What country are we in?
Seattle police have formed a "demonstration-free zone" in the downtown area immediately surrounding the WTO buildings and are arresting protestors for merely entering the area (presumably a public throroughfare).
What happened to the "right to assemble"? Isn't this what Sam Adams, Tom Paine, and the gang fought for? Absolutely outrageous. I am a USMC veteran (gulf war) and am ashamed of this nation for the way dissent is quashed by belligerent armed force and a contemptuous media.
The British excelled at preventing "illegal demonstrations" by the colonists. (Boston Massacre comes to mind.) There's been lots of commentary criticizing those who smashed the windows of such exploitive corporations as Nike, Gap, and Starbucks. Sharp rebukes were heard about the destruction of property! Anyone recall the Boston Tea Party? No one calls them rioters or terrorists. No globalization without representation!
The WTO is a clear and present danger to Americans and the true freedoms and democracies we profess to hold. Nothing, not even a "prosperous" world economy (obviously only for the top ten percent), is worth losing our rights. |
