Quote:
Originally Posted by Ebon
That's right. They always have a choice to do the right thing. No excuses.
|
I totally agree, and I hope this can be used to the 99%'s advantage.
Police are agents of state power, and state power has become "1%ers power". We are in an asymmetrical power/resource relationship with the police, so hating them or even trying to kill them means that there will be more of them, invested with ever more vicious methods and justification from their bosses.
I think the way to "win" this asymetrical situation is to have the police stop following orders that don't make sense, such as firing weapons at veterans, grannies, young people, or anyone at all.
There's no way a banker is going to go out themselves and fight. I hope we can find a way to have the police see that their orders are unethical. I hope that we can appeal to police offiicers' sense of shared humanity, rather than their survival instincts and sell-defense. Will politicians use our movement as a reason to have a domestic military force? They would be a "jobs with a secure future"- chillingly enough.
I have to deal with this issue of police brutality often, as an activist against it, and with lots of family members who work in law enforcement.
Bishop Oscar Romero is one of my heroes. I refer to him when I deal with my Catholic family:
"“Before an order to kill that a man may give, the law of God
must prevail that says: Thou shalt not kill! No soldier is obliged to
obey an order against the law of God.”