Klein (Globe & Mail): Heavy-handed Police and Propaganda Tactics

[0rganism]

http://www.globeandmail.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20031125/CONAOMI25//?query=Naomi+Klein

Heavy-handed Police and Propaganda Tactics Brought Baghdad to Miami
by Naomi Klein

Published on Tuesday, November 25, 2003 by the Globe & Mail(Toronto)

In December, 1990, U.S. President George Bush Sr. traveled through South America to sell the continent on a bold new dream: "a free-trade system that links all of the Americas." Addressing the Argentine congress, he said that the plan, later to be named the Free-Trade Area of the Americas would be "our hemisphere's new declaration of interdependence . . . the brilliant new dawn of a splendid new world."

Last week, Mr. Bush's two sons joined forces to try to usher in that new world by holding the FTAA negotiations in friendly Florida. This is the state that Governor Jeb Bush vowed to "deliver" to his brother during the 2000 presidential elections, even if that meant keeping many African-Americans from exercising their right to vote. Now Jeb Bush was vowing to hand his brother the coveted trade deal, even if that meant keeping thousands from exercising their right to protest.

(snip)

Inside the Hotel Inter-Continental, it was being called "FTAA Lite."

Outside, we experienced something distinctly heavier: "War Lite." In fact, the more control the U.S. trade representatives lost at the negotiating table, the more raw power the police exerted on the streets.

"Our goal was to drown you out," one Miami-Dade police officer explained to me, and that's exactly what they did. Small, peaceful demonstrations were attacked with extreme force; organizations were infiltrated by undercover officers who then used stun guns on activists; busses filled with union members were prevented from joining permitted marches; dozens of young faces were smashed into concrete and beaten bloody with batons; human rights activists had guns pointed at their heads at military-style checkpoints.

(snip)

The FTAA Summit in Miami represents the official homecoming of the "war on terror." The latest tactical and propaganda techniques honed in Iraq -- from a Hollywoodized military to a militarized media -- have now been used on a grand scale in a major U.S. city. "This should be a model for homeland defense," Miami Mayor Manny Diaz proudly said of the security operation that brought together over 40 law- enforcement agencies, from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, to the Department of Fish and Wildlife.

But in order for the Miami Model to work, the police first had to establish a connection between legitimate activists and dangerous terrorists. Enter Miami Police Chief John Timoney, an avowed enemy of activist "punks" who repeatedly classified FTAA opponents as "outsiders coming in to terrorize and vandalize our city."

With the activists recast as dangerous aliens, Miami became eligible for the open tap of public money irrigating the "war on terror." In fact, $8.5-million spent on security during the FTAA meeting came directly out of the $87-billion President Bush extracted from Congress for Iraq last month -- a fact barely reported outside of the Miami press.

(snip)

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You need to read this article.

[The Backlash Cometh]

1. I smell a civil lawsuit coming around

Also, it would be interesting if a free country out there were able to write a documentary on the changing police state in America. I'm sure there's plenty of film to back up what they have to say. They'd have to show it outside the U.S., of course, because it would never be permitted to air in this country.

[0rganism]

2. Didja catch this bit?

(from the end of the article)

Already, Jim Wilkinson, director of strategic communications at U.S. Central Command in Doha, Qatar, (the operation that gave the world the Jessica Lynch rescue), has moved to New York to head up media operations for the Republican National Convention. "We're looking at embedding reporters," he told the New York Observer of his plans to use some of the Iraq tricks during the convention. "We're looking at new and interesting camera angles."


:scared:

[The Backlash Cometh]

4. They don't even try to hide the fact that they're going to create a

"Ministry of Truth" that tells lies. Who's going to challenge them?
How do you convince gullible Heartland Republicans that the people that are controlling them are all smoke and mirrors?

[newyawker99]

3. 0rganism

Per DU copyright rules
please post only 4
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NYer99
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