On Thursday night five people got arrested at Occupy Austin. The fact that five people were arrested was covered on the local news station the next day.
If you watch that video you understand the importance of controlling the media. No one was talking about the 400 person march that happened Thursday afternoon. Instead the local news was talking about how five people had been arrested to protest power washing. Here's another Youtube video from Thursday night.
It's important that people get arrested for this movement. But, getting arrested is not the goal in and of itself. Civil Disobedience is used as a tool to make a concerted message. If people continue getting arrested at every opportunity than eventually the movement will lose some of it's strength. At Occupy Austin, right now, getting arrested is taking you out of the movement. The police, being very strategic, are charging people arrested with Criminal trespassing, which means they cannot return to City Hall. Therefore we have to think very seriously about when and why we are getting arrested.
I do support those that are choosing to get arrested, but I hope that if the future we can make these decisions as a movement instead of as individuals.
Monday, November 21, 2011
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