A couple of good high precision grinding images I found:
The Rebellion is About to be Crushed
Image by Viewminder
There had been hundreds of demonstrators occupying the corner of LaSalle and Jackson tonight on the sidewalk at the Bank of America Building.
Tension saturated the protest.
The City of Chicago’s had enough.
The police have been walking amongst the crowd.
The demonstrators were told to move their factors…
the meals cart…
indicators on the sidewalk…
the drums.
It was like a little game.
The cops would inform them to move it…
or maintain moving themselves…
and individuals would move the stuff about the corner.
Then the police would tell them to move it from there.
The officers had been stern about any person crossing the curb into the street.
I got a single of the cops alone and I told him…
‘I smell a crackdown.’
He looked me in the eyes and he only nodded his head up and down a few occasions.
Though the protestors chant ‘whose streets’ and reply ‘our streets’…
the message is being conveyed quietly but successfully.
These streets belong to the City of Chicago.
And the City is about to take them back.
Two items were the physical center of the occupiers…
the food cart exactly where folks could grab anything to eat or drink… a bottle of water or a cup of coffee…
and the drums.
The drums utilized to sound loudly day and night.
They gave the entire movement a true pulse.
Initial the police apparently arrested a couple of individuals for playing them…
then they mentioned that they could not be left on the sidewalk.
In their absence there is a nervous silence.
Whoever determined that the drums need to be taken out was genius.
I never ever gave so much thought to some thing like the sound of a drum.
But observing the circumstance tonight I realized that they gave the men and women a specific power.
That power is largely gone this evening.
And the warmth, sustinence and comraderie of the food cart has been taken away as well.
A casual observer may possibly not even notice the crackdown.
It is subtle and properly believed out.
A longtime observer of the movement would see the impact immediately.
A sense of doom settled more than the group even even though the chanting and sign waving continued.
The drums have been gone.
Right here and there as individuals gathered in clusters and conversations spilled out onto the sidewalk I couldn’t support but notice…
this is a time of crisis for The Occupation.
Although probably there was a specific wisdom in a ‘leaderless’ movement…
now there is no path to turn to respond quickly and strategically in a powerful and unified manner.
The movement started as a proactive and spontaneous demonstration of the grievances and aggravation of so many folks.
Now with out a leader to make fast and strategic choices it can only respond in a weak and fragmented way to the crackdown by the City.
It has grow to be reactionary.
Here and there men and women are lobbying other people to a single course of action or an additional…
Some say the group requirements to resist with greater intensity…
other individuals want an out and out fight.
One demonstrator in an ominous sign had a gas mask strapped to his side at the prepared.
Simply because the movement is openly democratic and all significant decisions are voted on publicly at the Common Assembly meetings every single night at ‘The Horse’ in the park…
the group is largely incapable of surprise.
The days of the occupation are numbered.
And I think in the end they could be counted on one’s fingers.
The police have had a lot more than thirty days to strategy a method to rout the occupiers.
And when the police make their move the occupiers will be crushed with overwhelming force.
They will split up and they will be defeated in a matter of minutes.
A battle is not a time for democratic manuevering.
To win a battle a group have to be cohesive, united and of 1 thoughts.
A victorious army is a product of several becoming 1.
Without a strong and capable leader this will never happen.
Those with a propensity for violence and mayhem will sieze the chance in the chaos and lash out in the moments before defeat is total and their actions will become the legacy of the group.
What an incredible factor to observe on the ground in the middle of it all.
I see it in the eyes and on the faces of the men and women who come to have their voices heard.
I see no imminent victory.
Genuinely I’m shocked the city has demonstrated so much patience.
I suppose every person believed that the weather would be the thing that ended it all.
I’m confident the officials who are gonna have to give the orders hoped the exact same.
The larger ups are watching.
With the G8 and the Nato Summits coming up in Might of 2012 there is a feeling that the City is not handling this too effectively and that there’s gonna be a prevalence of disorder and chaos then.
Get ready for the ‘dry run.’
The finish will come swiftly.
The protestors will be arrested and dispersed with precision.
Sure…
some windows will get broken.
Issues will be thrown.
Yahoo’s will lash out and do stupid shit.
But it really is gonna all be over in a couple of minutes.
Occupiers…
it really is time to make a move.
And it really is gotta be a great 1.
How can you keep away from a crushing defeat?
Regain your proactivity and get ahead of this.
It is coming whether or not you’re prepared or not.
There will be no decisive victory.
How can you transition from this phase into the next?
It is not gonna take place by accident.
It’s time to think.
It is time to act.
The noose is tightening and you are getting surrounded.
Look at the thuggish behavior of the Illinois State Police final evening at the Thompson Center.
Absolutely nothing will be achieved by holding your ground in front of an army that is overwhelming in physical strength and numbers and would maybe even relish the chance to ‘tune you up’ en masse.
In the face of all this… in the quick moment… with no a dramatic and super-numeric show of assistance in the form of thousands of reinforcements your epitaph has already been written.
If tommorow a lot more than three thousand show up and hyperlink arms and hearts and souls with the movement then everything I’ve said is off the table… at least for some time.
Sources inside the police division say that they could not handle two thousand mass arrests.
Unless there are that several ready to call their bluff it really is time to go to ‘Plan B.’
Considering that there is no ‘Plan B’ someone’s gotta do some fast thinkin’.
If the authorities were sensible they’d give the group some victory in exchange for providing up the occupation at the present internet site.
But no one’s ever accused the authorities of becoming intelligent.
A bully will constantly respond to any threat to his dominance in a bullyish manner.
Occupiers… prepare to get your asses kicked.
Or…
tone it down…
back off a little…
regroup…
move into the ‘second phase.’
I have no notion what the ‘second phase’ is but it sounds logical.
I mean…
I’m all for standing up for what’s appropriate.
Given the appropriate situations I could be convinced to dig in and resist till the end.
But would not it be better to live to ‘fight’ one more day?
Gahd I hope I’m entirely incorrect and I’ve totally underestimated the courage, the fortitude, the ingenuity and the determination of the group.
Now is the time for deep believed.
If a battle can be won…
I say win it.
If a battle is certain to be disasterous…
I say keep away from it.
Whilst the group remains in its present type and adequate strength…
what must be regarded is what the legacy of these five weeks will be.
What victories have been won?
1st the dissatisfaction of a big quantity of folks has been demonstrated… and their wish for alter has been heard far and wide.
Everyone can see about the globe that significant numbers of us are not happy with the way that factors are going.
Second…
that the identical folks are prepared to get off of their couches… move away from their televisions and take action to make our world greater, a lot more just and level the financial ‘playing field.’
Third…
and it’s my opinion that the greatest of victories that this movement has succeeded at is driving the discussion of a nation for nearly two months.
I consider the most wonderful factor has been the sheer numbers of folks who came to the occupation internet site and talked to every other about what the planet should appear like in the future.
This in itself is possibly the greatest victory of all.
It means so much.
The way I see it there are two paths at this point…
imminent annihilation of the movement in a crushing defeat by the authorities…
or a strategic and proactive restructuring of the group and it really is mission.
Personally… I dig the second path.
I’m not in the mood to be spittin’ up all the mucus in my lungs soon after suckin’ down a few also several breaths of tear gas although a Chicago cop tunes me up with the business finish of his billyclub whilst he’s all dressed up like a hockey golie.
That shit would give me poor dreams for a although.
Lets hold our core sturdy… our base vast… our assistance intact and our occupiers cost-free and healthful and regroup for the winter.
The orginaization can be structured into a lot more local cells beneath the umbrella of a central organization…
meetings can take place… far more supporters recruited… a greater organization achieved over the coming months…
and in the spring or even right here and there in the meantime the movement can be known as on to pop up with tiny notice and demonstrate properly for what it believes to be essential to our future as a group and a people.
It’s time to go ‘guerilla.’
What began as a peaceful and non-violent movement should develop into a transition as a peaceful and nonviolent movement.
Let us stay accurate to our principles.
We have shown fantastic commitment, restraint, cohesiveness and respect for the laws and customs of our society even as we criticized it and made clear our want for great modify.
We can make some thing of that.
Some thing wonderful.
If with no thinking we stroll into a battle that cannot be won we will have squandered the help of so many, the victories accomplished and the tough operate and sacrifice of thousands who think that the future requirements to be rethought and our world changed for the betterment of all.
Or at least the 99%.
Let’s not let our buddies be brutalized on the street and have our brothers and sisters choking on the tear gas… our indicators and banners trampled by the riot police on horseback… and our whole movement summed up by that one video of a guy wearing a bandanna over his face as the tear gas flies and he throws a rock at the police.
We’ve worked as well hard and come also far for that.
We’re greater and we’re smarter and we’re a lot more grown up.
We have made our voices heard over the final 5 weeks.
Let’s move into the future exactly where we can achieve one thing lasting and potent.
Let our legacy reflect the justice and equality and the far better society that we seek and the intelligence and comraderie which with we sought it.
Collectively and powerful we can change the world with our motivation, determination, intelligence and patience.
Fragmented and crushed the final we will be seen or heard from is on the news on the day of our demise.
This is the moment that will determine the future of our movement.
We want to be smart… remain robust… stay united and make the most of this moment.
We stand for one thing fantastic.
We require to move forward with honor and strength and continue to challenge the status quo.
The moment is right here.
Appropriate Right here Correct Now
Dr. Jeff
Image by Globe T.E.A.M. Sports
Expedition doctor Jeff Evans cannot resist functioning his precision tweezers to clean some debris from Luis’ eye. Globe T.E.A.M. Sports’ October 2010 Soldiers to the Summit Expedition. Photo © Didrik Johnck 2010.
