💾 Archived View for library.inu.red › file › amos-keppler-the-battle-of-gothenburg.gmi captured on 2023-01-29 at 07:11:24. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
➡️ Next capture (2024-07-09)
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Title: The Battle of Gothenburg Author: Amos Keppler Date: 2001 Language: en Topics: Sweden Source: Retrieved on 8 February 2011 from http://www.eco-action.org/dt/goth.html
As the unrest is temporarily, evidently subsiding in Gothenburg, the
site of the recent EU-summit and the most recent celebration of
capitalism, tyranny and destruction, one is once again struck by how
easily most people are fooled. How most people are uncritically buying
the government, the establishment’s propaganda. Machinery desperately
kicking into overdrive.
George W. Bush (a visiting guest warmly welcomed by his EU partners),
enjoying the company of friends on his Europe trip, also dropped by. A
number of diverse, disparate groups and individuals arrived in
Gothenburg on June 14^(th) to protest against the successful attempts by
the establishment to turn the world into a market place, where Life,
human and otherwise is turned into just another commodity, a world where
money is all and Life nothing.
There were “non-violent” protesters, claiming we can “all get along”,
claiming that one can end tyranny by appeasing it. And luckily there
were those who believe in confrontation, who are convinced that tyranny
must be confronted on all levels, also by using some of the same methods
the tyranny is deploying.
The fourth, supporting estate was deployed in its usual fashion well in
advance. Violent conspiracies, people with grenade launchers, guns in
schools and more were “exposed”. Rumors were abundant. Was there ever a
grenade launcher in that apartment, were there ever guns at that school?
The propaganda machinery is so slick, so skilled that we may never know
the truth. Yes, the lies or the Machine have been successful for a long
time and that makes its bolder. There are talks about imposing a series
of new, restricting laws. I have lost count of many times I have heard
the word “raffle” and similar describing the protesters. News reports
are designed to give the general public the worst possible impression of
the protesters. And the general public is, as usual eating it up. I
wonder (and I’m gonna ask them) if the news reporters are proud of being
the tyrants’ uncritical spokesmen.
The protests started on the 14^(th). The police surrounded a school,
claiming weapons were hidden there. No weapons were found, but they kept
surrounding the school in an effort to keep the protesters contained
there, to keep them from protesting. It didn’t work. People finally fed
up with establishment brutality and control, broke out. A few hours
later the battle of Gothenburg had begun in earnest. We’ve seen it all
many times. It was sticks and stones against a police force protected by
helmets, shields and everything modern armaments can offer.
Friday night protesters were shot by the police. The police claimed that
they defended themselves. Against who? Against people with sticks and
stones, that’s who, fighting against a uniformed force with superior
numbers and armament. The number of protesters has fortunately grown
steadily the last few years, but the police still has the upper hand by
far. But the policemen and security forces may have feared that things
were a bit more even this time around and panicked. They are being
hailed as heroes, of course. Brave men and women fighting against the
tide of anarchy and chaos...
In the meantime a human being may die because he exercised his right to
protest against injustice. A policeman shot him in the chest, claiming
self-defense. Another was hit in the leg. A Swedish photograph present
at the scene, working for the major newspaper Aftonbladet, says: “the
bullets were flying all over the place, any one of us could have been
hit”. Several policemen were firing completely indiscriminately.
Saturday night 800 people were contained on Jerntorget. Once again the
police were claiming to look for guns. A German with a gun, to be
precise. No German (or gun) was ever procured. Monday they had expanded
the lone German invention to a host of “violent armed German
terrorists”.
And the clueless general population is buying the establishment
propaganda hook, line and sinker. Even highly intelligent people I’ve
spoken to are uttering automatic responses like: “the mob is at it
again”, “these people are traveling around just to make trouble”, “why
can’t they protest peacefully like any normal person?”, “why are they
protesting?” and such. Intelligence is certainly no insurance against
being brainwashed. One must use intelligence wisely and actively, or
it’s useless.
Very few are asking why people are protesting, why anyone feel the need
to subject themselves to systematic brutality by tyranny’s eager
servants. In a world where destroying Life, both physically and mentally
has become a virtue, very few are even attempting to see the big
picture, how the acts of our current “leaders” are turning a bad
situation worse, how the system itself is engineered to propagate and
enhance, to worsen the current situation, not improving it. Most of us
are content passively repeating the words and actions of others, of
supporting and reinforcing the power structures any way we can. There is
very little independent thinking... and that’s why the propaganda
machine is so successful. The mindless can always be counted on to be
used against those few rebelling against tyranny and injustice.
Amos Keppler 2001-06-18