Melbourne's Act of Shame

I am so angry and disgusted at this abuse of police power that I can hardly think straight. I have not consented to my tax dollars supporting such abhorrent behaviour. How many police officers does it take to victimise one defenceless girl? Despicable and shameful. The following was posted along with video by RynChristoph yesterday.

This morning at 8:45am a peaceful Occupy Melbourne Protester was violently stripped of her protest costume and discarded on the ground in her bra and panties. The individual in question was part of the Occupy Melbourne protest and was dressed in a protest costume made from a converted tent. The significance of the costume was to highlight restrictions placed on protesters staging a 24/7 protest in Flagstaff Gardens.
The protester was surrounded by at least 4 Melbourne City Council officers and 8 Victorian police officers.
Her movement was restricted by the formation of officers surrounding her and she was subsequently restrained as officers proceeded with aggressively removing her costume. At each stage she declared that she did not consent or feel comfortable with the actions of the council and police officers, stating that this was a sexual assault."This is not consensual'
Her requests and declarations were ignored as officers continued to rip and jostle her costume and person. A knife was requested and used by MCC Officers as the Protest Costume was cut from her body. The remaining severed costume was violently torn from her body while the protester herself was discarded, semi-naked and crying on the ground as Vic police and MCC officers walked away with the costume.NO EFFORT was made to assess her health or wellbeing after the incident.

Civil Disobedience

All this activism around Occupy the World along with the resulting attacks upon democratic freedoms has led me to examine my own corner of the universe with fresh eyes. A brisk walk down the main street proved most informative. Every few paces there was some admonition for me to adhere to....No Parking, No Standing, No Entry, No Loitering, No Walking, No Through Road, No Smoking, No Eating, No Drinking, No Skateboarding, No Cycling, No Picking the Flowers, No Littering and absolutely No Exit! But my favourite is this one (see photo). Yes, its an ordinary footpath with painstakingly clear instructions to keep left. As you see there's not a soul in sight, even though its Saturday afternoon, the sun is shining and all's right with the world. But it wouldn't matter what day or time it was, I'm usually the only sentient being plodding this pavement, apart from the odd dog or skulking adolescent. So do I keep left like a good little brainwashed citizen doing as I am told by those who think they know better? No, I do not. I make a point of doing everything but keep left. I wander aimlessly, gambol with gay abandon, pirouette on the spot, skip backwards, drift off the beaten track, even hobble with one foot in the gutter, but I adamantly refuse to keep left! Alas, for such is the limited extent of my civil disobedience, but its definitely a beginning.....

99%

Media technology is a wondrous thing. It has enabled, if not totally created, the society in which we have consented to live. We have allowed ourselves to be cajoled, tempted, brainwashed, lulled into complacency and addicted to mediocrity. We are enticed to fill our lives with brain numbing banality, while the planet, blindfolded and brakes off, is rollicking straight to hell.

But media technology is a wondrous thing and not averse to biting the hand that feeds it.

Which is why September's moderate gathering at Wall Street to protest against social and economic inequality has become a global movement in over 2,000 cities worldwide. Thanks to media technology, I (and millions around the world) have watched horrified as ordinary people endeavouring to exercise their democratic rights, are beaten, arrested and vilified by an armed and militant police force. And just as I was thinking this couldn't possibly happen Downunder, disgust and disbelief churned my stomach at the atrocious behaviour of our own Australian police during Occupy Melbourne.

So thanks to media technology, the blissfully ignorant are blissful no longer and ignorant no more. Safely ensconced in God's own country I may be, but I know a revolution when I see one.

I am the 99%.