Police Non-Violence a Break From the Past

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Last night, when Starhawk and others protested in front of the convention center, the police actually brought an air-conditioned tour bus to give them a ride back to the city. No one was arrested. Police have taken many blows from protesters. They have been hit by rocks and bashed with sticks. Today, protesters actually threw a bucket of shit on police -- serious provocation. A few police have hit back, although this has been scarce and largely in self-defense.

In this sense, the protesters lost. The media shows people throwing shit on police and the police hold their line. But in many other senses protesters have won. This week has been a brilliant, shining example of positive alternatives for thousands of people who came here to partake in hundreds of public forums held throughout the week, including the Peoples Forum for Alternatives to the WTO, the Fair Trade Fair, Sustainable Trade Symposium, and the Forum on Forests and Globalization. Many of these people did not take to the streets.

Taking the streets is an incredibly powerful statement. The action stops the movement of traffic and commerce in the area. Attention is drawn to an important issue. This was done with amazing care and with a small number of people in the case of the direct action last night in front of the convention center.

When violent protesters take to the streets against peaceful cops, the only images that result -- because the media coverage is the lens the rest of the world has to view the protests -- is that violent protesters unwittingly turn the barricades around on themselves, becoming instead the barbarous element. The actions of the few people who chose violent alternatives at the marches unfortunately, however, reflect upon us all.

Martin Luther King Jr. said, 'The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it... Through violence you may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate.... Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.'

The unexpected lack of police brutality this time around has left the protesters wondering what happened. The only way back onto the good side of the fence, the next time around, is to march towards the police with open arms and hands raised in the air with two fingers pointing skywards -- peace.

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