DNC Occupy and protest pics (dial-up warning; will update as new pics come in)

[Fire Walk With Me]

11. I'm sorry it interfered with things.

Thank you for going and supporting PP, or attempting to

Please understand that when we go out to attempt to spread the message so completely obfuscated by the mainstream media, we meet walls of cops as seen above. It become tedious to say the least, as is obviously intended. If anyone ever pushed a cop, MSM =would= give it endless airtime, but of course not the income inequality message, etc.

The convention is a touchy situation. We want to present the message to the largest group possible who might be willing to listen and do something about it, and to contest them when they do not or worse, are actually part of the problem. The powers have obviously chosen to keep Occupy and other groups well away from speaking to those actually in power; walls of cops constantly hovering and obstructing and intimidating make that amply clear. This is not democracy. The intimidation is designed to test people to the point where they may indeed show up as angry so that this is how they'll then always be seen by those encountering them. Cops and the powers that be are to a great extent directly responsible for frustration on the marchers' part. Remember causes and conditions.

And you said something important. "...no one there watching would have any control over what happened to Manning anyway. Probably very few who even know who he is".

-The point was to get to those who do have control and to demand he be released and treated like a human being. It was, and is, denied us and him.
-Very few know who he is. That is the point of the protest, and it is sad and sickening that not enough people yet know who he is or what is being done to him, that change be created.

PFC Manning revealed the lies of Bush's war. He has been in solitary confinement and effectively tortured for over two years. He is a hero and must be released. Everyone should know about him, and what he revealed.

"Manning was held from July 2010 in the Marine Corps Brig, Quantico, Virginia, under Prevention of Injury status, which entailed de facto solitary confinement and other restrictions that caused international concern. In April 2011, 295 academics – many of them prominent American legal scholars – signed a letter arguing that the detention conditions violated the United States Constitution. Later that month the Pentagon transferred him to Fort Leavenworth, allowing him to interact with other detainees. He was arraigned in February 2012 at Fort Meade, Maryland, where he declined to enter a plea. The trial is expected to begin in February 2013.[3]

Reaction to his arrest was mixed. Denver Nicks writes that the leaked material, particularly the diplomatic cables, was widely seen as a catalyst for the Arab Spring that began in December 2010, and that Manning was viewed as both a 21st-century Tiananmen Square Tank Man and as an embittered traitor. Several commentators focused on why an apparently very unhappy Army private had access to classified material, and why no security measures were in place to prevent unauthorized downloads.[4]"

He revealed a video of helicopter gunship pilots asking permission to fire upon a group of people, depicting them as enemies or threats; they were civilians and I believe a journalist was among those killed when they opened fire. Atrocity. And if you've seen the pics of soldiers doing thumbs-up over the dead bodies of their victims, this is part of the same thing..

I myself would shut down an intersection to demand people know about him, about this, when few do, and many must. I'm sorry about the problems but the protesters should have been allowed into the center like any other citizen and been allowed to make their case to those who can change such things. Of course, the military industrial complex living off of 50+ percent of every tax dollar on an infinite war standing is unlikely to respond to anyone, which is another point of the protest. Things are out of control and voting does not address these issues.

I'm hoping that this is useful information to you and that it might be worth the disruption you unfortunately experienced. I hope you will share in our outrage and demand for immediate change for PFC Manning and the issues involved.

BTW, when Obama HQ opened in Santa Monica CA earlier this year, myself and one other Occupier attended and stood politely outside the line outside, speaking with a bullhorn every few minutes as the crowd changed, to search NDAA and to know what it's about. We didn't get into anyone's faces, explained what we could when asked, and were grateful to the Obama staff who shared the same refreshments with us as they shared with everyone in line. We did make sure everyone heard the message, however.