The Moral High Ground

If you want a perfect example of how to conduct a protest, watch and learn.  Personally, I think those police are crazy to ride motorcycles into a crowd like that.  The crowd is angry, and surges forward, knocking the police off their motorcycles and start to beat them.  Then, members of the crowd quickly pull the riot police out of the fight and into a building where they are protected.

Protests are not places to take out your vengeance on authority.  This is the right way to do it.  I’ve seen several videos like this, and despite the fires and fighting, the protestors are doing an admirable job of keeping the lid on while still getting their point across.  Every day the authorities shoot people and beat people, their cause and moral standing go down, and more people join the protests.  Every day the protestors behave like this, protecting even the cops that are trying to beat them with sticks, their cause is strengthened and they rise in standing with the rest of the population.  If this goes on long enough and the protestors can keep it together and keep gaining ground, they might have a chance.

In any case, to those who pulled that cop out of the crowd: keep it up, you’re doing it right.  I’m not going to tell you to be careful, because this isn’t the time for that.  Be strong, be tough, be persistent, and keep the big picture in mind.  The world is watching.

EDIT:  Glenn Greenwald has an insightful column reminding us of what could have happened: how many of these protestors would be dead or in hiding if we had bombed Iran like many people in our government wanted?