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April 24, 2002
Kevin Alexander Gray
Help Save the Life of an Innocent Man:
Ask for Clemency for Ricky Johnson
Tanya
Reinhart
Jenin,
the Propaganda Battle
Todd May
Drowning Children, Palestinians and American
Responsibility
Alexander
Cockburn
The
Loneliest Road
Nir Rosen
The Broken Home:
Revisiting Israel
Mokhiber
/ Weissman
A
Big Blow to Big Tobacco
April 23, 2002
Brian Wood
Where Is the Aid for the Victims in
Jenin?
John Chuckman
I,
George:
Gomer as Claudius
Norman Madarasz
French Presidential Elections
Absenteeism and Le Pen
Dr. Susan
Block
Bernard
Parks, Goodbye:
A Farewell to My Chief
Joan Smith
Who Will Rid Us of
These Pedophile Priests?
April 22, 2002
CounterPunch
Wire
EPA
Ombudsman Resigns
in Protest
Dave Marsh
DeskScan: What's Playing
at My House This Week
Ron Jacobs
A20
in DC: Taking the
Message to the Beast's Belly
Kathy Kelly
An Open Letter to
Israeli Soldiers
Irit Katriel
Word
Games and Body Bags
Rep. Cynthia McKinney
We Come for Peace
Daniel
Bar-Tal
Is
There a Way Out?
Occupation, Terror
and Understanding
David Wilson
A Week of Coups, But Now
The Freedom Train Hits Town
Shaik
Ubaid
Today
I Was a Palestinian
April 21, 2002
Michelle Campos
Suckered Again in Israel
Mike Leon
200,000
in DC Protest Say:
"We Are All Palestinians Today"
C.G. Estabrook
Sex and Power in Catholicism
Kathy
Kelly
Gimme
Some Truth Now
A Walk Through Jenin
April 20, 2002
Philip Farruggio
Drowning in a Sea of Apathy
Kristen
Schurr
Leaving
Nablus
Bernard Weiner
Israel and the Intifada
for Dummies
Jean-Guy
Allard
A
Coup Signed by Otto Reich
Chris Floyd
The "Grandeur" That Was Rome:
A Letter from the Front
April 19, 2002
Eric Flint
Free
the Books!
David Krieger
A Peace Proposal:
Bring in the Children
Jeff Paterson
Advice
to Recruits from
a Gulf War Vet
Jeffrey St. Clair
From Sen. "Lunkhead" to
Bush Energy Czar: A Year in the Life of Spencer Abraham
April 18, 2002
Tom Turnipseed
Latin
America's Dilemma:
The Propaganda of Otto Reich
Sam Bahour
Bush is Playing Russian
Roulette with Palestinians
M. Shahid
Alam
A
Colonizing Project
Built on Lies
Resources:
100s of Links
About 9/11
CounterPunch:
Complete
Coverage of 9/11 and Its Aftermath
Five
Days That
Shook The World:
Seattle and Beyond
By Alexander
Cockburn
and Jeffrey St. Clair
Photos by Allan Sekula
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How the CIA's Backing of the Mujahideen Created the World's Most
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and Osama bin Laden
Whiteout:
CIA, Drugs & the
Press
by Alexander
Cockburn
and Jeffrey St. Clair
The New Crusade:
America's War on Terrorism
By Rahul Mahajan
The Memphis Blues Again:
Six Decades of Memphis Music Photographs
Photos by Ernest Withers
Text by Daniel Wolff
The New Intifada:
Resisting Israel's Apartheid
Edited by Roane Carey
A Pocket Guide to
Environmental Bad Guys
by James Ridgeway
and Jeffrey St. Clair
The
Phoenix Program
by Douglas Valentine
Al Gore:
A User's Manual
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Reviews of Gore:
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April 24, 2002
A20 in Seattle
Cops Get Rough, Again
By Jean Fallow
On Saturday, April 20, 2002, I witnessed two shocking
and unprovoked attacks by Seattle police officers on peaceful
citizens demonstrating against U.S. economic, foreign and domestic
policy.
The first incident occurred at Broadway
and Thomas on Capitol Hill, where a peaceful crowd had occupied
the intersection. The atmosphere was pleasant and festive, with
drums, music and dancing. No acts of violence or vandalism were
being committed.
Suddenly about 15 officers on bicycles
came zooming around a sidestreet corner and rode at full speed
through a banner and into the crowd of people. There was no warning,
no order to disperse, no threat of arrests. The officers simply
came  speeding around
the corner and careened into the crowd. Since the banner blocked
the officers' view, they could not see who they were going to
hit _ they could have easily struck small children or old people
crossing the street.
The impact on the human body of a bicycle
going at top speed is no trivial matter. Several lost shoes lay
in the street afterwards, testifying to the force of the collision.
I saw police arresting one man whose face had been bloodied either
from that impact, or from having his face pushed roughly into
the ground.
About 15 minutes later, as people walked
peacefully back to Seattle Central Community College, several
bicycle officers rode up onto the sidewalk and threw two young
men walking near me violently to the ground. One of their victims
hit either the sidewalk or a brick wall, and lay dazed with blood
streaming down his face. Police prevented others, including a
man who identified himself as a medic, from approaching to assist
the injured man. A police officer finally treated him only after
an organizer repeatedly urged police to calm down and to help
the victim.
I understand that the SPD has taken flak
for not arresting the freeway protesters last week, but this
action was completely unnecessary and over the top. There are
ways to clear a peaceful crowd other than a full-on Robocop assault.
Police could have first made an announcement asking people to
leave or risk arrest. If people refused, officers could have
simply carried them out of the street.
The police are charged with protecting
public safety. Causing bruises and bleeding, and risking broken
bones or worse, grossly endangered the public. It also escalated
the situation by provoking extreme anger among the onlookers.
It's amazing that a riot didn't ensue.
An article in the next day's Seattle
Times indicated that "No injuries were reported." Since
an SPD medic treated an injured man, the police know full well
that at least one injury had occurred. Did the SPD withhold this
information from reporters?
The police assault seemed intended to
send a message that people who engage in acts of peaceful protest
do so at their own risk. These are the tactics of a police state,
not a democracy.
Jean Fallow
lives in Bellingham, Washington. She can be reached at: jfallow@yahoo.com
For more
of Jean's photos of the rally and arrests click here.
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