A day has passed, and my mood has mellowed.
In spirit, I agree with protestors. The WTO is a bunch of rich guys making the world safe for rich guys, and there needs to be changes made.
And they arrested about 450 people today, in total....450 mostly-peaceful protestors, who were sitting on public property, doing peaceful civil disobedience, not even blocking much more traffic than normal. That's as many people as work on the whole office campus I work in. They were outside the official no-protest zone.
And they launched tear gas and rubber bullets into these peaceful crowds.
It's a police state out there right now...it's currently illegal to own, sell or use gas masks, for crying out loud. (They're not exactly publicizing that outside Seattle, are they now?)
There are also reports of plainclothes policemen beating protestors who aren't currently breaking the law. There are rumors that somehow protestors are being "tagged" in crowds for later pickup, when they're alone and vulnerable.
And, yet, the rhetoric the protestors are using is getting thick. It pushes all of my bullshit buttons. As Chris says, "There are no answers, just anger. And I just want everyone gone." That's about how I'm starting to feel, now.
And now, to complicate things, the weather is about to turn cold, wet, windy, and generally nasty. (However, rain and wind will decrease the effectiveness of tear gas...) Between the damage done to property, and the money lost by businesses as people avoid the downtown area...this city has gone completely to hell.
I want my city back.
I am not on the front lines in this mess.Chris is, and I've been getting much of my on-the-scene reporting from him and the denizens of Hell BBS, which has a lot of people who live and work downtown on it.
I've noted this before and i'll say it again: Hell is a great resource for me because there are so many local people on it. When weather or news hits, we're generally right in the middle of it.
Pretty wild, eh?
Dec 1, 1999 6:38 PM from Idat No, it's not. It's well within the curfew zone. looks like they're being herded north, without being gassed. It looks like a bunch of people are wandering around downtown, looking happy that there aren't any cars on the road. It's the repressed jaywalker in us Seattleites. The people will walk free in the streets! [or something.] [WTO> msg #202 (10 remaining)]
And minor stuff from the home front:I completed my first full workout for two months this afternoon. Damn, it feels good. I forget how much better I feel when I'm active.
how goes the war?
we sleep tonight in a police state...with the uneasy thought that if it can happen here, it can happen anywhere.
