Anonymous Clashes With D.C. Police During Million Mask March 388
Daniel_Stuckey writes "Scheduled to coincide with Guy Fawkes Night, a centuries-old day of remembrance typically celebrated in Great Britain, the Nov. 5 protest is something of a tradition for the hacktivist collective. Anonymous, which is often identified by the Fawkes mask used in the Hollywood blockbuster V for Vendetta, hosted a similar rally in 2011, dubbed 'Night of a Thousand Masks.' Protesters in Washington, D.C. clashed with police before noon. By approximately 10am, an arrest was made. The incident was livestreamed, and Anonymous claimed that the individual was grabbed and arrested after stepping off a sidewalk and into the street. A spokesperson for the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department declined to comment."
Stay behind the line! (Score:5, Insightful)
"Fight the power" means just that, however there are 2 pieces of the power - law-makers, and law-enforcers.
Re:Stay behind the line! (Score:5, Insightful)
OK. You go first.
Re:Stay behind the line! (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't know if *you* would still do it given the chance. I know I wouldn't
Re:Stay behind the line! (Score:5, Insightful)
This is Slashdot. Maybe ten years ago, maybe. Today? No. No frickin' way!
How can I show up to work tomorrow if I'm in jail?
Give me a blog post about violence in video games by a third-rate hack tech-journalist so I can express my superiority and fuck off. I've had a long day.
Re:Arrest them all (Score:5, Insightful)
Anonymous is a bunch of mindless vigilante manchildren and idiotic trolls. Maybe if mommy has to go bail them out they'll grow up.
Why hello there, tool of the police state!
After the government is done jailing all the people exercising their 1A rights whom you didn't support because they said things you disapprove of, they'll get around to you.
Some things about, and actions taken by, Anonymous I support. Others I disagree with.
But I'd fight to the death for their right to speak out, because I understand that if they can be silenced, so can I or anyone else.
Strat
Re:Occupy Sandy (Score:5, Insightful)
If you don't know about agents provocateurs, you really ought not to be at a protest - it's like crossing the road without knowing that you might have to check for traffic.
IOW, protest leaders need to give some basic training to protesters.
"Day of remembrance"? (Score:5, Insightful)
It was a celebration of the capture and execution of anti-government forces, with some vaguely anti-Catholic undertones, not a remembrance of their efforts. It has since metamorphosed into a politically neutral excuse to set off some fireworks and eat hamburgers on soggy November nights, and I'm all for using it as an ironic de-facto civil liberties day, but let's not be mistaken about its historical origins.
Re:Stay behind the line! (Score:5, Insightful)
All protests should carry on without violence, without resistance, until the jails are filled.
One should not protest unless ready to start a revolution. And once that decision is made, protesting is not the optimal path to victory.
The day the reasonable people decide it's time to start a revolution won't be marked by a large protest, but by fire and blood and horror.
Re:London too (Score:3, Insightful)
Maybe it's time to stop supporting three political parties all of which are further to the right than Thatcher.
But I guess everyone has to start somewhere, and that somewhere sometimes involves wearing a mask and burning stuff.
Yes, because supporting the left, who believe the solution to all problems is to grant government even more power and control, will nip that abuse of government power and control right in the bud.
Yup, right in the bud.
Bud, zoom, gone.
Makes perfect sense.
Strat
Re:London too (Score:5, Insightful)
``No,'' said Ford, who by this time was a little more rational and coherent than he had been, having finally had the coffee forced down him, ``nothing so simple. Nothing anything like so straightforward. On its world, the people are people. The leaders are lizards. The people hate the lizards and the lizards role the people.''
``Odd,'' said Arthur, ``I thought you said it was a democracy.''
``I did,'' said Ford. ``It is.''
``So,'' said Arthur, hoping he wasn't sounding ridiculously obtuse, ``why don't people get rid of the lizards?''
``It honestly doesn't occur to them,'' said Ford. ``They've all got the vote, so they all pretty much assume that the government they've voted in more or less approximates to the government they want.''
``You mean they actually vote for the lizards?''
``Oh yes,'' said Ford with a shrug, ``of course.''
``But,'' said Arthur, going for the big one again, ``why?''
``Because if they didn't vote for a lizard,'' said Ford, ``the wrong lizard might get in. Got any gin?''
Re:Stay behind the line! (Score:5, Insightful)
Ghandi and Dr. King would tell you that peaceful protestors who break no laws often go to jail. You know, a cop whacks you over the head with a night stick, knocking you unconscious and then arrests you for sleeping on the sidewalk. Freedom to peacefully protest no longer exists in the US.
Re:Stay behind the line! (Score:4, Insightful)
Protesting is supposed to be an event that brings to light the truth behind logic and order's place in society.
Re:Stay behind the line! (Score:5, Insightful)
Freedom to peacefully protest no longer exists in the US.
Thousands of people gathered in DC to protest NSA surveillance just a few weeks ago. Tens of thousands of people gathered all over the country in July for "Restore the Fourth". I don't know of any arrests or conflicts with the police.
Re:Stay behind the line! (Score:5, Insightful)
Being arrested is not a badge of honour, kid.
And having states arrest people for protesting should not be a goal.
Re:London too (Score:4, Insightful)
You use that word...I do not think it means what you think it means. Yes, the "set fire to your strawman" line is cute, but you really should have waited to trot that one out in a reply where it might have made sense.
The left advocates for a stronger, more powerful government because that's what is required to implement and manage things like wealth redistribution/entitlements and nationalized services and resources. They themselves admit as much.
Therefor, if the problem is government power & control being abused, putting people in charge who will grant the government even more power & control (the left) is antithetical to the goal of reducing/eliminating government abuse of their power & control.
Strat
Re:Stay behind the line! (Score:5, Insightful)
In a country of 300 million people, I think you need a bit more than "tens of thousands" across the country for the government to feel threatened. Peaceful protest is all well and good - but as long as people continue to work, and the government knows there will be no violent uprising, why would they care? Did those protests achieve anything at all?
Re:Stay behind the line! (Score:5, Insightful)
No. All I was saying is that if you're out there protesting, then it should be something that you feel strongly about. So strong, that you are willing to go to jail for a few hours, at the very least. Protests only "work" when the powers that be change something. All else is not protesting, but simply hanging out. I'm not suggesting rioting, or anything like that, but you've gotta do more than sit around waiting to be pepper-sprayed by people that have no respect for you anymore - because you're such a pansy (this would be their mentality).
Re:Stay behind the line! (Score:2, Insightful)
I don't know if *you* would still do it given the chance. I know I wouldn't
Then you haven't found anything important enough.
You would probably not mind living in a fascist dictatorship as long as you aren't among the people being harassed by it, at least not enough to actually stand up against the law enforcement to protect the victims in such a case.
Re:Stay behind the line! (Score:5, Insightful)
So strong, that you are willing to go to jail for a few hours, at the very least.
Nope, now you can be accused of terrorism [commondreams.org] and held for a month just as an example or slapped with a nice fine of several thousand dollars for costs of detainment.
Re:Arrest them all (Score:2, Insightful)
But I'd fight to the death for their right to speak out, because I understand that if they can be silenced, so can I or anyone else.
Manning and Snowden spoke out about much more important matters. They don't have the right to it and neither can travel freely in the U.S.
Free speech isn't about the right to scream racist slurs. It is about the right to speak out against the government.
I doubt very much that you would be willing to fight to the death for free speech. If you would you would be out on the streets rioting now.
Re:London too (Score:5, Insightful)
I see you're preaching for the Church of American Conservatism, and I am not interested in your leaflets.
I don't want to change the size of government. I want the people to take back control of government.
You're just trying to sell me a power vacuum.
Re:Stay behind the line! (Score:4, Insightful)
No, disorganized (and even organized) protests with fuzzy demands which aren't actionable don't typically achieve much. If you want an example of how to do protest right, channeling minority anger into political power, look at the Tea Party. For God's sakes, don't emulate some of their goals, but certainly look at their methods.
Re:Stay behind the line! (Score:3, Insightful)
Bullshit.
Besides, "fire, blood and horror" wouldn't win anyone to your cause and, before you're able to organize sufficient manpower to actually matter you'd be easily found out and imprisoned.
You're the tough guy that will talk down on protests and demand for a real revolution while not getting away from his keyboard.
Re:Stay behind the line! (Score:4, Insightful)
That must be why there are no homeless people: they all prefer to be in jail than on the streets...
Oh wait.
Just because you found homelessness unbearable compared to being locked up, it doesn't mean most people feel that way. What is more, I don't know about your jurisdiction, but where I live, even getting arrested can have a significant effect on many jobs - and I'm not talking about high-flying bullshit, but meaningful work such as in healthcare, or anything which may require you to travel abroad.
More important than all of this is that deliberately getting arrested usually acts against your cause's favour. Sure, it'll get you a round of, "Right on, bro!"s from those who already support you, but those who perceive themselves as the law-abiding majority will dismiss you as a dirty scofflaw.
Anyone can deliberately lose their shit and receive a beating, reminisce fondly about how manly it made them feel, and criticise everyone else for not also requesting a beating. It requires patience and intelligence to organise and establish a long term plan to win people over.
Re:Stay behind the line! (Score:5, Insightful)
Blue collar jobs often actually do background checks and just toss out applicants who have criminal records. It's just a supply/demand issue: the supply of blue collar workers is extremely high while the demand for them is extremely low. Therefore, companies can choose to be extremely picky in who they hire. This creates a terrible situation for many who don't have the resources or intelligence to gain the higher education necessary to make them valuable enough for a company to overlook any misdemeanors they've been charged with. I assume that you have either an education or skills that make you valuable enough to your employer to overlook whatever prior offense you have on your record, or your skills in combination with your interview meant they didn't see any reason to bother with a background check.
Unfortunately, blue collar workers, who probably have the most reason to protest, also have the most to lose by doing so. They could make themselves unemployable to all but the lowest paying fast food jobs, which in turn would make crime a more appealing source of income, at which point they become part of the penal system's revolving door trap.
Re:Stay behind the line! (Score:4, Insightful)
I don't want lower taxes if it means higher deficits. Oh yeah, cut welfare for brown and poor people, but maintain it for white and rich people.
Less government intrusion, so long as the government can still step in and dictate who can get abortions or get married. Yeah, freedom, but only for people who think like me. You have the freedom to do what *I* think is right, and no more.
Re:Stay behind the line! (Score:4, Insightful)
"have their crayon promptly confiscated until they can be good little liberals."
But we have a liberal in power.
He talked a lot of shit about the previous administration only to be worse.
Obama — a "liberal?" Heh... no. He's a right-authoritarian. [politicalcompass.org]
As Cornel West observed, a "Rockefeller Republican in blackface." [blackvoicenews.com]
Obama may have run on a somewhat leftist platform in 2008, but that's no "liberal" in the White House.
Funny how Liberals pretend to care about right and wrong, but will create a police state if you give them the chance.
Left and right governments around the world both create police states — what they have in common is authoritarianism, not liberalism (or conservatism).