news:
Some news from Epitaph and Pennywisdom.From Epitaph also the"Punkrock editorial":
From Epitaph: -Tours dates
Recently,
the Asian Development Bank, yet another group
responsible
for the current globalization problem, held their
annual
meeting in Honolulu. The meeting was to be held in
Seattle,
until the riots that broke out at the '99 WTO meeting
caused
them to reschedule it here. There had been huge
preparations
for this. Several civil rights groups planned to
march
outside of the convention center, to peacefully show their
support
for causes such as organized labor, environmental
protection,
and preservation of native culture. Originally it
had
been estimated that about 5,000 protesters would show up.
After
seeing the effects of the Seattle and Quebec City
protests,
the state spent millions of dollars to bulk up
security
-for extra training, more on-duty officers, and riot
gear.
Over 300journalists from all over the world had been
previously
registered to cover the event. The demonstration took
place
on the afternoon of May9th.
Is
this all coming as news to you? I don't suspect many
of
you would have heard about this unless you live in Hawaii,
because
in the end, nothing happened. By "nothing," of course, I
mean
no riots, no violence, and no arrests. The demonstration
was
completely peaceful, just as the organizers said it would
be,
and there turned out to be only around 500 protesters. It
was
simply a group of people observing their First Amendment
right
to free speech. Even the cops were completely calm and
fair,
and some even decked themselves in casual Hawaiian attire.
After
hearing about this from the local media, I watched
the
national news the next day and heard nothing about it. This
didn't
surprise me in the slightest, because the media has a
tendency
to report only one side of a topic. In this case, they
only
would've covered the event if there was some negative
aspect
that occurred. I can compare this to a recent protest I
heard
about in New York(correct me if I'm wrong), where although
there
was no major violence, some people were arrested.
Apparently
that was enough to mention it on national news. The
media
is largely responsible for the way these protesters are
viewed
by the mass public. The fact is, a vast majority of the
people
that show up at these demonstrations are actually there
to
support worthy causes and express their distaste for the
operations
of these organizations, who are responsible for
poverty
in foreign countries and destruction of the environment
(which
they claim they are trying reduce). Many of these
protesters
are responsible and intelligent people. There are
almost
always a few bad apples that show up just for an excuse
to
riot and act out their hatred for cops. Because of those few
people,
the state really has no choice but to increase security
and
be prepared for the worst-case scenario. It's also because
of
those few people that the public sees the REAL protesters as
just
a crazy mob (even I admit to thinking this before I knew
what
the whole issue was about). As a result of all the hype,
they
don't get their voices heard. I find it really sad that
people
this day and age are so morbidly fascinated with
violence,
while there are important global issues that people
should
be aware of. This is what leads to events like Columbine -
people
know they'll become a household name if they commit a
huge
crime. I mostly blame this trend on irresponsible
journalists.
The masses are force-fed whatever news the media
thinks
is worthy of reporting; if there were anything more we
wanted
to know, we would have to investigate it ourselves. So
many
reporters came to Hawaii to cover the ADB conference -
almost
outnumbering the protesters - simply
in HOPES that there
would
be rioting. Then it would be the biggest story of the
moment,
and every newspaper and TV station would boast that they
were
the first ones there, bringing up-to-the-minute headlines.
But
no. No violence, therefore no coverage. The
main reason I
had
hoped for coverage was that it might serve as a good example
for
future protests of this type - that not everyone has to be
violent,
that people will take you seriously if you exercise
responsibility
and common sense. You can stand up for your
rights,
but you mustn't abuse them. Otherwise, you will ruin it
for
the rest of us. This being a Punk Rock Editorial, you'd
probably
assume at the beginning of this story that my complaint
would
be with the cops, "silencing" innocent protesters with
tear
gas. But that is not the case. Even though cops may abuse
their
power in many cases, most often they are just doing their
jobs.
Rioters shouldn't complain about being silenced. They
bring
it upon themselves. Only when people start taking these
situations more seriously can we improve things for the future
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