The Brute Force of the AMERICAN State Reveals Itself

'In Oakland, officials initially supported the protests, with Mayor Jean Quan saying that sometimes “democracy is messy.”' — AP News release. Mayor Quan is a liberal Democrat.

"An Iraq war veteran has a fractured skull and brain swelling after allegedly being hit by a police projectile. Scott Olsen is in a "critical condition" in Highland hospital in Oakland, a hospital spokesman confirmed...."I'm just absolutely devastated that someone who did two tours of Iraq and came home safely is now lying in a US hospital because of the domestic police force," [his friend Adele] Carpenter said." — Guardian UK article reporting on the violent police attack on the peaceful Occupy Oakland encampment ordered by Mayor Quan's administration. The police used teargas, flash grenades, and rubber bullets.

"Scott is one of an increasing number of war veterans who are participating in America’s growing Occupy movement. Said Keith Shannon, who deployed with Scott to Iraq, “Scott was marching with the 99% because he felt corporations and banks had too much control over our government, and that they weren’t being held accountable for their role in the economic downturn, which caused so many people to lose their jobs and their homes.” — Iraq Veterans Against the War

'Let's be clear: Occupy Together has ended the whole sensibility of 9/11, the reverence for cop-heros of the two towers, the bullshit of "America stands together," the fog of Tea Party radicalism, the giddy illusion of "Change we can believe in" -- it's all over, and something else has started.' — Mike Ely, Kasama

"We Are All Scott Olsen." — #OWS