Comments on: BAGnewsNotes “Our Man at the G20″ Exclusive Slideshow: The Paramilitary View

By: Alles

Alles — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 19:27:53 +0000

Shouldn’t vicious shocktroops be smartly arrayed? Shirts are not tucked in properly, pants not bloused but weighed down with who knows what, and pot bellies exemplify this shoddy example. Simply from an espirit de corps point of view, they look tacky.
I’m not trying to downplay the serious nature of the incidents that must have happened off camera.

By: Alles

Alles — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 19:22:23 +0000

I don’t know, in slide 13 the headgear looks more like the Satire Darth Vader character from Space Balls. Granted, they are more dangerous. That was just my first impression.

By: dermotmoconnor

dermotmoconnor — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 10:33:39 +0000

“most cops are right leaning” – indeed.
remember the hilarious T-Shirts worn by the filth at the recent conventions (last year):
“We get up early to beat the crowds”.
Brownshirts indeed. SmalltownPJ – you need to wake up, man.

By: yg

yg — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 00:05:21 +0000

wonder if cops showboating was a factor in our losing the olympic bid.

By: yg

yg — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 23:43:14 +0000

most cops are right leaning. they got their rocks off wailing on a bunch of lefties.

By: statement

statement — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 22:28:16 +0000

sorry, but how are we meant to believe what you’re showing, if you don’t show what happened in the “mosh pit with pepper spray”?

By: jtfromBC

jtfromBC — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 15:25:15 +0000

So whats your take on these photographs ?

By: small town pj

small town pj — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 10:56:06 +0000

Wow, is this supposed to be journalism or are you pushing your own agenda here? Way to be impartial. This is not my idea of journalism.

By: nordmend

nordmend — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 05:44:09 +0000

yup, they’re dressed like storm troopers, and for the same reasons, protecting the same interests.
as sion noted, that’s nothing really new, although the gear and look and context has been refined and more nasty hardware was deployed, like the Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD) http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/09/30-3
the missing piece of coverage though, is of the actual protesters, their messages, and maybe a little context of the “50 anarchists” amongst the larger gathering – hundreds? thousands? of g20 protesters, and the concurrent protests around the world.
i think protests are a primarily a reactive action – they meet to carve up the world, we protest…. and the media (including the bag, this time out) invariably focuses on the violence – be it a broken window, or the storm troopers; overlooking the myriad of actual, articulate grievances and points of view being presented by a myriad of actual, articulate, creative people who have chosen to bear witness, to protest, at these elite greed pits.
someone commented here recently, “what are they protesting anyway?”, and that’s understandable. for perspective, think how much coverage of the “teabaggers” actual messages has been presented here at the bag. for the g20, it’s mostly about cops, and tattooed youth getting tear gassed, etc.
as jason andrews says in his slide show “the worst temptation was to see it as some kind of show”. exactly. like the (young women) on the roof. protesters outframed, yet again.

By: Michael Shaw (The BAG)

Michael Shaw (The BAG) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 04:27:57 +0000

Sion,
Thanks for the (constructive) shooter’s recollection.