This is the New America: A YouTube video of the police actions against peaceful students at the University of Pittsburgh during the recent G-20 Summit held the city in late September. Many of the students were bystanders. (For other YouTube video coverage, click here. For TruthOut coverage, click here.)

A new military weapon was introduced in Pittsburgh by policemen who used it indiscriminately on their own citizenry. Mike Ferner, a witness to the events, writes,



The site Tech.FAQ explains, "The LRAD weighs about 210 kilograms and is capable of emitting sound within a 15 to 30 degree beam. The range of the LRAD is 300 to 500 meters and, at maximum volume, it can emit sound 50 times greater than the human threshold for pain so it can cause permanent damage." Karen Piper -- a Carnegie Mellon University visiting professor -- would agree. She told Pittsburgh Channel 4 Action News that she was doing research about globalization, not protesting, when the police set off "a loud noise" that "ruptured her eardrum and caused major damage." Piper intends to seek legal advice; the police maintain the LRAD was set at a "relatively safe" level.

Do not look to Obama to defend the students. Remember: Obama hosted the G-20; the militarization of the police against possible protests almost certainly received Obama's approval. While the POTUS feted global fat cats, his own citizens were brutalized in the surrounding streets by "crowd control munitions." This is Obama's "national security state."

Those who believe Obama wants peace simply do not get it. Those who blame Bush -- a man richly deserving hellfire, IMO -- are closing their eyes to the fact that Obama has merely continued Bush's war-mongering rights-busting ways. The bottom line...it doesn't matter whether Bush or Obama are in office; it doesn't matter whether the President is Republican or Democrat. All governments act to maintain their own power and the greatest threat is always from their own dissenting citizenry. An extreme militarization of police departments has occurred over the past several years and it is criminally naive to believe that this extraordinary state power will not be turned against dissenters.

As a purely strategic point, I do wonder what crowd control weaponry in the hands of hostile and militarized police will do to the venerable tradition of "taking it to the streets" as political protest. Remember: the military are trained to view opponents as "the enemy"; their goal is to suppress and subdue; they strike first and they strike hard. This is how militarized police viewed students in Pittsburgh. The police departments have become the modern equivalent of a "standing army." And, for those who are unfamiliar with American history, the reason the founding fathers opposed a standing army was from fear that it would be used against its own citizenry.

So...are street protests obsolete? Probably not. People who are angry or desperate enough will always pour into the streets as a last resort before open violence. But I suspect that more casual protests (for want of a better term) may shrink dramatically out of fear of the police. Of course, this will only increase the real violence within society by eliminating one of the most effective ways people can peacefully voice their anger, hopes and political demands.