From: Leonardo Gonzalez (magos@extropian.net)
Date: Mon Jul 23 2001 - 16:17:46 MDT
Just for the record, the report was an email from a very good friend of mine
who is traveling in Europe at the moment. It was not a "propaganda message"
from some "group" fabricating and exaggerating events.
I can understand Mike's skepticism, especially given the nature of the
reports by the popular media depicting the protesters as gruesomely violent.
I can understand his distaste for their cause if he disagrees with their
goals or their motivations.
However, I see he is quick to dismiss my friend's report as "manufactured
propaganda" and assume that reports of police brutality are merely "rumors".
With the sorry excuse for journalism that CNN uses to report the incident,
and with the police attack and sabotage of the independent media's footage,
and with the knee-jerk dismissals of individual reports as "manufactured
propaganda", I don't see how one could be truly informed of what really went
on at Genoa.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-extropians@extropy.org
> [mailto:owner-extropians@extropy.org]On Behalf Of Mike Lorrey
> Sent: Monday, July 23, 2001 9:53 AM
> To: extropians@extropy.org
> Subject: Re: FW: G8 (a report from a friend who was there)
>
>
> Leonardo,
> This is the standard sort of manufactured propaganda message these
> groups post, fabricating much and exaggerating even more, writing in a
> semantically inflammatory way. I've attended protests here in the US by
> these groups and seen these posts afterward, claiming all sorts of
> police atrocities that never happened. In instances where police got
> physical, it was only after some of the most vicious and violent baiting
> I have ever seen done. What would you do if you had 1000 people yelling
> and screaming in your face, calling you all sorts of things, insulting
> everything about you and your family and your profession, spitting and
> throwing rotten food at you from a few feet away, and you had to sit
> there and take it for hours on end???? Frankly, I'm disgusted with the
> protesters, they deserve whatever the police throw at them, the way they
> behave.
>
> The behavior of the protesters as I've described is INTENTIONAL, btw. It
> is a standard tactic taught at protest boot camps like those run by the
> Ruckus Society and other groups. Their entire purpose is to push the
> police to the point where the police strike back in self defense and
> frustration. Once one incident occurs, they then run rumors down the
> line of women getting beaten, raped, etc etc etc.
>
> Similarly, the protest organizers pass around drugs to protesters that
> are mood altering: pot with high THC and low CBD levels, mushrooms and
> other hallucinogens. Use of these substances is well documented to be
> effective as battle drugs (they were used against the British
> successfully at a key battle against the Zulu in the 19th century,
> wiping out a superior force with nothing but clubs and spears, and drug
> crazed warriors). The use of these drugs helps to raise up the battle
> fever among protesters.
>
> Leonardo Gonzalez wrote:
> >
> > I thought this might be of interest to you all...
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> >
> > Hello-
> > The last few days have been very intense and eye
> > opening. I am in Genova where many people from around
> > the world have shown up to peacefully demonstrate
> > against the Fascist G8. The news you will hear in the
> > US will most likely be very distorted and I think you
> > should know what really went on.
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