space you learn to gauge, very precisely, the temperature of situations. I knew exactly when the shouting was done and a hand was about to be raised – I also knew exactly when to insert a small body between the fist and her face, a skill no child should ever have to learn. Curiously, I never felt fear for myself and he never struck me, an odd moral imposition that would not allow him to strike a child. The situation was barely tolerable: I witnessed terrible things, which I knew were wrong, but there was nowhere to go for help. Worse, there were those who condoned the abuse. I heard police or ambulancemen, standing in our house, say, “She must have provoked him,” or, “Mrs Stewart, it takes two to make a fight.” They had no idea. The truth is my mother did nothing to deserve the violence she endured. She did not provoke my father, and even if she had, violence is an unacceptable way of dealing with conflict. Violence is a choice a man makes and he alone is responsible for it.”
An image of protesters from Occupy Hong Kong.
And we will be there.
a protester explains how police mislead protesters to get them all trapped and arrested
I figured I should write down what happened today, before I forget or before too many stories get muddled together.
My friend, my partner, and I arrived at Zucotti Park around 3 for the march, which began quickly, after everyone shared various rules. (No violence, write the phone number for legal council on yr arm, etc, etc)
We marched through lower Manhattan, and no route was specified, but we were told to not pass the head of the crowd, which was carrying a banner. Cops stood by and kept us on the sidewalk.
Then I noticed we were approaching the Brooklyn Bridge.
Cops were ushering people onto the bridge, but as I noticed we were walking into the roadway, I started to get scared. We climbed over the fence onto the pedestrian bridge. The first half of the crowd continued on the road, while the second half continued on the pedestrian bridge. Cops were flanking both sides of the entrance to the bridge and there was no way to turn back. As we walked up the elevated pedestrian bridge, we heard cops call for backup and they drove 2 police vans backwards up the bridge to where the protesters were. They stopped traffic and then brought vans in from the other side as well and trapped the protesters.
We watched from above as people began climbing the cords and metal of the bridge to escape the cops. People on the pedestrian bridge were trying to pull people up out of the roadway.
We continued forward into Brooklyn as the cops brought a net onto the bridge from the Manhattan side.
By the time we gathered into the park in Brooklyn, only a few hundred of us were left.
Cops began surrounding the park, and we all disbanded.
One of my friends was in the area where cops had people corralled. According to her Facebook updates and tweets, and other updates from trapped protesters, a child was arrested, and busses were brought in to arrest every single person. All of the men were taken first, and then all of the women.
They were told they were being arrested for disorderly conduct.
The police led them there and trapped them.
Please reblog this. People need to know what happened, and cops need to be held accountable for their actions.
the REAL social nework: a documentary about the new generation of protest
I found this video to be real interesting considering this is what I want to write my senior thesis about…
more details on the project:
This winter, the coalition government in the UK announced sweeping changes to university tuition fees that set higher education in Britain to be the most expensive in Europe.
Students voiced their discontent in widespread protests that brought news footage into our homes reminiscent of the 70s and 80s; from horses charging marchers, to the windows of Conservative Party office being kicked in by an angry mob. However, one occupation’s success at holding their University and generating amazing amounts of support suggested thatsomething different was happening here.
We - directors Isis, Srdan and Ludo - are three filmmakers that have been with a group of University College London students with a passion for change since day one. We have seen them come together and organize themselves using Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to make their belief in the fundamental right to an affordable education heard across the country and around the world. Their occupation, a classic 60s sit-in with a Twitter-feed twist, has seen the beginning of the strongest student movement in 40 years.
I’m definitely keeping my eye out for the completed documentary! =)
Boondocks, season 1. “The Block Is Hot”
If you have nothing else to do, just watch this episode. If you’ve never watched the boondocks before, brace yourself. This just speaks too much to issues of socoal justice for me to NOT post it.
KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Hundreds of women demonstrated in Uganda’s capital on Monday over high food prices and brutal tactics employed by police during recent political rallies. (Scroll down for photos)
The estimated 200 women carried empty saucepans and cooking utensils while walking through Kampala.
The women, who all wore white, carried posters that read: “Stop police brutality” and “For a country without food, bullets cannot be food.”
Uganda has seen at least half a dozen major political rallies in the last month concerning high food prices and government corruption. Security forces have cracked down, and arrested the top opposition leader, Kizza Besigye, in a manner that required a weeklong hospital stay in Kenya after he was temporarily blinded by pepper spray or tear gas
Human Rights Watch said over the weekend that it documented the deaths of nine unarmed people killed by government forces, none of whom were actively involved in rioting. The group called for a prompt and thorough investigation into the use of deadly force by security forces to counter demonstrations and riots.
Security forces have fired live bullets to quell demonstrations.
