Baltimore and Violence...

[Rockhopper]

A good look at what is happening in Baltimore. Strong words but accurate.

Anti-Black racism, always just beneath the surface of polite racial discourse in the U.S., has exploded in reaction to the resistance of black youth to another brutal murder by the agents of this racist, settler-colonialist state. With the resistance, the focus shifted from the brutal murder of Freddie Gray and the systematic state violence that historically has been deployed to control and contain the black population in the colonized urban zones of North America, to the forms of resistance by African Americans to the trauma of ongoing state violence.

The narrative being advanced by corporate media spokespeople gives the impression that the resistance has no rational basis. The impression being established is that this is just another manifestation of the irrationality of non-European people – in particular, Black people – and how they are prone to violence. This is the classic colonial projection employed by all white supremacist settler states, from the U.S., to South Africa and Israel.

The accompanying narrative is that any kind of resistance that does not fit the narrow definition of “non-violent” resistance is illegitimate violence and, therefore, counter-productive because – “violence doesn’t accomplish anything.” Not only does this position falsely equates resistance to oppression as being morally equivalent to the violence of the oppressor, it also attempts to erase the role of violence as being fundamental to the U.S. colonial project.

From Here.

I will be posting my own views on it soon. Just need to collate it to make sense.

Tim.

[Stirky]

There hasn't been much news coverage on this here, well not from what I've seen, to be honest I haven't seen much news lately. Our news is full of election stuff at the mo!

[Rockhopper]

Not surprising Stikles. I see that Dave and Ed are close, Cleggy is dragging up behind and Neil is storming through the election.

Tim.

[Lenzabi]

Having seen videos of the riots, the comments below such videos are very saddening, it shows just how far we have to go with such overt Racism in the comments. some even were wanting to know why the people in these videos were not being shot, or tazed, and they had no clue why the violence was going on. Never a thought by them as to the violence of the state to a part of our society that has been cast adrift economically and isolated socially from being included in our alleged "post Racial culture". America seems to love glib and bland palliative labels to hope the racism is gone, it just went into hiding as far as I can see. Humanity can call a cat based on the color of the coat, but that does not stop all cats from being just cats, as they can breed and spawn more cats. Humans have this problem of seeing the hair types and skin tones, and calling each other different "Races" when in reality, all Humans can share blood, organs, and also if they choose, have more humans between the different ethnic groups. There is no separation of going "Black Humans, Asian Humans, White Humans, all have the same thing in common based on what I have said, H-U-M-A-N-S, there is one present hominid species with some alternate categaories, Homo sapiens, sapiens, but I do wonder if Homo sapiens stupidicus is an incorrect application based on the idiocy I see in the news each day?

That and ya all taste like pork

Note: That last is a dragon past life memory, I have not this life or several past lives partaken of the act of cannibalism.

[Rockhopper]

Yup Len. I see that the cops are being charged with various offences. That won't make any real difference though. The rot is from the top down and needs cleaning out. Baltimore is a bellwether for all the deaths by cops and a riot is the result.

Violence happens when all other options have no effect.

Tim.

[Lenzabi]

They basically are addressing the issues, and also finally realizing that throwing these corrupt cops under the bus will calm things down for a while.

[Rockhopper]

The reason the dispossessed turn to violence is because violence is the only thing power understands.

Baltimore is burning, embroiled in riots and protest against the city’s horrifically racist and oppressive police. That it took the death of Freddy Gray, a young man whose spine was severed in police custody, to spark the violence is perhaps less important than the fact that the explosion was inevitable.

Whenever protests against institutional injustice occur, there is the possibility for violence. People don’t join in actions against the power of the state without some understanding that their safety may be on the line. The possibility of any organised action erupting into violence is always a possibility because of hyper-awareness of safety, the amped-up emotions of protest, and the adrenaline.

The reaction to this violence is a textbook example of the myopia of modern societies. The protest movement in Baltimore, and nationally, in reaction to the death of another young black man by the police is seen in the context of rioting. One reaction to this rioting is the tut tuting of mainstream liberals, as if to say that non-violence is the only acceptable form of resistance to the state. But violence is often the only way for an underclass to make its voice heard.

The media and the power brokers who speak for the state present the action on the ground the way they wish it to be seen. If all you see on the television is violence and riots, so that’s all you might believe is going on. And this makes it easy to assume the position of moral superiority and condemn the violent actions of a few without taking into consideration the very real tactical advantage violence gives the underclass with which to challenge institutional power.

But even if mainstream societies can’t understand the inefficacy of non-violent protest in today’s repressive environment, the underclass on the ground in Baltimore certainly do. It’s impossible for a rational person to look at the past few decades and not realize the fact that violence is the only language power understands.

In the United States, the Rodney King riots in Los Angeles ended with the LA power brokers realising that the system of racial oppression could not be so blatant as to release without consequence the police officers that had been caught on camera beating an innocent man. Before the riots came an acquittal. That it took a violent protest to create the conditions for actual justice to be served is not lost on the national underclass.

It is impossible to suggest that the people on the street in Baltimore do not understand this. It is impossible to suggest that the people of Baltimore, the black, dispossessed people of Baltimore, do not fundamentally understand that without a show of solidarity and force their oppression will continue and their grievances will be ignored. Look:
* 109 people killed by police in 4 years in Maryland, 69 percent of victims were black
* $5.7 million paid out in restitution for police brutality and civil rights violations in the same time span
* Police in Baltimore shot and tortured animals as well as city residents
* The death of Freddie Gray, 26, in police custody.

Without the violent reaction of the protesters to the provocation of the police in Baltimore, there would not be a national conversation on the abuse of power in the city. The fact that these abuses have continued on for so long, unabated, for the city to have paid out over $5 million- and then still continue- is indicative of an institution that doesn’t care to change.

Martin Luther King, in 1968, said, “a riot is the language of the unheard.” He’s as right today as he was then. By resorting through desperation to the extreme tactics of violence, the people of Baltimore have spoken to power in the language it understands, and the conversation they have started will not end any time soon. The mainstream liberal movement would do well to catch up.

Tim.

[Lenzabi]

Sadly, I believe that they will do things that will only calm things for the next cycle to occur and then more riots will be necessary in say 2020 or so. That seems t be the way of Power, to placate and use a temporary solution to an ongoing and endemic problem in the very fabric of our society. And also, as liberal as I am for an American, I do not see that the attempts to change people that the pacificistic liberals have used shows a sense that they have a grip on reality.

[Mordae]

The reason the dispossessed turn to violence is because violence is the only thing power understands.

And...as one reporter was told..."When it was just peaceful protests, where was the Media? Burn a building or smash a cop car and you turn up".

Baltimore is burning, embroiled in riots and protest against the city’s horrifically racist and oppressive police. That it took the death of Freddy Gray, a young man whose spine was severed in police custody, to spark the violence is perhaps less important than the fact that the explosion was inevitable.

Whenever protests against institutional injustice occur, there is the possibility for violence. People don’t join in actions against the power of the state without some understanding that their safety may be on the line. The possibility of any organised action erupting into violence is always a possibility because of hyper-awareness of safety, the amped-up emotions of protest, and the adrenaline.

The reaction to this violence is a textbook example of the myopia of modern societies. The protest movement in Baltimore, and nationally, in reaction to the death of another young black man by the police is seen in the context of rioting. One reaction to this rioting is the tut tuting of mainstream liberals, as if to say that non-violence is the only acceptable form of resistance to the state. But violence is often the only way for an underclass to make its voice heard.

The media and the power brokers who speak for the state present the action on the ground the way they wish it to be seen. If all you see on the television is violence and riots, so that’s all you might believe is going on. And this makes it easy to assume the position of moral superiority and condemn the violent actions of a few without taking into consideration the very real tactical advantage violence gives the underclass with which to challenge institutional power.

But even if mainstream societies can’t understand the inefficacy of non-violent protest in today’s repressive environment, the underclass on the ground in Baltimore certainly do. It’s impossible for a rational person to look at the past few decades and not realize the fact that violence is the only language power understands.

In the United States, the Rodney King riots in Los Angeles ended with the LA power brokers realising that the system of racial oppression could not be so blatant as to release without consequence the police officers that had been caught on camera beating an innocent man. Before the riots came an acquittal. That it took a violent protest to create the conditions for actual justice to be served is not lost on the national underclass.

It is impossible to suggest that the people on the street in Baltimore do not understand this. It is impossible to suggest that the people of Baltimore, the black, dispossessed people of Baltimore, do not fundamentally understand that without a show of solidarity and force their oppression will continue and their grievances will be ignored. Look:
* 109 people killed by police in 4 years in Maryland, 69 percent of victims were black
* $5.7 million paid out in restitution for police brutality and civil rights violations in the same time span
* Police in Baltimore shot and tortured animals as well as city residents
* The death of Freddie Gray, 26, in police custody.

Without the violent reaction of the protesters to the provocation of the police in Baltimore, there would not be a national conversation on the abuse of power in the city. The fact that these abuses have continued on for so long, unabated, for the city to have paid out over $5 million- and then still continue- is indicative of an institution that doesn’t care to change.

Martin Luther King, in 1968, said, “a riot is the language of the unheard.” He’s as right today as he was then. By resorting through desperation to the extreme tactics of violence, the people of Baltimore have spoken to power in the language it understands, and the conversation they have started will not end any time soon. The mainstream liberal movement would do well to catch up.

Tim.

I agree, if anything, you could probably say that it is more a revolt than rioting. In retrospect, there isn't all that much of a difference between a bunch of disaffected whites throwing a lot of tea in the harbour, then popping some caps in British ass and whats going on now

[Lenzabi]

I agree, if anything, you could probably say that it is more a revolt than rioting. In retrospect, there isn't all that much of a difference between a bunch of disaffected whites throwing a lot of tea in the harbour, then popping some caps in British ass and whats going on now scratch

Except sadly, in a nation of White Privilege, they make it out to be criminal thuggery, not viable protest/rebellion against an unfair situation that the people rioting have felt no power to change except by the fact they have torn up the area in a way of making their till now silent voices heard. Here in America, Money is speech don't you know? except that the poor of Baltimore, those with no money have made their voices heard another way.
This was a shout, a shout of rage and fury and they have been right, normal protests, nothing, property damage, and suddenly the media is here, but not to help tell their tale, but make them look as if they were some simple criminals and only criminals, Not the desperate folks needing help from poverty and police instigated violence against them.

[Rockhopper]

Except sadly, in a nation of White Privilege, they make it out to be criminal thuggery, not viable protest/rebellion against an unfair situation that the people rioting have felt no power to change except by the fact they have torn up the area in a way of making their till now silent voices heard. Here in America, Money is speech don't you know? except that the poor of Baltimore, those with no money have made their voices heard another way.
This was a shout, a shout of rage and fury and they have been right, normal protests, nothing, property damage, and suddenly the media is here, but not to help tell their tale, but make them look as if they were some simple criminals and only criminals, Not the desperate folks needing help from poverty and police instigated violence against them.

Yep, that's the media distortion Len. It's how they want to portray it as a bunch of crims on a rampage not a legitimate response to a shocking event.

Tim.

[Lenzabi]

Except sadly, in a nation of White Privilege, they make it out to be criminal thuggery, not viable protest/rebellion against an unfair situation that the people rioting have felt no power to change except by the fact they have torn up the area in a way of making their till now silent voices heard. Here in America, Money is speech don't you know? except that the poor of Baltimore, those with no money have made their voices heard another way.
This was a shout, a shout of rage and fury and they have been right, normal protests, nothing, property damage, and suddenly the media is here, but not to help tell their tale, but make them look as if they were some simple criminals and only criminals, Not the desperate folks needing help from poverty and police instigated violence against them.

Yep, that's the media distortion Len. It's how they want to portray it as a bunch of crims on a rampage not a legitimate response to a shocking event.

Tim.

Yep. they have to still make their audiences feel superior somehow

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