Big BART blockage planned for Friday in SF (Oakland, London: neighborhoods, construction)

[ServoMiff]

I'm not sure I really understand the mindset. The initial protest was people CHAINING themselves to a BART train - thus preventing the system from operating, keeping sick people from getting kidney dialysis, elderly from getting their medication, among other essentials, because of a protest against cops and their treatment of certain people.

The only rational explanation I can come up with is that they're protesting at BART because they think it will have the biggest impact, and thus giving them the stage they want to talk about their demands.

Well, it'll have a big impact on many people, but not a damn thing will/can be done by BART leaders to change what happened in Ferguson or elsewhere, and all you're left with is a bunch of people in the city who hate you for blocking their commute.

Did I sum it up accurately?

[pch1013]

Originally Posted by ambient

Coming from the Midwest, I have to say.... this is a uniquely Bay Area phenomenon. Sure, people protest in other cities when there is actually something to protest

... like the occasional college football championship.

[ohhwanderlust]

It should be legal to mow these parasites down if need be (for example if there's a medical emergency, someone's delivering a baby, etc).

Maybe then they'll learn to stop ****ing with the livelihoods of those who don't even make the decisions anyway.

[BayAreaHillbilly]

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzt!

What's that smell?

[jade408]

Originally Posted by SocSciProf

Do you not understand:

"In contrast, dropping the charges may only encourage future violence. (And, yes, impeding the flow of people is violence, because, among other problems, a)the action was unannounced, meaning b)people with urgent needs (e.g., someone with Crohn's disease who needs predictable transportation for various physiological reasons) had no chance to plan accordingly. Consequently, many were ambushed. That's violence.)

Make protesting safe for the 99%. Arrest, book, hold, try, convict, and imprison the violent 1%!"

Or do you just disagree? If the former, please read the above closely and think about it. If the latter, please explain why stopping traffic/travel with absolutely no warning and no idea of how serious or trivial the business the travelers are conducting is is not violence?

Thanks!

So who charges the people celebrating the Giants win for burning Muni buses. What about those people who loot and riot after sorting events.

What about people who commit suicide by train, should we sue their families in their time of grief.

Blocking the train is not violence.

90% of the time reliable predictable transit is not on the radar for the public as a necessity. Moving cars is more important. Suddenly when a dozen black people blocked the train to protest systemic institutional racism, we need to have a fine because it is "violence."

So yes I do not agree. Our society has made it abundantly clear to me that terrorism against French satirists is more important than systemic police brutality, a fixing society that priorities sending black kids to prison over school and that basic human decency and respect when dealing with people who look like me is unnecessary. All lives matter equally unless you happen to be black. That I should be happy with scraps since "behaving appropriately" is no guarantee I'll be treated as such.

[ohhwanderlust]

Originally Posted by jade408

So who charges the people celebrating the Giants win for burning Muni buses. What about those people who loot and riot after sorting events.

What about people who commit suicide by train, should we sue their families in their time of grief.

Blocking the train is not violence.

90% of the time reliable predictable transit is not on the radar for the public as a necessity. Moving cars is more important. Suddenly when a dozen black people blocked the train to protest systemic institutional racism, we need to have a fine because it is "violence."

So yes I do not agree. Our society has made it abundantly clear to me that terrorism against French satirists is more important than systemic police brutality, a fixing society that priorities sending black kids to prison over school and that basic human decency and respect when dealing with people who look like me is unnecessary. All lives matter equally unless you happen to be black. That I should be happy with scraps since "behaving appropriately" is no guarantee I'll be treated as such.

When they block BART, they're making it harder for everyone who can't afford to drive (or who don't care to add to the ecological impact of driving every day) to put food on the table.

They're hurting those they claim to fight for.

[SocSciProf]

Originally Posted by jade408

So who charges the people celebrating the Giants win for burning Muni buses. What about those people who loot and riot after sorting events.

Same thing. Prison. Two wrongs don't make a right.

Originally Posted by jade408

What about people who commit suicide by train, should we sue their families in their time of grief.

One, yes we should, and two, such lawsuits happen (technically, they sue the estate, not the family).

Originally Posted by jade408

Blocking the train is not violence.

Yes, it is. All you've done is complain about other sad facts of contemporary life. Nothing you've said indicates the acts are not violence.

Originally Posted by jade408

90% of the time reliable predictable transit is not on the radar for the public as a necessity. Moving cars is more important. Suddenly when a dozen black people blocked the train to protest systemic institutional racism, we need to have a fine because it is "violence."

Yet, amazingly, we have spent billions on muni, BART, and other such systems. . . . Your position makes no sense. Sorry. It just does not.

Originally Posted by jade408

So yes I do not agree. Our society has made it abundantly clear to me that terrorism against French satirists is more important than systemic police brutality

Hmm. I didn't realize BART had anything to do with what's happening in Paris. . . . ^THIS is why the "movement" is failing. Basically, you're angry. I get that. We ALL get that. But, you seem to think your anger means you can string together any set of words/actions you feel like, and everyone else is supposed to be persuaded and applaud your brilliance, empathy, and wisdom. You seem to have no need to identify the people involved in creating the situation you find problematic. Just dump a buncha words and actions on the public and high five the choir. . . . Pathetic.

The best thing that could happen for social justice is these "activists" all get arrested, convicted, sentenced to prison, so then the serious activists--you know, those who THINK and PLAN so that their mobilization and protests will actually make a positive difference instead of just angering their natural allies--can take to the streets and make this world a better place. Sadly, the PTB probably know this, so, I don't expect any arrests to stick. It'd be too helpful to the real movement for social justice.

Congrats on keeping us stuck in a sorry excuse for a society.

[jade408]

Shiny happy protests that get approval from the masses do not create sicial change. No matter how much we create a false narrative if the civil rights movement.

[ServoMiff]

Originally Posted by jade408

Shiny happy protests that get approval from the masses do not create sicial change. No matter how much we create a false narrative if the civil rights movement.

When was the last time protesting actually created true social change? 30-40 years ago?

Color me ignorant, but other than perhaps a few minor regulations or laws, I'm not sure that anything has really changed since I've been alive (since the mid 70's). Go outside of California and take a look around.

[bay2bay]

The good news is BART has been warned this time. They should have plenty of officers available to move in quickly and arrest anyone who is disrupting the system.