John Nichols: How the Wounding of a Vet Who Dared to Dissent Has Stirred More Dissent

[marmar]

from the Nation:



How the Wounding of a Vet Who Dared to Dissent Has Stirred More Dissent
John Nichols on October 27, 2011 - 3:28pm ET


“We Are All Scott Olsen!” was the message of vigils held across the United States Thursday night, held in answer to a call from Iraq Veterans Against the War and Occupy Oakland for “occupations across America and around the world to hold solidarity vigils” recognizing Olsen, the former Marine and Iraq War veteran who activists say “sustained a skull fracture after being shot in the head on October 25 with a police projectile while peacefully participating in an Occupy Oakland protest.

In cities across the United States and around the world, "We Are Scott Olsen" vigils, rallies and marches were held. Thousands attended a candlelight vigil in Oakland. In Las Vegas, an image of Olsen was projected at the site of the Occupy encampment. In New York, Occupy Wall Street activist took to the streets chanting "New York is Oakland, Oakland is New York." As far away as London, images of Olsen were displayed at gatherings. The buzz about the wounding of the 24-year-old veteran seemed to be everywhere, and was perhaps best summed up by a message from an activist who had protested at Wisconsin's state Capitol with Olsen in February. It read: "He could be any one of us."

The Washington-insider website Politico speculated about whether the wounding of Olsen would be the Occupy movement's "Kent State moment," a reference to the 1970 killing of four students at an anti-war demonstration in Ohio. No one was killed in Oakland, and Olsen is now expected to recover, although he remains hospilized and is unable to speak. But the images of the young former Marine, standing peacefully in the frontlines of the protest in Oakland -- next to a Navy vet holding a "Veterans for Peace" flag -- and the images from just moments later of Olsen lying on the ground wounded as medics rush to his aid have both shocked and energized activists, in much the same way that violent responses to civil rights and anti-war demonstrations in the 1960s did -- and in much the way that official violence against anti-WTO activists in Seattle in 1999 shifted sentiment in favor of the protests.

In Oakland, anger over the incident and the brutal crackdown on the demonstation has led to a call for a November 2 city-wide general strike. ...........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.thenation.com/blog/164245/we-are-all-scott-olsen-movement-marches-solidarity-iraq-vet-wounded-oakland

[roguevalley]

1. God bless our soldier boys and girls. I saw the sailor. He held up

a Constitution too.

[djp2]

2. Send Federal Troops...

to protect the protestors. Pres. Lyndon Johnson did just that in Selma...why not Obama??
The protestors rights are being violated, the constitution is being trampled. Local Police and officials are the ones who need policing by the Feds.

[DeSwiss]

3. K&R n/t

[mia]

4. In 1932...Retired Major General Smedley Darlington Butler,

a two-time recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor, joined the Bonus Army at its encampment and supported its demands. Bulter is today remembered for his epic denunciation of the military-industrial complex:


I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class thug for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902–1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents...


But after the attack on the Bonus Army, he issued an even blunter declaration, announcing in 1933 that: “I believe in…taking Wall St. by the throat and shaking it up.”

Today’s Occupy Wall Street protests are, perhaps, less aggressive than those that came before. But the veterans who join today’s protests are being met with the same violence—and disrespect—that the Bonus Army experienced.

[efhmc]

6. I would like to see this as its own thread.

Great information about the continuation of the defense business as a major destructive factor that works against democracy and our economy.

[spicegal]

5. On a smaller scale it reminds me of that horrific killing

of that beautiful young woman (forgot her name) we all watched literally bleed to death before our eyes when she got caught in the crossfire. The outcome for this young man could have been equally as devastating. As it is, Scott might have a permanent and disabling brain damage. We know he has aphasia and is having trouble spelling. It's too soon to know whether he has other impairments or whether he'll completely recover from the ones that have been identified so far.

[efhmc]

7. Where was the event you are talking about with the young

woman?