City of Brotherly Harassment

Just when out-of-town activists were prepared to begrudgingly credit Philadelphia police with admirable short-term restraint and professionalism (which is itself ambiguous given Philly PD's ugly history), the Constitution has been trammeled under foot all across the city of Benjamin Franklin, MOVE, and Noam Chomsky.

Today, August 1st, was the target date for city-wide civil disobedience targeted at the RNC and the GOP. No one complains when civil disobedience ends with arrests; after all, in many cases, that's part of the point. But today in Philadelphia the police went on a spree of illegal stop-and-frisks, video and still camera surveillance, and blockades of private residences.

I was involved in an attempt to blockade RNC delegates as they travelled from hotel to convention center. The activist space, legally rented from a Philly resident, in which many activists were legally planning their activities was surrounded by police for over one hour, preventing anyone from leaving the residence to proceed about their business. In addition, in many key areas of Central Philadelphia, starting early this morning, anyone who appeared un-Republican, or activist, was stopped, aggressively frisked, searched, and had their photos taken. What this harassment amounted to, of course, was countless American citizens prevented from pursuing their freedom to perambulate around Philadelphia at will.

I observed dozens of such incidents, but was largely immune from them myself because I was dressed in conservative clothes. Fellow Monkeyfister, Dru Jay, photographed at least one such harassment. Pictures to appear shortly.

I'll be posting several stories about the experiences, sights and sounds of RNC 2000 when I return to Dallas. I would be posting three completed stories about events in Philly but my laptop was stolen from activist housing last night under dubious circumstances. I'm trying not to be paranoid, perhaps it was just a coincidence?