Jailed in Las Vegas - to be continued
This evening, 7 deeply concerned anti-war activists attempted to speak with the commanding officer at Creech AFB, where U.S. troops sit behind computer consoles, grab their joysticks and order DRONES to spy on, track, and murder human beings 7 thousand miles away.
As we slowly walked down the roadway to the gate, a state police officer and two airmen black-booted and armed with automatic rifles, guns, and several other weapons, stood to block our way.
...details later.
We were arrested and taken to the Las Vegas Clark County Detention Center where we were booked and jailed.
I have been in many jails more recently than not, and this has been one of the MOST challenging, intense incarcerations to date.
I don't have time now to write much - we are headed back to the AFB to greet the soldiers this morning - but there were two reasons making this so difficult.
First, this was the first time I've been arrested and have been unable to find police officers or staff that was in solidarity with our actions and anti-war. Even in those places where officers couldn't overtly support us, they would always manage to let us know many of the police were on our side.
In this jail, the staff and police officers were so very pro-war, so very violent and cold in their stance, it was more chilling than the freezing air of the jail.
The predominant attitude expressed frequently and with much righteousness and passion ... of 'christ' ... was that we should bomb the hell out of everyone in the mid-east, Afghanistan, Pakistan with impunity - that even if there just happened to be civilians, they were obviously hiding terrorists because they were allowing terrorists to walk amongst the people, not turning them over to U.S. troops, giving us more than enough reason to eliminate them as well.
The other reason is that I felt I was in a microcosm of war in this jail. The general police action and driving force was so power-tripping and controlling at best, at worse torturing, oppressing and cruel to many, their actions reflected the amplified actions of a military occupying force.
There is no excuse to bully and perpetrate violence upon another human being but Las Vegas police embraced this treatment of other human beings - who have merely been arrested, not even tried and convicted yet.
I witnessed and heard many acts of cruelty and unnecessary force and was helpless to do anything.
More later - off to Creech
As we slowly walked down the roadway to the gate, a state police officer and two airmen black-booted and armed with automatic rifles, guns, and several other weapons, stood to block our way.
...details later.
We were arrested and taken to the Las Vegas Clark County Detention Center where we were booked and jailed.
I have been in many jails more recently than not, and this has been one of the MOST challenging, intense incarcerations to date.
I don't have time now to write much - we are headed back to the AFB to greet the soldiers this morning - but there were two reasons making this so difficult.
First, this was the first time I've been arrested and have been unable to find police officers or staff that was in solidarity with our actions and anti-war. Even in those places where officers couldn't overtly support us, they would always manage to let us know many of the police were on our side.
In this jail, the staff and police officers were so very pro-war, so very violent and cold in their stance, it was more chilling than the freezing air of the jail.
The predominant attitude expressed frequently and with much righteousness and passion ... of 'christ' ... was that we should bomb the hell out of everyone in the mid-east, Afghanistan, Pakistan with impunity - that even if there just happened to be civilians, they were obviously hiding terrorists because they were allowing terrorists to walk amongst the people, not turning them over to U.S. troops, giving us more than enough reason to eliminate them as well.
The other reason is that I felt I was in a microcosm of war in this jail. The general police action and driving force was so power-tripping and controlling at best, at worse torturing, oppressing and cruel to many, their actions reflected the amplified actions of a military occupying force.
There is no excuse to bully and perpetrate violence upon another human being but Las Vegas police embraced this treatment of other human beings - who have merely been arrested, not even tried and convicted yet.
I witnessed and heard many acts of cruelty and unnecessary force and was helpless to do anything.
More later - off to Creech
posted by Xan @ 6:17 AM
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