Comments on: The New Barbarians

By: Steve Bates

Steve Bates — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 23:12:42 +0000

On a related topic, Will Bunch has written a book about the Oct. 1 "Battle of the Brooklyn Bridge" and about OWS more generally. FDL Book Salon interviews him about it. Definitely worth a read.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 22:35:51 +0000

Since some police agencies have apparently given up on winning the respect of the community, they have decided to make the community fear them. Instead of fear they have generated hatred.

With the gun laws being loosened and more and more people carrying weapons in public spaces, this will definitely end badly. If the police refuse to respect the people, the people will act accordingly.

By: Steve Bates

Steve Bates — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 21:16:10 +0000

Of all the ancient concepts of English (and hence American) law, the notion of the commons is the one suffering greatest abuse in the past century or so. There seems to be no place physical or legal in modern society in which individuals or groups can expect to be “let alone,” as various judges have put it. The notion of your right to mind your own business in public without harassment, together with your rights of assembly and petition, has all but vanished in the modern police state (forgive my bluntness, but that’s what it feels like these days). And some of these police departments are quite literally asking for trouble. I am concerned that this could end badly… through no fault of the demonstrators.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 16:53:40 +0000

I’m solidly in the ‘let sleeping dogs lie’ school of peace keeping. If all they are doing is camping and talking, I’m happy to let them do it. They want to march, hey, if you can shut down NYC for St. Patrick, why not Occupy.

We both know that supporters of teams are a bigger violence problem than political groups, but no one suggests attacking ManU or Arsenal supporters. If is was OK to camp out at a bookstore for the latest version of a Harry Potter novel, or an Apple retailer for the latest gadget, what’s wrong with doing it for politics?

By: jams o donnell

jams o donnell — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 15:03:37 +0000

I wonder if we will see violence in London soon. The Met is now looking to force Occupy protestors from the grounds of St Paul’s cathedral.

The Canon of St Pau’s has just resigned on the grounds that “the church should not put its name to any course of action that may lead to violence against the protesters”

We could be seeing in London soon what has gone on across the US. Our cops are not totally clean when it comes to public order policing as the death of Ian Tomlison indicates.