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09.20.11 - 2:46 PM
Unmasking Wall Street
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Show AllHeil das Heimat!
You got that right, DF.
A law from 1845?? How the hell is that still on the books? Many HAVE to wear masks when protesting injustices because (as evidenced in the live stream of the current Wall Street occupation) the cops are taking photos and videotaping people's FACES. They do this and then show them to other people in the same cause and try and trick them into revealing the name of the person/s in the photos -- sometimes down without a uniform. The cops -- funny, huh? THEY are making so much money? They are also victims of Wall Street and this greed? THEY are the top 1% of wealthy? Why don't THEY sit down and decide enough is enough and they won't do the dirty work of the rich anymore?
The cops are probably union members with all the perks and privileges. You know, that part of the government class that protects their clubby little system.
"...union members with all the perks and privileges"?
You sound like a right wing anti-union libertarian.
In a truly democratic society, EVERY worker would have union "perks and privileges", which, according to the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights, should be the RIGHT of EVERY worker: health care, pension, overtime pay, and other worker benefits.
Just because the cops, like our soldiers, are carrying out the Empire's plans/orders, doesn't mean unions, in spite of their corruption & coddling of Democrats, are to be shunned.
Unions are what gave us the child labor laws, minimum wage, weekends, the 40-hour work week, pensions, insurance, on-the-job safety measures, and other worker benefits.
Don't dismiss unions so easily.
"You sound like a right wing anti-union libertarian."
I don't think so. Just look around you and see how many people are currently unionized. Union membership IS a privilege today, enjoyed by a few.
And, yes, we all know what unions gave us. And, yes, I'm a leftist, not a libertarian. Which is exactly why I'm trying to see the state of affairs for what they are.
The NYPD is unionized, and were actually threatening to go on strike prior to the 2004 Republican National Convention. They backed down on those threats and did their jobs without a contract during the week of the RNC, arresting 1,800 of us non-violent protesters under orders from Mayor Bloomberg. I remember being in jail and chanting along with hundreds of other activists, "Overworked! Underpaid! NYPD needs a raise!"
Anyway, the police are bullies and thugs, eager to do the bidding of the masters. It doesn't matter whether they are unionized or not.
Their pay is only half of their compensation. Their power-tripping is the other half. They'd work for free as long as they could keep their ability to abuse random citizens at will.
"hey do this and then show them to other people in the same cause and try and trick them into revealing the name of the person/s in the photos -- sometimes down without a uniform. The cops -- funny,"
I don't think so, not funny at all. Last week a young woman related on CD comments some references to corps that do business with Aparteid Israel and the US. One of them is L-1 technologies. Some of their equipment marketed to both Israel and the US are cams with Facial Recognition software hookups. They(L-1) do finger printing, facial recognition, and iris scans. These technologies are in use in the Wars, Israel and the US. I haven't found the referenced web site or comment.
How does the hair on the back of your neck feel?
Unmasking America, right, we cant afford masks or anything else to hide behind.
It's only a matter of time before the Wall Street gambling machine falls apart permanently. We've seen the first wave... another is imminent which I think will be it's death-knell. There has been too much instability and gaming going on for too long. I look forward to a restructuring of economies; here and globally. Let's hope for as smooth a transition as possible.
Agree 100%, if you can possibly afford it buy some rural land, or get friendly with your nearest off the grid commune. The combination of financial crash, peak oil, and global climate change coming before 2020 at the latest is not going to be pretty IMO.
"Who was that masked man?"
I owe silver...
ingot we trust.
Only the elite murderers are allowed to wear masks in the USA. We, their victims, must be clearly visible at all times in our cages.
Who the fuck cares about masks? I will send a picture, these bastards got bailed out by the working class and put the money in their pockets then said pay us more or loose your home and fuck your job, china may be cheeper, we could care less. The company store is right here, you may be paid off someday, till then we own you, where is the rent? Thanks to the tea party, brought to by fox news, glenn beck, and financed by the Koch brothers. The same people that carry nazi signs and loaded guns to rallies. Spit on law makers on the steps of our capital. How much can I respect these people? Not much!
The real struggle is in the minds of our people.
LEAFLET MANHATTAN. Talk to people in the streets. Ask them to spend some time at the occupation, & get them to sign a petition & tell their friends & neighbors.
If demonstrators are trained to talk to people, we should be able to bring out 50,000 to the occupation. Why not? There are 8,000,000 in New York. The media won't cover it. To hell with them. Talk to people directly, personally, and train more and more people to do it, on the streets and to friends and neighbors. It can be done. And it would be a sign that the Left is really getting serious.
" The media won't cover it ". True, not until the Wall Street protests turn violent. As some one who has seen it firsthand, when the MSM cannot ignore it anymore, the government agents and provocateurs will create violence and then it will be main stream media news 24/7.
To quote, David Degraw, one of the Wall Street protesters: " The MSM is the most efficient weapon of oppression that has ever been devised ".
The US police have arrested at least seven more people in New York near Wall Street, attacking the protesters at the influence of corporations - Fascism is like that.
I have come to the conclusion that the USA is dysfunctional. (and to some extent Canada also as, incredibly, it fully adopts and embraces the failures of the US)
Not really. Harper is a neocon but even the right wing Canadians regulate the banks and are afraid to even talk about gutting the health care system. At least most of the US-o'-philes are safely contained in Alberta.
I don't remember anyone wearing masks during the civil rights protests, or the anti-war protests. What's the purpose now? If you are involved in a righteous protest why hide your identity? And why Guy Fawkes? Is this a "anarchist" movement? They read V is for Vendetta? Or are they proposing the Vatican should rule US domestic policy? I am confused I thought this was a "progressive" protest.
It's a different era now, than the civil rights era, when the piggies now can video tape and instantly upload images to databases on activists. There are VERY good reasons to not get caught in era of heavy duty police repression, and keeping databases on activists. And IMO anyone paying attention to 230 + years of serial murder by the U.S.
http://killinghope.org/
is an anarchist like Anonymous one of the organizers of this event.
The Guy Falkes masks are cheap and anonymous from the cops, and I suspect many of the young hackvisits are fans of the V movie.
Not sure I want to get behind an idea, like wearing masks at rallies and marches, that Klansmen would enthusiastically support.
Oh give me a break, everyone who wears a red t-shirt is a communist aren't they? The people in the "White Rose," society should have announced themselves loud and clear too, eh?
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/rose.html
How about the people who wrote the Federalist and anti-Fedralist papers? People who ACTUALLY make power nervous have every right not to be beaten by police thugs out of some misplaced sense of nobility IMO.
So you think Klansmen in hoods are okay?
And if Wall Street decides it's going to follow the great American tradition of hiring thugs to break up demonstrations, is it okay for their thugs to wear Guy Fawkes masks too?
Huh? If hired thugs are breaking up demonstrations, the least of our worries are whether they are wearing Guy Fawkes masks. Anyway, the pigs routinely cover their faces so they are unidentifiable.. Have you ever been in a demonstration attacked riot cops? I assure you, they are not doing it with their faces shown.
The idea of wearing masks at demonstrations is two-fold: one, it is to ensure that your face is not entered into DARPA's biometric database of political undesirables, and two, as a way to promote solidarity. And besides, it is the very ethos of Anonymous.
My guess is that there is an age breakdown in opinions about this. People who remember the hoods hiding the faces of Klansmen at their rallies and marches may be more inclined to be against covering your face to hide your identity at events.
That being said, I don't think I would place a heavy reliance on a mask hiding your identity. If you are carrying a cell phone or other network connected device the government could use that to place you at the demonstration. The mask itself may not be sufficient protection to hide your identity. A few years back Sony had to place limitations on early night vision cameras because they saw through clothing. I think it isn't unreasonable to assume that the government could deploy cameras that saw through thin plastic masks (metal masks or masks with metallic paint might prevent this). Also, if the mask doesn't cover your ears, they could be used to identify you. Another element is traffic and security cameras in areas surrounding a demonstration. They might be able to grab shots of you before (or as) you put the mask on. One final aspect is social networking. If you can be shown to be in a social network where there are others attending the demonstration, there may be software that gives a high probability of your attendance.
It is always dangerous to expect that your identity is hidden, both in life and on-line. True privacy is something very difficult to attain.
See through clothing cameras: http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=126782&page=1
Biometric Ear Recognition: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn7672-ear-biometrics-may-beat-face-recognition.html
You can't expect anonymity, but you can take your best shot at obtaining it like with a mask put on at your house BEFORE the demonstration, using encryption in communications, etc. Ever heard of covering your ears? They have this new thing called a hat, maybe you have heard of it?
I suspect there is an age break down too, Gen X and younger having done activism since the Reagan era know we live in a far more draconian police state than the civil rights era in terms of databases and ability to track people and lable them as "terrorists." Many of us are thus extra cautious about not getting a FBI case file if we can help it, and if we do have one, of not increasing its size.
I once read that in medieval times people put talismans, charms and sigils on their dwellings to ward off the devil. The practice was much reduced when people came to believe that, instead of keeping the devil away, the items just attracted his attention.
No I think left activists in masks are OK, I think ideology is more important than tactical clothing choices.