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Joe Diaz, a prominent activist in Occupy Atlanta and Emory University
graduate philosophy student was arrested at his university library two
nights ago. The incident was recorded by a friend of Joe's, also an
occupier, Meghan Jordan.
Joe has now posted in a blog an explanation of what happened and what he
was thinking at the time, the political lessons to be drawn about the
militarization of the police, along with a link to the video. That is
here: http://dirtseyeview.wordpress.com/
The incident provoked a lively discussion on Occupy Atlanta's open group
in facebook, with a spread of views ranging from Joe being at least
partly to blame for having failed to immediately hand over his student
ID when demanded by Emory University cops to those (like myself) who
viewed this as another attack on democratic rights, a completely
unprovoked assault and battery that might well have involved not just
the random nastiness of increasingly militarized police forces but the
mistreatment of Joe as a Latino or even specific targeting of Joe as a
reprisal for his political activities.
The broad range of views expressed in that discussion is testimony to
the breadth of this movement and the need for Marxists and other
radicals to consciously take up developments in the different local
Occupy movements and use them to patiently explain our views in such a
way as to win people over, not drive them out or provoke deep chasms.
It is rare for radicals to have such a diverse audience genuinely open
to hearing points of views like ours. And although numerically this may
not be that many people, they generally tend to be leading people in
whatever circles they come from, and if we convince them they will
convince others. We also have to realize that this will not be
instantaneous, but rather uneven. We need to be clear but
non-confrontational with others in the movement, avoid demeaning or
denigrating language, put aside leftist cliches and lingo, pay close
attention to how the discussion is unfolding, and use the common
experiences we and other occupiers are going through in the movement to
draw the lessons.
We should be personable, persistent, pedagogical and patient.
* * *
Joe has not asked for any specific protest or action on his behalf, but
replying to another graduate student at Emory on his facebook page he
said, "... thanks for the words of support. I'd encourage graduate
students to organize on their own and respond in whatever way they
can... a range of autonomous action in this situation would be powerful
..." so it's not like he is trying to keep it quiet, quite the contrary.
I would imagine that publicizing the video all over the place but
especially among students and sending protest messages to Emory
University would not go amiss.
Joaquín
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