Freedom Of Speech Today

A comment on the past two weeks of “conventioneering” brought on by these wonderful pictures of the conventions protests, provided by Pushback.

The hard suppression by police and politicians alike during both the Democratic and Republican conventions represents a frightening thing for Americans. To ask for a justification from both the convention organizers and police for the large number of arrests and they will most likely tell you that the protesters were provided with designated protest areas, that some in the crowds were plotting violence…

Excuse me while I raise a hand in protestation, but I have something fundamental to say about free speech. If I were to go to protest a convention, I would hope to be able to protest at the convention, and not at its backdoor. While “protest areas” seem like a friendly way of setting aside scenic acres for one function of democracy it violates another core principle, that on public property I may go wherever I want and say whatever I want as long as I’m not intruding on anyone else’s right to do the same. If I’m not blocking the entrance of delegates, then I can protest all the way up to the front door.

Because my right to free speech isn’t just about venting my frustrations before my internal pressure cooker blows, it’s about sharing those frustrations with the rest of society so that myself and society can come to some sort of “middle way.” By hiding protesters in protesters in protest areas the right has been denied to take part in this important function of American society, and wrongly so.

The other fundamentally violated right was that in this country, we do not convict individuals on association. Simply knowing a criminal, or in this case standing next to, is not enough for assumed guilt. While a harsh police reaction can be justified in the instancee of immediate violence, the 4 day harsh crackdown on any and all major protests was absolutely unconscionable.

What happened in the case of both conventions the police force being tacit in helping city managers maintain the economy energizing propaganda of happy democracy in action via the conventions, and just the conventions. In the case of democracy, the imagery that turns a dollar will always win out over the reality. It’s hard to sell an America riven by protest, but the banner’s and flag traditionalism in party conventions is the kind of heart stirring imagery that causes all Americans to want to hit the town and spend a buck.

So city managers and police, shame on you. The bigger sin, however, may hang on someone else. The 4th estate, in their coverage of the convention, definitely fell for “we gave them protest areas” argument; providing justification to the police and cities. This is even while members of the media were under the same rough treatment. One photographer’s eyewitness account, via Sullivan:

By the time I realized I was at the center of the conflict it was too late. The bombs and tear gas were exploding all around me and cops were screaming at everyone to go south toward the bridge. I yelled to one cop “I’m media! Where do I go?!” but he pointed his rubber bullet gun at me and yelled “Go to the fucking bridge!” It was utter chaos. The police were throwing gas and bombs in between the bridge and people being told to go to the bridge. Poor aim? Amid the mayhem I managed to click away a few frames, but I couldn’t help but notice what was going on. They had surrounded the area and were corralling what seemed like 300 people, including a large number of media and legal observers, onto the bridge for a mass arrest.

We bitch and moan in this country about people not voting; not informing themselves well enough, but honestly, what do we expect? When the simplest forms of self-expression are denied to us, why participate. When tens of thousands of protesters can only be given 30 seconds worth of airtime, why act in the farce?

-Marc-