More on Miami's Brutal Police

Forwarded with Compliments of Government of the USA in Exile (GUSAE):
Free Americans Resisting the Fourth Reich on Behalf of All Species.
NOTE:  Thanks to Truthout.org for this.   --  kl, pp

      America's Enemy Within
      By Naomi Klein
      The Guardian

      Wednesday 26 November 2003

Armed checkpoints, embedded reporters in flak jackets, brutal
suppression of peaceful demonstrators. Baghdad? No, Miami

      In December 1990, President George Bush Sr travelled 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, Bush's two sons joined forces to try to usher in that
new world by holding the FTAA negotiations in 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 was
vowing to hand his brother the coveted trade deal, even if that meant
keeping thousands from exercising their right to protest.

      Despite the brothers' best efforts, the dream of a hemisphere
united into a single free-market economy died last week - killed not
by demonstrators in Miami but by the populations of Argentina, Brazil
and Bolivia, who let their politicians know that if they sign away
more power to foreign multinationals, they may as well not come home.

      The Brazilians brokered a compromise that makes the agreement a
pick-and-choose affair, allowing governments to sign on to the parts
they like and refuse the ones they don't. Washington will continue to
bully countries into sweeping trade contracts on the model of the
North American Free Trade Agreement, but there will be no single,
unified deal.

      Inside the Inter-Continental hotel, it was being called "FTAA
lite". Outside, we experienced something heavier: "War lite". The
more control the US trade representatives lost at the negotiating
table, the more raw power the police exerted on the streets.

      Small, peaceful demonstrations were attacked with extreme force;
organisations were infiltrated by undercover officers who used stun
guns; buses of union members were prevented from joining permitted
marches; people were beaten with batons; activists had guns pointed
at their heads at checkpoints.

      Police violence outside trade summits is not new; what was
striking about Miami was how divorced the security response was from
anything resembling an actual threat. From an activist perspective,
the protests were small and obedient, an understandable response to
weeks of police intimidation.

      The FTAA Summit in Miami represents the official homecoming of
the "war on terror". The latest techniques honed in Iraq - from a
Hollywoodised military to a militarised media - have now been used on
a grand scale in a major US city. "This should be a model for
homeland defence," the Miami mayor, Manny Diaz, said of the security
operation that brought together over 40 law-enforcement agencies,
from the FBI to the Department of Fish and Wildlife.

      For the Miami model to work, the police had to establish a
connection between legitimate activists and dangerous terrorists.
Enter the Miami police chief, John Timoney, an avowed enemy of
activist "punks", who classified FTAA opponents as "outsiders coming
in to terrorise and vandalise 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, $8.5m spent on security during the FTAA meeting
came out of the $87bn Bush extracted from Congress for Iraq last
month.

      But more was borrowed from the Iraq war than just money. Miami
police also invited reporters to "embed" with them in armoured
vehicles and helicopters. As in Iraq, most reporters embraced their
role as pseudo soldiers with zeal, suiting up in combat helmets and
flak jackets.

      The resulting media coverage was the familiar wartime
combination of dramatic images and non-information. We know, thanks
to an "embed" from the Miami Herald, that Timoney was working so hard
hunting down troublemakers that by 3:30pm on Thursday "he had eaten
only a banana and a cookie since 6am".

      Local TV stations didn't cover the protests so much as hover
over them. Their helicopters showed images of confrontations, but
instead of hearing the voices on the streets - voices pleading with
police to stop shooting and clearly following orders to disperse - we
heard only from police officials and perky news anchors commiserating
with the boys on the front line.

      Meanwhile, independent journalists who dared to do their jobs
and film the police violence up close were actively targeted. "She's
not with us," one officer told another as they grabbed Ana Nogueira,
a correspondent with Pacifica Radio's Democracy Now! who was covering
a peaceful protest outside the Miami-Dade county jail. When the
police established that Nogueira was "not with us" (ie neither an
embedded reporter nor undercover cop) she was hauled away and charged.

      The Miami model of dealing with domestic dissent reaches far
beyond a single meeting. On Sunday, the New York Times reported on a
leaked FBI bulletin revealing "a coordinated, nationwide effort to
collect intelligence" on the anti-war movement. The memorandum
singles out lawful protest activities. Anthony Romero, executive
director of the American Civil Liberties Union, said the document
revealed that "the FBI is targeting Americans who are engaged in
lawful protest. The line between terrorism and legitimate civil
disobedience is blurred."

      We can expect more of these tactics on the homeland front. Just
as civil liberties violations escalated when Washington lost control
over the FTAA process, so will repression increase as Bush faces the
ultimate threat: losing control over the White House.

      Already, Jim Wilkinson, director of strategic communications at
US 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."

      The war is coming home.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

      Protesters Say Miami Police Abused Them
      By Rachel La Corte
      Associated Press

      Tuesday 25 November 2003

      Civil rights groups complained Tuesday that police at last
week's trade talks abused protesters -- some senior citizens -- by
arresting them without cause and denying them restrooms, water and
phones.

      Meanwhile, the national steelworkers union called for a
congressional investigation and the removal of Miami police Chief
John Timoney over the treatment of its members during the protests,
and several groups said they will sue the city.

      "Police failed. The City of Miami failed," said Deborah Dion,
the AFL-CIO's campaign coordinator.

      Thursday, the final day of the talks, some of the approximately
8,000 demonstrators threw objects and fired slingshots at officers
outside the Free Trade Area of the Americas meeting, and officers hit
protesters with batons, zapped them with stun guns and dispersed them
with gas and sprays.

      Miami's political leaders and law enforcement officials have
praised the actions of police and have denied any abuse by officers.
They continued to insist Tuesday that officers acted properly.

      But many protesters said they were peaceful and complied with
officers' demands, only to be arrested anyway.

      Bentley Killmon, 71, said he was trying to get back to the buses
provided by the Alliance for Retired Americans when police pushed him
to the ground, arrested him and handcuffed him for 12 hours.

      "The way I was treated, you would expect it in a Third World
country, not in this country," he said.

      The American Civil Liberties Union says it was preparing to take
legal action, as were the AFL-CIO and other organizations.

      The United Steelworkers of America sent a letter to
congressional leaders late Monday, criticizing police. The letter
also criticized the use of federal money -- $8.5 million was allotted
-- for Miami's security costs, calling it money for "homeland
repression."

      Monday's letter was sent to several members of Congress,
including Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle and Senate Republican
Leader Bill Frist, with copies to Gov. Jeb Bush, among others.

      Bush spokeswoman Alia Faraj said that the governor had not yet
reviewed the letter but said the governor believes law enforcement
agencies did a "phenomenal job."

      Miami police spokesman Lt. Bill Schwartz added that by the
officers' actions, Miami averted the rioting and millions of dollars
in property damage that occurred outside the World Trade Organization
meeting in Seattle in 1999.

      "The object of the show of force was twofold: one to let the
peaceful demonstrators know they could protest safely and two to let
the troublemakers know that we would not tolerate anarchy," Schwartz
said. "It was successful."

      Of the more than 200 people arrested, only two remained jailed Tuesday.

      One protester remained hospitalized with head injuries he says
he suffered when police pinned him to the ground. An arrest report
says the demonstrator ignored orders to disperse and then became
"very violent."

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) : t r u t h o u t 2003