We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Police crackdown as striking miners march on Madrid

Click here to access article, videos, and photos posted by Jerome Roos from Reflections on a Revolution. 

The author provides videos and photos depicting attacks on civilians by the enforcers of Spain's One Percent. They are stepping up their aggression to inflict injuries on those who are protesting the austerity measures imposed by European bankers. Rubber bullets and beatings are now their methods of choice to subdue citizens in what is becoming an overt class war in a military sense. 
At least 73 were injured as riot police indiscriminately fired rubber bullets into the crowds and protesters retaliated by throwing bottles, trash and fireworks back at police. Images circulating on Twitter showed a journalist lying injured on the ground and a young child (below) with a massive bruise from a rubber bullet. One particularly disturbing image showed a woman bleeding protrusively from the head as she was being led away by riot police. The clashes are remarkable because, in contrast to Barcelona and Athens, protests in Madrid have tended to stay relatively peaceful so far.
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