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I would suggest that instead of repeating this dead-end drama, the Occupy Movement should actively work to win over the police and encourage more defections. I do not intend this in an idealistic manner, but more so pragmatically. Without the police holding the line, the 1 percent will have to meet us as equals, and in that moment the true locus of power will make itself evident. The police, as a class, are generally in the 99 percent — and while they often do their bidding for the 1 percent, many of them have cultural and economic roots that are more closely aligned with those against whom they are being asked to use force. And this presents opportunities for humanization and exchange, as every demonstrator who enters the system can become an emissary for solidarity.
On this note, you may have heard the story of my friend Pancho Ramos Stierle, who was arrested while meditating as police swept the Occupy Oakland camp and is facing potential deportation as a result. Pancho is a devout Gandhian, a nonviolent anarchist (in the best sense of both of those words), and someone who practices the idea that “the most effective weapon against a system based on greed and violence is kindness.” While being held in custody and ironically flagged as among the “most dangerous” prisoners, Pancho reached out to officers with simple humanizing phrases such as “How are you doing, brother?” and “Brother, you don’t need to be doing this.” On more than one occasion he received positive responses, including one that specifically reveals the potential for change: “I know that this uniform doesn’t have a heart, but I do.” Even more succinctly, as reported by J.A. Myerson in Truthout, one New York central booking officer confessed: “I’m on your side.”
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http://www.truth-out.org/can-there-be-solidarity-between-movement-activists-and-police-officers/1322406408More at the link.
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