The UC Davis police officer who
nonchalantly and brutally pepper-sprayed students protesting tuition
hikes Nov.17 has become an iconic image. The incident has incited
outrage and only served to fuel further protest. Many view Lt. John
Pike as an offensive character, particularly because he so blatantly
violated the protesters’ human rights. He is.
However, the reality is much worse than
a single man’s brutality. Pike sprayed the students after bragging
to his coworkers that he would and as part of carrying out his
orders. The students were arrested using ties that were closed so
tightly that one student suffered nerve damage that might be
permanent. Other officers pepper sprayed students at point-blank
range as well.
Earlier that week, Seattle officers
pepper-sprayed Dorli Rainey, an 84-year-old activist, who was
protesting as part of Occupy Seattle. Like the UC Davis protesters,
Rainey was engaged in a nonviolent protest—exercising
constitutional rights. Also that same week, Occupy encampments in
Chicago, New York, Colorado, Berkeley, Oakland and elsewhere were
being threatened and raided by police under orders from mayors,
school administrations and governors—all political cronies of the
banks and corporations
In each pepper-spraying incident, the
officers were not acting against orders. They were, according to a
former Baltimore Police Department lieutenant, using “fairly
standard police procedure.” The lieutenant cited one woman’s
attempt to pull her arm from police grasp and another person’s
choice to roll into a ball as “active resistance” that warranted
the use of pepper spray as a “compliance tool.”
In other words, it is standard police
procedure to shoot military-grade pepper spray at point-blank range
at peaceful protesters who are engaged in constitutionally protected
activities and non-violent civil disobedience.
Pike’s actions are part and parcel of
the ruling class’ attempts to stop the Occupy movement but they
also reveal a constant feature of U.S. capitalist society: violence
and brutality.
The U.S. government often portrays
itself as the protector and promoter of human rights and democracy
around the world.
Yet, the opposite is true. The U.S.
government is responsible for some of the worst human rights
violations to date—from Afghanistan to Iraq to elsewhere. In 2009
alone, the U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan killed or injured 535
civilians.
Here at home, human rights violations
are also commonplace, although the government would like to pretend
otherwise.
The United States is home to more
prisoners than any other country in the world. The 2011 estimate is
1.7 million people held in prisons—an increase of 13 percent since
2006.
Police violence is a regular
occurrence. One police department, the NYPD, has paid almost a
billion dollars, $964 million, over the past 10 years to resolve
claims against its officers. In 2010, there were 4,861 reports of
police misconduct involving 6,613 police officers. Of these, 247
ended in deaths.
The Occupy movement is growing in scope
and popularity as it responds to a deep crisis that plagues many
sectors of society. Millions of people are living in poverty, unable
to find a job, denied health care and education and struggling to
survive while a tiny percentage grows wealthier and wealthier off the
fruits of the majority’s labor. The movement has thrown this
contradiction onto center stage. The ruling structure is attempting,
primarily in the form of police repression, to dismantle the growing
movement. These efforts, however, have only fueled the fire of
peoples’ will to struggle.
