File spoon-archives/anarchy-list.archive/anarchy-list_2000/anarchy-list.0012, message 241


Date: Wed, 20 Dec 2000 14:36:08 -0500
From: Chuck0 <chuck-AT-tao.ca>
Subject: Re: [waggers] Letter sent to Chief Ramsey Today


Why are you folks negotiating with the police? Haven't they beaten us up
enough times this year? Adam, of all people, should know a thing or two
about police harassment. I don't know if you are trying to play a joke
on Chief Ramsey, but I think this attempt to talk with the police
department is a tremendous insult to the thousands of activists who have
suffered from police violence this year.

The cops are not our enemies. They will use violence against us and we
should never forget that. We don't need the polcie department to tell us
"which protests are legal." Legality means nothing to a bunch of thugs
who routinely break the laws they have sworn to uphold.

It's a real shame that local activists are again falling into the trap
created by the ruling class and their violent thugs. You could be making
some points about  your political goals, but instead you are engaging in
an attempt to mollify the authorities.

Pretty damn stupid and cowardly if you ask me.

We have no fucking right to yell "whose street, our streets," if we've
negotiated with the police in order to march on the damn streets.
Freedom of speech is something you fight for, not something you beg for.

Chuck0
www.infoshop.org

Adam Eidinger wrote:
> 
> J-A-M
> JUSTICE -ACTION -MOVEMENT
> 
> December 20, 2000
> 
> Chief Charles Ramsey
> Metropolitan Police Department
> 300 Indiana Avenue, NW Room 5080
> Washington, DC 20001
> 
> VIA FAX# 202-727-9524
> 
> Dear Chief Ramsey:
> 
> We send this letter to request a meeting with you to
> inform the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) of our
> developing plans to peacefully participate in the
> Presidential Inaugural on January 19-20, 2001.
> 
> The Justice Action Movement, or JAM for short, is a
> multi-issue coalition consisting of people of every
> age, race, gender, and background imaginable from
> Washington, DC, and around the country. At the
> Inauguration we will be exercising our
> constitutionally protected right to express our
> displeasure with a broken political system that has
> become beholden to and even dependent on corporate
> interests.
> 
> Our viewpoints, however, are not why we are writing
> you. In the past, the MPD has engaged in preemptive
> arrest and detention, disseminated false information
> to the public and the press that mischaracterized
> peaceful demonstrators as violent, confiscated
> political literature, and shut down our meeting
> spaces.  We want assurances this conduct will not
> occur again.
> 
> We feel that by involving the MPD in our planning, we
> will be able to provide clarity for the thousands we
> expect to come to Washington as to what forms of
> protest are legal. We believe all law enforcement
> agencies should be non-partisan and completely
> respectful of all political views.
> 
> We hope to avoid a tragic repeat of the
> unconstitutional police tactics used against
> demonstrators in Seattle, Washington, New York,
> Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Boston, St. Louis, and
> Cincinnati.    It's clear that many law enforcement
> agencies have followed the example set by the MPD
> during the International Monetary Fund and World Bank
> meetings last April.  During these civil and
> non-violent protests, over one thousand were arrested,
> and yet there were no convictions.  Many people were
> held in jail for a week or in buses for many hours
> without being able to communicate to those on the
> outside that their rights were being violated.  People
> were beaten without justification on the streets and
> behind bars.
> 
> We are resolved to protest despite this blatant
> repression.  In these trying times, we feel that it is
> necessary to make you aware that our intentions are
> 100% peaceful.  To achieve this goal we have adopted
> guidelines for our organizing which include: No
> weapons; No physical or verbal violence; No illegal
> drugs; and No property destruction.
> 
> Please contact Daniel Holstein at 202-270-8387 as soon
> as possible to schedule the meeting.  Four
> representatives of the Justice Action Movement, will
> be available to meet with you and/or your senior
> staff, on Thursday December 21 or soon thereafter.  We
> kindly request that before you make any new public
> statements about security and protests during the
> Inauguration, you first consider meeting with us and
> become informed as to our plans.  We hope that Metro
> Police Department will uphold the rights of Americans
> to express their views peacefully.
> 
> Sincerely,
> 
> Adam Eidinger, Daniel Holstein,  Bill Andrews
> Justice Action Movmement
> 
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