Washington, D.C. police ignore basic civil rights.
[I saw Doug Malken’s article in the Green Pages (national Green Party newspaper) and went looking for an on-line version to link to. Saw Richard Stallman’s home page come up in a Google search, and decided to see what the hero of open source had to say. A lot, apparently. Good for him!
He had two postings, below, about the illegal mass arrest in Freedom Plaza on Sept. 27th, 2002. I hope the National Lawyers Guild sues the pants off them, and wins. Abuses of this sort are completely intolerable. Note: the second article, on IndyMedia, is by a classmate of mine (Santa Monica High School, Class of 1992, two years behind me) whose name I recognize. Very cool to see other SAMOHI folks out there, fighting the man.
These articles point to a very dangerous erosion of respect for civil liberties and due process among the police force in Washington, D.C. And who would they be taking their cue from, if not the White House itself? Organizations (and countries) rot from the head down, and we’ve certainly got a throughly putrid head at this point. -Thomas]
[October 3, 2002]
Doug Malkan, a victim of the Sep 27 mass arrest, describes his experiences.
He calls this arrest “pre-emptive”, and it is interesting to note that it came shortly after Bush announced plans for “pre-emptive” attacks against countries if they might perhaps someday threaten the US. The same policy apparently applies to dissent: Bush would like to arrest people if they might perhaps someday threaten his policies. His version of the golden rule is, “Do one to others before they do one to you.” Alas for the US, that policy is a policy of committing aggression.
Malkan says that some of the ways he and his fellow prisoners were treated violate the Geneva Convention. There was concern in January about whether the US would abide by the Geneva Convention in its treatment of people captured in Afghanistan. I’m sure many Americans read about that issue and thought, “Why should I care whether we respect the rights of those people? They are our enemies, so they have no rights!” The Geneva Convention is concerned with treatment of captured soldiers and civilians in war time. Every side in a war is someone’s enemy, so everyone on every side needs the protection protection from barbarism that the Geneva Convention provides.
Citizens protesting cruel government policies need it too.
[October 3, 2002]
On September 27, police in Washington DC arrested 600 people who were standing or drumming in a park–not particularly protesting–without even giving them a chance to leave. The police attacked and injured some of the victims, then arrested everyone there; they held the arrested parkgoers in handcuffs for 20 hours (others report longer periods), illegally deprived them of food, and did not allow them to contact lawyers.
When you hear police speak of “enforcing the law”, think of the policemen who laughed when reminded of the laws governing how arrested people are treated. If anyone says police are heroes, remember their reaction when reminded that democracy includes dissent. And if you ever on a jury listening to a policeman’s testimony, remember the lies.
