It looks like we can longer voice a dissenting opinion anywhere. On Saturday the 22nd, about 45 people congregated at Stearns Park in Long Beach to have a peaceful demonstration against the war on "terrorism". From the very beginning the LOng Beach Pigs decided to show up and say that they were there for our protection because we were demonstrating an upopular opinion. They wanted to know what we were going to do in case things got out of hand and such.

After the pigs left we had an open mic session and then decided to hand out flyers along the shopping center to people walking around. There were a few people yelling at us and giving us the finger but overall people were receptive. That is until we were told to vacate the premises because we were trespassing on provate property. One of the people was a lawyer and he felt as though he was not trespassing, little did we know it is a crime to raise awareness against the war. He was arressted along with someone with an AP pass. The Long Beach police then showed up in emasse to try to regulate a situation that did not need to be regulated. They carried it out of hand and may the tension run a lot higher than it was before. When asked for the proof of the registering of the complaint, they did not have it. When asked for their badge numbers they were not cooperative. But these police were there to protect us? Fuck them and fuck the police! How much longer are we going to tolerate this outward suppression of information. The long beach police are nothing but Testerone loving freaks who have no clue what to do in situations that do not go their way, and they end up arresting and trying to provoke militant action on the protesters part. We held strong and did not feed into their trap as much as we wanted to. It is time to see what the LBP are really about and what this state is really about, suppression of speech and the freedoms that we are supposed to have.

I set out this afternoon to join the brave few at the Long beach park. By half past noon the cops seemed to outnumber the faithful. I stayed in my vehicle and watched from a distance and noticed I wasn't only one surveying the scene. As I drove around the park and was followed by an unmarked car which slowed to get read my plates. I imagine the cops intended to intimadate anyone intending to join the activities.

When I was living in Canada, the police did the same thing. There was a peaceful demonstration with a group a that was smaller than yours. The police overdid it and followed the group around and suppressed them.

What happened next was the same group planned another demonstration with larger coalition of people including labor activists and others at a demonstration against the Torries. Later, there was an anti-police brutality demonstration of about 50 people or so and we marched right in front of the police station. They did more posturing, etc. but the point was made.

The point is, this activity pisses them off. When they suppress our rights, it's important to make another demonstration to that effect; a march, a vigil, leafletting, whatever. This also pisses them off. This works to show them that we will not be supressed. If they censor us here, we will show up there at the police station,etc. to assert our rights by direct action.

Make sure there are some people with cameras at these events and post it here! If they get out of hand IN ANY WAY then write it down en masse and prepare a class action suit; this pisses them off most of all. If they dont care about our rights, we can tie them up in the courts and make their actions a matter of public record at least.

Please email me if you are interested in organizing something like this. I will be glad to help.