"I was crying...why were they doing this to me?"

I got more updates from RNC today. And this is at least as serious as anything I've already posted.

There has been a lot of talk about prisoner abuse in Minneapolis-St. Paul directed at arrested protesters. Indymedia's open publishing wire is reporting multiple instances confirming these accounts, and if verified, they do constitute actual, honest-to-gods torture.




(video transcript: a young white American man, badly bruised and with many stitches above his eye, speaking at a press conference and describing extensive beatings and torture while in custody after his arrest at the RNC protests. His experiences also included verbal abuse, denial of food, and being forced to keep his head in a bag full of his own vomit.)
This? This is torture of a civilian citizen on US soil for expressing political views and without being charged with a crime. He fell off his bicycle and bumped into a cop, who said there was no harm done before the guy was rushed and arrested. You can't make excuses now that it's just for foreigners, or immigrants of dubious documentation, or criminal terrorist types that we just know did something. This here is a grade-A white cissexual able-bodied male citizen who fell off his bike and got nabbed, with enough evidence to press charges regarding his allegations. And those of you who have been saying that torture won't be directed at you, it's okay, it's excusable, it might even be a good idea when it's thrown at brown people from other countries? Queers you don't know? Trans women of color who're probably whores anyway? "Enemy combatants?" Now you're seeing its fruition. Now you're seeing what the rest of us already know: they test what they do on us, and when they think they've got it down and nobody's complaining, they'll aim it right at you the moment you step out of line.

There is a direct connection with the use of Raytheon maser weapons in US occupations overseas and their deployment on domestic crowds considered to be trouble. There is a direct connection between use of Tasers in covert torture in other countries and their overzealous, sometimes lethal application in the States. You cannot sensibly separate the same technique being used by the same government in two different places. You say sonic crowd-control weapons are only going to show up in Iraq and whammo, they're making folks vomit uncontrollably right here at home.

And we keep pretending! We keep arguing that we can sanction our government to train and deploy torturers unapologetically on some people, and then we express shock that the techniques bleed right on back into our domestic law enforcement. And once we're putting military personnel into the equation, too--including units fresh back from military occupation in Iraq, primed to see a civilian population as a crowd of strangers full of possible threats, always to be suspected and controlled and if necessary taken out--how are we expecting the violence we export not to land on our doorsteps? How are we deluding ourselves into believing we can tell our soldiers and police that torture is okay when the prisoner's someone we don't like--say, a suspected terrorist--and not expect that the same techniques won't be used on someone they don't like--like an unarmed, handcuffed, helpless protester in custody who dared to call them a name? How can we continue to pretend that our willingness to dehumanize and abuse our supposed enemies has nothing to do with authorizing the dehumanization and abuse of people a little closer to home? How can we continue to pretend that this infection of inhumanity and wanton cruelty doesn't spread when we feed it, no matter where we think we're pointing it at first?

Some of us see this treatment every day. Some of us see it at routine traffic stops. And we've tried to warn you that every chip you cut away from our civil rights is eroding the base of yours. But some of you didn't want to listen, did you? It's just gonna be bad guys. It's just gonna be criminals. Well, it sure isn't gonna be American citizens, we've got rights.

You allow the rights to be taken from other human beings, sanction or look the other way when it happens because they must have done something to deserve it, you're contributing to a wider trend, a deep current eroding away at human dignity and the rule of law. And then we're all shocked when it comes right on home and hits people usually exempt. "But he didn't do anything!" Of course he didn't. That's the point. Guess who else hasn't.

We've got people in charge of this country right now who think this is perfectly acceptable, that someone arguing with their ideas is an enemy just as much as the guy shooting a gun, and that anyone marked an enemy forfeits all human rights. They've spit on the Geneva Conventions and even the US military manuals of conduct. Here they are, asking for another four years, another eight, another sixteen. Except it's not "asking." It's jailing and torturing anyone brave enough to be in the street to argue about it.

This is only the beginning. The guy in the clip above didn't die, praise be, nor did the detainees allegedly beaten, teargassed, burned, harassed, and raped. If we let this go on, it is only a matter of time. If we don't fight back at this madness with all we have, this is only the beginning. They have a whole new world planned out for us to live in. Someone else has already described it far better than I can:

"...imagine a boot stamping on a human face--forever."

more breaking medic news

This is a press release from one of our Portland Street Medics, now released from custody. Please read all of it, and understand exactly what's going on here. This is evidence of medics--medics in negotiations with police who know who they are and what they do--being specifically targeted and abused. Please consider donating to the medics' legal fund. --ll.


Press Release
by R. Westlund

Portland Street Medics Victims of Police Brutality and Unjustified Arrests at RNC

Four members of the Portland Street Medic Collective who had travelled to the RNC to provide medical care to the radical community were arrested on 9-1-2008. All are now released pending court dates in October.

Before the arrest, the medics were following an unpermitted march around the outskirts of the boundaries of the Excel Center. The march stayed mostly to sidewalks and utilized several pedestrian trails.

After heading nearly a mile down a bike trail with a river on one side and an unpassable bank on the other side of the road, protesters found themselves under fire from police chemical weapons, having never received an order to disperse. The protestors and the medics fled back up the bike path while the onslaught of chemical weapons and differently-lethal weapons continued behind and next to the fleeing crowd. Police in riot gear ran past the tail end of the running group, continuing to launch weapons into the crowd, forcing those at the back to run through the already dispensed weapons.

The four medics helped with the evacuation of at least five patients, including one with a broken hand from being hit with police weaponry, one with an injured ankle from being hit with police weaponry who needed physical support to walk, and one who was blinded by pepper spray. This assistance left the medics at the very back of the crowd and among the worst victims of chemical weapons as they fled the scene.

At the corner of Ontario and Shepard the crowd was trapped in a park by lines of riot police and all people in the park, including those holding tickets to a concert and attempting to utilize the pedestrian bridges to get to the concert, were arrested. Those with misdemeanors were released later that night, while those being held on felonies were in jail for 48 hours.

Three of the Portland Medics, David Drew, Jr, Tracy Maier, and R. Westlund are charged with Misdemeanors in the 1st degree of "presence at an unlawful assembly and refusing to leave." They face 90 days in jail and fines up to $1,000. The fourth, A. Oliver Hayes, is charged with a Gross Misdemeanor in the 3rd degree of rioting, and faces one year in jail and a fine of $1,000.


Later in the week, a group of six medics, three of them from Portland, were again the targets of police misconduct. A group of 350 people were being detained and preparing to be arrested on a bridge. The group included some legal observers from the NLG and 12 Street Medics. Medic Dispatch received news that the legal observers in the group had been released prior to the arrest, so the six medics headed out to see if they could negotiate with the police for the release of the medics.

Upon arrival at the scene one of the Portland Medics spoke with an officer and received a phone number for "Watch Command" to begin negotiations. On the first phone call, the medic explained the job of the medics and explained that they were asking for the release of the medics detained on the bridge. The medic gave WC their full legal name and offered to provide proof of credentials as an EMT. WC offered to give the request to the commander at the scene and then call the medics back.

After a reasonable amount of time, the medic called WC back to check on the status. WC questioned the location of the medics, and the medic confirmed that they were at the scene of the arrest before ending the phone call to wait for further news.

The medic attempted to speak with two officers on scene, but neither would produce a supervisor to do the negotiations. Moments after the second attempt, while the Medic Liaison was making another call to WC, one of the Portland Medics was pulled out of the crowd of observers and drug into the street by four police officers. The medic's pockets were searched while the medic stated, "I do not consent to this search." While still searching this medic, the commanding officer led four more officers into the crowd and pulled out the Medic Liaison, who had been on the phone moments before. The first medic was released back into the crowd after their pockets were searched.

The second medic was questioned as to why they were carrying a backpack and hip pack. The medic explained their status as an EMT and allowed officers to take their registration card as proof. Officers explained, "You reached your hands in your pockets, and that makes us nervous, so now we have to check what you're up to." The medic repeatedly denied consent for the search but officers began opening the medic kits regardless. An officer asked, "Where did you get all this stuff? Did you steal it off the ambulance?" The medic responded, "I'm not going to answer any more of your questions until I speak to my lawyer." The officer replied, "In that case, you can pick your own shit up off the ground," and began opening ziplock bags and dumping medical supplies on the ground.

During the search, officers repeatedly made threats about possible criminal charges against the medic, including "medical terrorism." Officers dumped the entire contents of both medical kits on the ground, purposefully stepped on the equipment, read all the aftercare flyers and made threats about "testing the pepper spray" on this medic, and searched the medic's body and clothing three separate times in an extremely rough and inappropriate manner. After running the medic's ID through the system, the officers ordered to medic to clean up all the supplies, and accused the medic of littering when a small packet of vitamins was overlooked on the ground. Once the supplies were repacked, the medic was free to go.

These police actions were not based on any reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing. The police were targeting the medics who were attempting to liaise with commanding officers and harassing them in order to reduce their power and prevent further negotiating tactics.

R. Westlund
Friday, September 5, 2008

street medics, update

I have a few updates on the street medic situation.
Word is that all of the Portland street medics have been released, though other medics, as well as journalists and many others, are still incarcerated. They're nominally okay, but facing the theft of their equipment and possessions, including medical supplies, plus a mound of legal and travel expenses.
It isn't pretty over there. Report is they actually have mercenaries on the streets--even making raids. That's Blackwater--the same mercenary company under fire for their war crimes and murder of unarmed civilians in Iraq, the same mercenary company deployed after Hurricane Katrina and caught playing target practice with civilians.
Add Blackwater to the National Guard deployed in Minneapolis-St. Paul this week, and what you have is a government deploying military personnel--including mercenaries with little to no legal oversight and a history of brutal, trigger-happy tactics--against their own citizens.
If you've been accepting this as normal, as a status quo you weren't thinking about, please sit back and drink that up for a moment. Think of the more than 300 citizens dragged off by these soldiers on their own streets, for participating in a largely peaceful, nonviolent political protest. And if you're an American, think about how you feel when you read stories of that sort of thing happening somewhere else, and what you're willing to say about those countries, those governments, those people.
Now let's add more into the mix. They're by all accounts specifically targeting journalists--even journalists with high-level credentials--people who are paying attention to what they're doing and reporting on it. They're targeting medics--nonviolent volunteers out there to deliver medical aid to people and keep the crowds safe. They're raiding community centers, community kitchens, homes. They're pressuring independent media to shut down. They are kicking the legs out from under people's ability to know what's going on, stay safe, and protect themselves.
Are you seeing it on the news? Are you seeing it in your local paper? My paper ran a story on the dangerous, destructive protesters, with a picture of a beleaguered lone policeman firing pepper spray at frightening masked anarchists. That was their coverage. And then they went back to stories about a baby elephant at the zoo.
Military personnel performing police actions on US soil and arresting nonviolent protesters. No, not just that--preemptively arresting people they think might be protesters in a few days. And going directly after nonviolent people providing food, medicine, and information.
It looks like this. And this. And this.
Pay attention.

Street medics are trying to keep everyone safe in all this, trying to make sure as many as possible make it out in one piece. Many of them have traveled hundreds of miles on their own dime to do so, and are putting themselves in direct physical danger to serve others.
They're being thanked for it with violence, brutal arrests, incarceration, theft of equipment, felony charges, homophobic and transphobic abuse, and massive expenses both for legal support, new first aid gear to get back out there and keep helping, and to cover their travel.
Please, if you can, donate.
They're out there doing first aid for democracy, and now they're bleeding for it. Return the favor.

street medics targeted and arrested at RNC

REPOSTED IN FULL. PLEASE DISTRIBUTE AND DO WHAT YOU CAN. I know I haven't covered street medic stuff lately, but a bunch of street medic folks are operating at the Twin Cities RNC, and have been specifically targeted. I believe arrestees include this awesome activist you've met before, and there are some very ugly rumors going around about mistreatment of trans and queer people currently detained which worry the hell out of me. Keep it in mind: it's not just journalists being targeted and arrested--it's those braving those dangerous streets as volunteers to provide medical care. --ll.

Update - Portland Street Medics Arrested at the Republican National Convention
by street.medix@portland-or.net
Weds, Sep. 3rd, 2008

In between explosions of concussion grenades and teargas clouds in
Minneapolis-St. Paul, volunteer Street Medics from all over the country
who have assembled there are continuing to provide much needed first aid
and medical care to injured and frightened people everywhere in the city
where lawful and peaceful assemblies, passersby, journalists and
bystanders are getting attacked indiscriminately and without provocation
by Police, National Guard and teams of unidentified Federal Agencies
without badges or numbers.

Two raw, unedited video items that were just published provide an
excellent documentation of the level of unprovoked and indiscriminate
violence targeted against peaceful non-violent assemblies, against
Street Medics, against legal observers and journalists:

o- Rubber bullets fired directly into a small crowd of peaceful people;
Street Medics attacked:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OnnUTK7QjI

o- Independent journalist caught in the middle of panic and mayhem
during an attack with concussion grenades and teargas against a peaceful
march:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6L8J3L-2Kw


Starting at dawn on Tuesday, Portland Street Medics who were arrested
while treating injured people at the RNC were being released one by one
by the illegitimate authorities who had seized them. One of our
colleagues is still in jail and has not yet been charged with anything.
All of the arrests of Portland Street Medics are entirely illegal.

We have confirmed information that additional unidentified Street Medics
have been seen in jail by other people, but no details about who they
are or why they are being held.

The Portland Street Medics who were released are well, except for
tiredness. We are not able to communicate with the one of our members
who is still in jail to ascertain wellness - our colleague is being held
in a situation where legal observers have repeatedly confirmed that
people are being denied access to medical care and targeted with
selective abuse. {Please see the statement from our lawyers below,
titled "Over 300 Protesters, Bystanders, Medics and Media Arrested:
Update from Coldsnap Legal Collective".}


All of the arrested Street Medics' personal items, money, medical
supplies and tools were confiscated and are still not being released by
Police despite repeated requests, even though the items in question are
not relevant to any legal proceedings (they are not being held as
evidence, nor are they proscribed materials). Seizure of these materials
is an illegal tactic to prevent our members from providing first aid and
medical care to the people who are now in the streets and parks in
Minneapolis-St. Paul. This is in direct violation of the US Constitution
which in the Fourth Amendment provides protection against unreasonable
searches and seizures. {Please see the Constitutional reference from the
Cornell Law School below.}


We are still in need of funds for bail, and for replacing lost medical
supplies and tools for our volunteers. If you are able to give, please
consider donating through this page (every little bit counts!):
http://www.portland-or.net/street-medics/Donations-Portland-Street-Medics.html
or, please write to us about making alternative donation arrangements here:
street.medix@portland-or.net

Some details
The Portland Street Medics who were arrested include a long-time Queer
liberation and radical performance artist; two trained Emergency Medical
Technicians (EMTs), one of whom is also a Wilderness First Responder;
and a Nurse Practitioner in training, who is also an Herbalist with more
than fifteen years clinical experience.

It's plainly obvious to everyone that our members, sworn to the primary
directive of all healthcare workers to "First, Do No Harm", should have
never been arrested and must be allowed and supported to return to their
duties immediately without any interference whatsoever.

Contacting the authorities
..has proven to be very difficult. As one of our supporters reports here,
http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2008/09/379093.shtml#315129
phonecalls to the Ramsey County Jail, the Sheriff, and Mayor Coleman,
are being redirected through a maze of sometimes incompetent, sometimes
purposefully dysfunctional routes and individuals who are making the
process of leaving messages and official complaints nearly impossible.

Still, we are asking people to please call these (new) numbers and to
politely ask that:
o- all Street Medics be released immediately and allowed to resume duties;
o- all people who were arrested and are not being charged, to be
released immediately;
o- all personal items and medical supplies and tools that were
confiscated from Street Medics to be returned immediately so that our
teams can provide much needed care for injured and ill people in the
streets and first aid stations all over Minneapolis-St. Paul.

Please call these numbers:
St. Paul Police chief:
651-266-5588

Help line:
651-266-9333

Please send letters to:
St. Paul Police Department
Chief John Harrington
367 Grove Street
St. Paul, Minnesota 55101

Ramsey County Jail
Sheriff Bob Fletcher
425 Grove Street
St. Paul, Minnesota 55101


Please keep distributing and re-publishing our updates

We really are grateful for all of your letters and phonecalls of
support. Without your love and care, none of our work would have been
possible.

Portland Street Medics
http://portland-or.net/street-medics/


Resources and Related Materials

"Over 300 Protesters, Bystanders, Medics and Media Arrested: Update from
Coldsnap Legal Collective"
http://twincities.indymedia.org/2008/sep/over-300-protesters-bystanders-medics-and-media-arrested-update-coldsnap-legal-collective

" US Constitution - Amendment IV:
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers,
and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be
violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause,
supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place
to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.billofrights.html

Our previous Communique:
http://seattle.indymedia.org/en/2008/09/268617.shtml

shoulder to the wheel

Okay, so I'm a deadbeat blogger. We know this. I've had all of two days off in the past month, most of my days on are ten- and twelve-hour shifts, I'm sleeping whenever I can, and I'm pretty wrecked.
Honestly, I've been reading, when I can, but I barely have the time to comment, let alone post. (Let's say nothing of my ability to do stuff like, oh, see the doctor and dentist.)

Well, blogging, especially political and feminist blogging, has got to be about community. I've refrained from doing as much linking as I ought to because I assume you-all are all reading the good stuff anyway.
I decided that's silly. I talk about how we ought to have more important concerns than irrelevant starlets and whether or not they wear whatever, that we ought to pay more attention to our allies? Well, fine. Money, meet mouth. No more kicking around with fifty jillion open tabs waiting to write something brilliant about what other people are brilliantly writing.

Here:
Listen to Nezua, telling you about the rights you've got when the boots hit the pavement. It's one I know some about myself, having discovered that when they're bigger and more armed than you, you have what rights they decide to give you.
Listen to Sylvia, who is wondering why the giant neon sign that says TERRORISM HERE seems completely meaningless to greater media when the weapon-stockpiling terrorists are white people and the targets are brown folks.
Listen to Brownfemipower, when she points out abuse of a media member. I've had my body saved from breaking by cameras. When they stop being scared of doing wrong in front of cameras because they can make the cameras disappear or because they stop caring or don't think anyone will hear it, you know you've got real problems. She's giving you stuff to watch. If you haven't, do. Actually, just listen to BFP as often as possible, because she's telling you stuff you need to hear. Pay attention. Please.
I mean, seriously, as petitpoussin points out, what is it? How are we allowing ourselves to go in circles about--actually, no. How are we panicking about outfits and tossing out people who could be allies instead of finding ways to welcome them in and--actually, look.
Let's just go with what Blackamazon had to say about it. For all the talk about solidarity and Class Whichever and We're All In This Together and how my demographic's concerns become those of more privileged folks when they need the ammo or the photo-op, but take a backseat to interminable debates about irrelevant media personalities as soon as there's a challenge, look. There's folks who will have your back, and those who won't. And we've got to look after each other. We've got to keep our eyes on who is actually working in solidarity, and who's paying lip service. We've got to build community with the folks who actually have given some evidence that they care.

Some folks don't have to think about these things. Here, Magniloquence points out that some of us have very, very different concepts of what "police" means. Here, Spotted Elephant grabs us by our collars and wants to know where the hell we are when it comes to time stand in solidarity with the disabled and mentally ill. For crying out loud, can we just stop dehumanizing each other while we're trying to "fix" people's problems?

Solidarity says "not my problem" is nonsense. We're all in this together. If you're not brown, you're not disabled, you're not poor, your legal status is all in one place, if--actually, see, no. There shouldn't have to be a list.
It should all get summed up when we tell each other, as allies, check your privilege.
Sit back. Listen to folks. Learn something. And then get your hands dirty.

on life shearing a little too close to the hadith

So last Saturday on patrol, we're posted up on a streetcorner because someone was throwing bottles at people, around one in the morning. I'm standing just outside a little alcove in the brick building my back is to, where two homeless people are wrapped in blankets trying to get to sleep. One of them pushes the blanket down, revealing that she is a tiny, wizened old woman, missing some teeth. Barely audible, she asks the guy across from me if she can have a smoke. He's not a smoker, and he looks at me; she turns and querulously asks me if I can give her a smoke, so I bend down, pull my pack of Parliaments from one of my pouches, open it, and hand her a couple of cigarettes. As she's asking if I could give her a light, my lighter drops from the cigarette pack, so I just pick it up and hand it to her. "Actually, just keep the lighter," I say; it seems absurd not to, and I'm more likely to be able to get another one than she is. She says thank you, for our being out here and looking out for her. I shake her hand, and then she looks at me in particular, and thanks me again. "Of course, ma'am," I say, "Any time." It was an odd thing to say: Any time you're going to sleep on the street and need a cigarette, I'll be there? But it popped out, and there it was.

She looks up at me, directly into my eyes, her own huge under wrinkled eyelids. Almost too quietly to hear, she says, "Any time you need my help, too."
All I could say, with a sort of thrum in my breast, was "Thank you." And then we had to move on.
When I came by there a little less than an hour later, my shift over, she and all her things were gone without a trace. The other guy sleeping there hadn't moved.
What I said out loud to my comrades walking with me was, "I hope she's okay."
In my head, I was thinking many other things.