There are a myriad of opinions regarding the various Occupy movements around the globe: "idealist" "crackpots", "disillusioned", "people who need to get a job", "hypocritical."All of these comments have been levelled at the people who have pitched tents in squares, parks and universities across the world.
I have seen the tents in Pittsburgh, Melbourne, Portland and Edinburgh this month. Accompanying these movements has been the full power of Social Media. Mobile phones and cameras are madly uploading content to blogs, Facebook and Twitter across the globe.
For most of us what has been happening in the tent cities and the actions against them including removal has been occurring on the sidelines. I was shocked a little out of complacency by the actions shown in this film where armed police at University of California, Davis are filmed pouring pepper spray at seated peaceful protestors. The old adage a picture tells a 1000 words has come true with this video.
The impact of the videoing of this event?:
I have seen the tents in Pittsburgh, Melbourne, Portland and Edinburgh this month. Accompanying these movements has been the full power of Social Media. Mobile phones and cameras are madly uploading content to blogs, Facebook and Twitter across the globe.
For most of us what has been happening in the tent cities and the actions against them including removal has been occurring on the sidelines. I was shocked a little out of complacency by the actions shown in this film where armed police at University of California, Davis are filmed pouring pepper spray at seated peaceful protestors. The old adage a picture tells a 1000 words has come true with this video.
The impact of the videoing of this event?:
- the video has gone viral- no one knows how many times the millions of videos circulating the net have been viewed
- Two of the officers have been suspended
- The Davis Faculty Assn. issued a letter demanding that Chancellor Katehi step down. "The Chancellor's role is to enable open and free inquiry, not to suppress it," the association wrote, calling Katehi's approval of police force to remove the Occupy Davis tents a "gross failure of leadership."
- The board of the statewide Council of UC Faculty Associations agreed
- The Chancellor distanced herself from the Police action and formed a taskforce to investigate the incident saying "It left me with a very bad feeling of what went on"
- two of the police officers have been suspended
All because someone had a video camera and that someone was joined by many other someones with phones and cameras and ipads. Those someones, all had the internet to access and the ability to upload this footage. This is Social Media.
More video footage of this incident here: http://z6mag.com/featured/pepper-spray-video-at-uc-davis-unedited-during-occupy-protest-163175.html
