Comments | lizardist: On the fate of the Climate Camp in the City

lizardist

On the fate of the Climate Camp in the City

Apr 09, 2009 22:39

Many, indeed most, of my readers attended the demonstrations at the G20 summit in London, taking part in the action known as "Climate Camp in the City." As is well known, this camp was broken up after roughly 12 hours of occupation. The police methods were brutal, with the single goal of removing the protesters from the streets of London. ( Read more... )

Comments 7

Hey kajabba April 14 2009, 17:22:08 UTC

Hey, nice analysis in the first 2/3rds, thanks for the succinct clarification ( ... )

Re: Hey lizardist April 14 2009, 23:06:45 UTC

This is the LEGAL definition of a riot. I didn't make it up. I know it's bullshit, but that's kind of the point I was making. Don't expect the law to make sense.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riot_Act

Re: Hey lizardist April 14 2009, 23:08:44 UTC

Hmph, riot act is out of date.
http://www.lectlaw.com/def2/q053.htm

Re: Hey lizardist April 14 2009, 23:09:41 UTC

And that's American Law.

But that's the thing. Your definition is what people imagine when they think riot. It is NOT the legal definition of a riot, that the police have to satisfy. You CAN have a "peaceful" riot.

Thread 5

kajabba April 17 2009, 00:44:21 UTC

Okay, I see what you mean. Still, I think its worth appropiating commonsense definitions of things. People are good at smelling bullshit.

Also I believe a fair amount of criticism of the police is actually slipping out at the sides. BBC 24 news had quite a few videos of police brutality playing the other day. I believe various court battles cases and reviews are now underway.

I'm taking the long view on all this. I know that the protest itself was a complete failure, but since the protestors demonstrably have the moral highground in what happened, I think that some kind of check of police heaviness will be at least one positive outcome.
J

lizardist April 17 2009, 13:06:32 UTC

I agree that appropriating definitions is a good idea. But the rioters/protestors took a rather defensive stance. Perhaps "The riot police are rioting," suggested by Harry and Molly's write-ups, would have been an appropriate ideological attack? I'm not saying that the protest was meaningless, but that we have to look at the reasons behind the failure, and contextualise it ( ... )