tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7120072.post5593626552050601690..comments2023-04-02T10:40:19.357-05:00Comments on CubeZoo: RNC { freedom and its discontentsPernoxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08356847785865077227noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7120072.post-78880153368680462352008-09-08T11:28:00.000-05:002008-09-08T11:28:00.000-05:00Zophorian. You make good points and remind us tha...Zophorian. You make good points and remind us that there are places in the world that are worse. But still, some nagging issues remain.<BR/><BR/>Why the need for paid informants?<BR/>Why the use of agent provocateurs and infiltrators?<BR/><BR/>Why are the American police forces resorting to these methods? It seems like every peaceful protest has been pre-empted by either police raids or a violent minority that gets the news attention. Now its been proven that in some of these instances the violence was instigated or attempted to be instigated by members of the police undercover. What does this accomplish except to make protests look bad publicly, making it easier to shut then down or prevent them. <BR/><BR/>I agree we all need to be savvier regarding protests, but we should protest. I think people are missing the point regarding wanting the whole city for access. Its not that the protesters want the whole city, they don't want 'Free Speech Zones'.Pernoxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08356847785865077227noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7120072.post-71661739775838146362008-09-06T09:58:00.000-05:002008-09-06T09:58:00.000-05:00I can see where you are coming from ‘allthings’ bu...I can see where you are coming from ‘allthings’ but I am hesitant to say that things are so bad. The American public is more divided now than it has been in a long while—at least in my lifetime. When animosity is that great things are bound to get ugly. But they will get even uglier, exponentially, when people don’t take deliberate steps to be smart and savvy. <BR/>I have to wonder, what did the protesters think they were going to accomplish by protesting the RNC convention? They certainly are not going to change the minds of any of the RNC members that are in town for the convention. The situation is beyond that, the divide and animosity is too great. The likely result would be an increased resoluteness in their position and a further belief that the other side is a little nuts. <BR/>Or maybe they wanted to get the media’s attention. Getting the media’s attention could help their cause and is a good aim. But then why must the be in the same city as the convention? Why couldn’t they have rallied at the DNC convention? Or had their own ‘non-aligned and full or grievances’ convention? And why must they insist on having free range over the city? There are legitimate security concerns that need to be dealt with as well as trying to preserve some semblance of normal life for the people that live in the host city. All they are going to do by going outside of the designated areas is to upset the locals and get riots on TV—which make the protesters look like wakos. It hurts their cause to force the issue. <BR/>They need to be smart and savvy if they want to get their point across. Picking a different city and/or time for the protests would be good. Staying in the designated areas would be good. If they are concerned about their image that is the best: the media knows where to find them and the police will have to leave them alone. Then we avoid the nasty pictures that were on TV which reflect poorly on the whole nation. <BR/>Also, don’t over-react ‘allthings’, America has never been perfect (come on you have read more of “A People’s History” than I have) and is not even at the top of its game these days. Yet, American is still doing better than a lot of place. There was supposed to be a political protest here in Yerevan last night. It didn’t happen. Why not? Because both sides were reasonable about the situation. The opposition wanted to hold a protest, as it does every now and then, to remind people of the disaster the last election was here. However, there is a very important football game in town tonight—Armenia vs. Turkey, world cup qualifier. It is the first time ever the two sides have played. The Turkish president it coming, borders have been opened for the occasion and yes the international media will be here. The last point is why the government passed a law last week prohibiting any gatherings or political demonstrations for a week on either side of the match. They don’t want the international media to see the protests. That is exactly why the opposition wanted to have the protest last night. But they backed down because the chance that this game can better Armenian Turkish relations is more important than the protest. They decided they can do it at anytime, even if last night was the best time. <BR/>All of this is going on less than a year after the killing of 50 some protesters at a peaceful protest back in March. Armenia has gone through more in the past year than the US has in the past 8 and they have still been able to keep a cooler and more calculated head than the Americans. We can still be arrested or broken up, with no cause or explanation, for being in a group of 10 or more in public. They don’t but they still can. They still refuse to give the opposition permits to hold rallies. They make excuses and unreasonable demands on time and place—in places that are obviously too small, on days when large numbers of people are going to be out of town, like holidays. They have has a few rallies since March 1st (the day of the killings) and all of them have been illegal. The rallies have all been threatened with police shutdown. Power was cut off so they couldn’t get the PA system going, but they found away, they didn’t strike back. The ruling party usually organizes a free concert or kids fair the same night as the rallies. The TV media is not (or at least back in the spring) allowed to show footage of the rallies. Back in February when they had 5000 people staying all night at Liberty Square and 500,000 or more for marches and speeches at 6 in the evening for over a week, it was not put on the TV news. It was like a 600 Lbs gorilla in the room that the TV couldn’t talk about. In addition, TV and radio news was censored, news papers were shut down, CNN was interrupted when Armenia was on the news, and the internet was filtered (I needed tor software to get any news here). That is a real crisis on democracy and freedom. <BR/>American is going through some rough times but there are nations that have only even had rough times. American opposition and protesters need to be less brash and more clever. In a country like Armenia, where the media IS controlled by the state, presence on the street is vital and effective. But it needs to be done with care and tact. In a country like American in your face, on the street protests are not going to be the most effective way to get heard. People need to get more involved in politics on a daily level, they need to be more media savvy. Instead of being upset about the restriction put on street protests they should find a better way to make their voice heard…Zophorianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00558203558155054549noreply@blogger.com