The Battle of Gothenburg

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