Naomi Wolf on what happened last night at Occupy Wall Street protest:
The officers who had us in custody were very courteous, and several expressed sympathy for the movements’ aims. Nonetheless, my partner and I had our possessions taken from us, our ID copied, and we were placed in separate cells for about half an hour. It was clear that by then the police knew there was scrutiny of this arrest so they handled us with great courtesy, but my phone was taken and for half an hour I was in a faeces- or blood-smeared cell, thinking at that moment the only thing that separates civil societies from barbaric states is the rule of law – that finds the prisoner, and holds the arresting officers and courts accountable.
Another scary outcome I discovered is that, when the protesters marched to the first precinct, the whole of Erickson Street was cordoned off – “frozen” they were told, “by Homeland Security”. Obviously if DHS now has powers to simply take over a New York City street because of an arrest for peaceable conduct by a middle-aged writer in an evening gown, we have entered a stage of the closing of America, which is a serious departure from our days as a free republic in which municipalities are governed by police forces.
The police are now telling my supporters that the permit in question gave the event managers “control of the sidewalks”. I have asked to see the permit but still haven’t been provided with it – if such a category now exists, I have never heard of it; that, too, is a serious blow to an open civil society. What did I take away? Just that, unfortunately, my partner and I became exhibit A in a process that I have been warning Americans about since 2007: first they come for the “other” – the “terrorist”, the brown person, the Muslim, the outsider; then they come for you – while you are standing on a sidewalk in evening dress, obeying the law.
Spying, lies and violence have replaced the rule of law. Be sure to thank your local Corporate headquarters for destroying the golden goose.
Once upon a time, there was a “Monty Python” skit portraying a policeman giving evidence to the Court about a given defendant. In reviewing the charges against the defendant, one of them was “conspiring to perform a legal act”.
In the early 1970s, this would have been seen as a comedy skit.
Now, it is the state of our “republic”.
What’s astounding here are the dozens of anti-Naomi comments. There must be close to a hundred comments deleted for violations of “The Guardian’s” terms of service (obscenity, personal attacks, etc.). I cannot believe that so many right-wingers are reading and trolling “The Guardian” without being on someone’s payroll to do so.
We know how this works. PR firms are using identity management software to place comments and letters in major media. HB Gary Federal actually made a proposal to the Defense Department to stack comment sections with disruptive viewpoints — Go Google HBGary CEO. The Internet is not the free exchange of ideas that we think it is, or what it was five years ago.