[Xmca-l] Re: speed of political action

[Andy Blunden]

Indeed, Huw.
After the Operation had been cancelled and the Press 
Conference cancelled, the Union representing the "Border 
Force" was on the radio pleading for people to understand 
that the Border Force officers were just ordinary men and 
women who had gone to work in the Customs or Immigration 
Services and were not equipped to do this kind of work and 
would people please not treat them so badly. "Border Force" 
was created by the Abbott government soon after they got 
elected on a "Stop the Boats" slogan by amalgamating the 
Customs and Immigration services and putting them under an 
Army General, a transparent piece of militaristic posturing! 
Even Australian voters who can be easily fooled by this kind 
of charade have become tired by sabre rattling and 
"Commander in Chief" posturing which has gone on for 2 years 
now.
Andy
------------------------------------------------------------
*Andy Blunden*
http://home.pacific.net.au/~andy/
On 29/08/2015 8:24 AM, Huw Lloyd wrote:
> http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2015/aug/28/protest-against-border-force-visa-crackdown-shuts-melbourne-streets-live
>
> In my limited experience and thinking, special ops police forces seem to
> have two distinct characteristics.  The first is the focus on catching
> criminals in criminal activities rather than educating people against
> them.  The second is a preference for militarised operations, rather than
> standardised policing. I would guess that (an argument for) the appropriate
> time to take such measures is when there are no other resources available
> to protect something of obvious felt importance that is also felt to be
> clearly at risk, that doesn't seem to be the case in this protest.  I
> wonder whether such morality could be institutionalised into police
> practice, i.e. to legitimately boycott operations that do not meet those
> criteria.
>
> Huw
>
>
>
>
> On 28 August 2015 at 16:19, Peg Griffin <Peg.Griffin@att.net> wrote:
>
>> Thanks for good news!
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: xmca-l-bounces+peg.griffin=att.net@mailman.ucsd.edu [mailto:
>> xmca-l-bounces+peg.griffin=att.net@mailman.ucsd.edu] On Behalf Of Andy
>> Blunden
>> Sent: Friday, August 28, 2015 1:44 AM
>> To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
>> Subject: [Xmca-l] speed of political action
>>
>> I must share this with my xmca friends.
>> This morning the government launched an operation which is to my mind the
>> kind of thing which could only happen in Korea of the Southern states of
>> the US: The newly created Border Force was to conduct a campaign of spot
>> checks on people in the streets of central Melbourne, checking people's
>> "papers". By morning rush hour time a demonstration had been mounted at the
>> main railway station, and now in late afternoon is blocking off public
>> transport in and our of the city, the move was soon all over social media
>> and I am told the would-be police-state move had to be called off.
>> It would have taken a month to get a counter demo. up over this in my
>> days, but the opposition moved faster than the police!
>>
>> Andy
>> --
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> *Andy Blunden*
>> http://home.pacific.net.au/~andy/
>>
>>
>>