The french gendarmerie recently received a new vehicle, it’s a tank equipped with a machine gun and 40mm grenade launcher. They’re deployed in our colony, Caledonia, to enforce an apartheid. They were also used against ecology protesters recently. Last year, a racist cop murdering a kip sparked revolts, anti-terorism units were deployed and shot kids with 12 gauge shotguns. It’s not just america, the rich and powerful are at war with the people everywhere.
C’est absolument dégueulasse…
It’s not just america, the rich and powerful are at war with the people everywhere.
The timing is so weird to me. Like they’ve been amassing riches and power for decades…why did they decide to escalate the conflict now? Do they really believe that a revolution is coming or something? They are continually winning a bloodless propaganda battle to keep accumulating wealth and let everyone else starve, yet they keep escalating things. It’s bizarre to behold.
The inequality is worse than it has been in over a century, people are living closer to the edge than ever, employers are taking the piss at this point, and climate change is beginning to sting. All this is to say that it’s not just the workers feeling the pinch - it’s the petite bourgeoisie too. That scares capital enough to arm themselves more, but not enough to start making concessions.
Nouvelle-Calédonie?
Yeah iirc Caledonia is somewhere in the British Isles.
Guess campus protests require AR-15s now. If the cops don’t like it they’re free to cut the shit.
Also shotguns with birdshot shells, they’re decent against the drones (which they’re using).
I’m an Indiana University alum and my dad was a professor there. During the protests there, they had a fucking sniper on the roof. The protests were in a park next to the student union which had been used for protests since the Vietnam War. I was there in middle school in a shanty that was protesting the 1990s Gulf War. Now the new semester has started and there’s a chain link fence around the whole thing.
The president just got a raise.
Makes me fucking sick.
Here’s the sniper:
I used to climb up to that roof where that sniper is with friends when I was in high school to smoke weed, so that was a trip to see.
I agree it’s insane what they do, but the sniper is needed with the direction we’ve gone. The sniper is there in case someone with a gun comes to kill protesters, not to kill protesters or they would have done it by now. They really are there for everyone’s safety. Now the guys on the ground who attack people or the guys firing pepper rounds/spray at protesters, they’re the ones we should be complaining about. The ones who are actually applying violence to protesters. The sniper may appear worse if you aren’t paying attention, but they’ve yet to actually shoot anyone, while protesters have been assaulted.
Nonsense. The sniper is part of the same police force as the one attacking protesters.
Which side did the cops take when protesters in New York were attacked?
They are a part of the same police force. I’m not saying they’re good people. I’m saying this role is not one doing harm, and is actually useful until we get our shooting issue under control. You’ll see the same snipers at sporting events and anywhere else with a large gathering. They’re obviously not there for the protesters, but in case someone decides to do something to start killing others.
Why has there never been a sniper there before then? There’s a huge festival every year in that park with a huge number of students and non-students, including a lot of teenagers, with live bands playing on more than one stage. Never a sniper.
No Idea. My university did a yearly celebration as well and we for sure had snipers and guys with rifles walking around. If you know where to look, they’re at most large events. I can’t tell you about this location specifically, but it’s common.
This is Bloomington, Indiana. Population 80,000. Police snipers aren’t generally a thing in towns that size.
I know when Bill Clinton gave a speech at UCF (Orlando) in 2012 there were snipers on most of the school’s roofs in the area. Can’t remember if I was getting out of work or getting out of class but he was giving a speech I believe to support Obama’s re-election. They were likely secret service, but they had their own police station and hospital on campus. I’m sure all of the training and certifications had to be funded by the state and reported like this. Robots to deploy for bomb threats were used pretty often, as people would report a suspicious backpack or such, rumor mill was always that there was exams in that building so you could get class canceled by anonymously reporting said backpack. It true, hell of a way to postpone an exam because you didn’t find time to study.
Because gun violence is more of a risk than ever.
Honestly I would feel better with the sniper there, so they could stop random nut who shows up with an assault rifle. Which is really sad.
Cops ARE the gun violence. But they don’t have to be the only ones!
This isn’t inner city Detroit, this is a small Indiana city. Snipers are not the norm.
It’s not the norm in inner city Detroit either…
LRAD is some fucked up shit, btw. (Part of the large family of sonic weapons)
An LRAD can thus emit a targeted “beam” of sound at very high volume, up to 160 dB at one meter from the device. This is louder than standing behind a jet engine taking off, or a nearby gunshot.[2]
nice thing about LRAD is you can build your own and do a ultimate showdown with the cops
European here. “Pepper munitions” aren’t military weaponry as they’re banned for use in war by the Chemical Weapons Convention. This all reads like riot control stuff. The only weird thing is that american universities have their own police departments.
Private railroad companies also have their own police departments.
Does that actually count as a police department or is that more like a private security company and they have to call the real police if anything happens?
It’s a real police department, The United States postal service also has their own police department.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Pacific_Police_Department
Weird.
Yeah, the idea of “train police” is actually perfectly sensible since it’s specialized and both the criminals and victims will be constantly transiting between jurisdictions. The fact that they’re actually owned by the railroads is a creepy legacy of the original gilded age plutocracy. I first learned about this when I saw the BNSF cops driving around Fort Worth with “Police” on the door instead of “Security” like I would have expected.
The more oddly specific the police force’s jurisdiction, the more scared to be if they take an interest in you.
Neither are the bean back rounds and launchers
But yeah, this was a shock for me a few years after I graduated. My school made a big deal of “Campus Security” becoming spcertified as a police force “University Police”, but the only reason they ever gave was so they could carry guns.
I’m not denying there may be a gun threat occasionally, but this was in a small university town, not near any cities. This was as safe a place as you could expect, and I’m sure almost all their calls were kids binging on new intoxicants, and kids fumbling through dating and relationships
(not so) Fun Fact:
They’re banned in war because in War you’re unable to run away. You have to decide to stay there in your trench which amplifies the gas and suffocates you or run and get shot.
That’s why they’re banned in war and why they’re perfectly fine for police
Agreed. The “Pepper munitions” might be paint-ball style rounds shot from paint-ball style guns. I’m not sure in this case, but other police departments have had them. The grenade launchers are for tear gas grenades. Perhaps also flash-bang or stun grenades.
And to think that you guys pay to be there. Imagine loading yourself with massive student debt for a place that stocks up on weapons as if its at war with you.
They are right. I can’t wrap my head around it.
I am glad my biggest worries as a student were if I wasn’t failing any classes and not how many weapons the university was buying to control the student body.
Hey Jones! If you fail one more test, I’ll have you taken out the back and shot!
Good point, only students should be allowed to carry guns.
Americans live in one of the police states of all time. Capitalism can only produce this result, there is no alternative, because the ruling class knows just as well as the socialists do that the contradictions will only keep getting worse and the protests will only keep getting bigger but of course instead of wanting to change the equation to produce a different result like the socialists do the capitalists want to cling to power by any means necessary.
If you replace capitalism in that sentence with another ism you still have the same results.
Not really.
The fundamental critique of capitalism is that not even the capitalists are really in charge. Marx lays out quite thoroughly in Capital that the profit motive is what’s actually in charge, and the capitalists are just along for the ride, and that any attempt by the capitalists to flex their power in a way that the market cannot abide will result in them losing their privileged status and being replaced by a different capitalist who will better serve the needs of the profit motive.
By contrast, socialist systems are run by people. That makes them flexible and able to serve the needs of society in a way that capitalist societies simply aren’t. And yes, people are capable of mistakes, failure, and betrayal; but so too are they capable of insight, success, and solidarity. The best of existing socialist societies past and present is when they buck the demands of the market and provide for their people in ways that capitalist societies don’t, and the worst of socialist societies is invariably the things that they are required to do in order to maintain their existence on a predominantly capitalist world.
Anarchism.
Show me one example of that happening in a real Marxist state.
Out of genuine curiosity, which country do you consider to be a real Marxist state?
China, Russia? The former Yugaslavia? Quite recently Albania. Maybe the people who day capitalism is the root go all evil should visit some museums there.
I’ve visited the museums in China, truly among the most inspiring places on this earth. The world’s largest and most powerful country is also its most free.
/s right?
I said real Marxism, none of those count
No true
ScotsmanMarxist.Ayy you said the line lol
All paid by every increasing tuition
How is a private entity allowed to buy military grade weaponry to use against their students?
Oh right… 'Merica. You guys have a problem with weapons, a problem no civilized country has. But then again, we’re not talking about a civilized country but a capitalism ruled country.
Don’t say, “against their students”, say, “against their customers”. Which makes it sound even more ridiculous.
There are plenty of capitalist countries where this sort of shit doesn’t happen.
Because none of them are ruled by capitalism. Capitalism is their economic system, not their government system.
Because none of them are ruled by capitalism.
I with you were right…
If they were ruled by capitalism, things like universal healthcare wouldn’t exist. Things are far from perfect in other countries, but there’s a huge leap between the US and other counties in terms of what capitalism is allowed to do in them.
I think you are in the wrong here. Europe is definitely ruled by capitalism. What Americans don’t understand is that universal healthcare benefits capitalism, because the state makes sure your workers are healthy.
Your employee is sick? State money is going to fix him up and pay (most) of the wage in the meantime.
But that has more to do with a lack of democratic accountability than with the way the economy works. In my opinion, what holds back the US the most is their completely insane election system.
That lack of accountability, imho, comes from capitalism dictating what democracy can do, and not the other way around. In other countries, democracy limits what capitalism can do, so it’s more or less subordinate to it.
In the US, capitalism decides what democracy can do, so it’s actually democracy which is subordinated to capitalism.
lol
Capitalism isn’t the problem.
Edit: I would argue wealth inequality is the problem. You can have (a form of) capitalism and still fix wealth inequality.
Capitalism is a tool, used by 2000 people to rule the rest. Hierarchy is the problem. The idea that one person is better than the other.
This idea needs to die already.
But yes, money is a good tool to brainwash people into misunderstanding the worth of their work and their property. This „inflation“ treadmill is insane and makes you run faster in the hamster wheel while the rich dont work at all!
And may the odds be ever in your favor.
Agreed
Capitalism may not be the problem, but “country being ruled by capitalism” definitely is.
It’s THE problem
Capitalism will seek profits over all else. If that requires implementing corporatism as a form of government it will endeavour to do so. That is the point of the whole god damn thing.
Capitalism is an extremely potent and powerful tool to create profits. Whatever else it does is incidental. If the food system can get away with creating a profit by making you eat sawdust then it will. All costs are externalised as much as possible and all profit is privatised as much as possible. This is not a bug but a feature.
“to escalate its warfare on its students”
Yep, my mind doesn’t understand this phrase at all.
All protests should be armed protests.
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By the way for those that think they’re gonna use actual grenades on children, they’re just foam “fordy mike mikes” (40mm) that are designed to fit in a grenade launcher. Pepper balls are similar to pepper spray (but iirc it’s a bit stronger)
doesn’t make it better lol
If you’ve ever been hit by either (I’ve been hit by a few pepper balls) - it fucking sucks. It is painful, it can, absolutely, be lethal if it hits a neck/face/chest.
excuse me wtf
This is all riot control gear. US universities usually have their own police departments, so by extension they usually have their own riot control gear as well.
You wouldn’t use any of this stuff in war. It isn’t designed to kill people (although it can and will, especially if used improperly).
(although it can and will, especially if used improperly).
I guess that why, with the exception of the first 2 entries, every other instance is for training.
Not American so not up to speed on what’s going on…
Are these students that are protesting doing it with tanks, machine guns, grenades, planes? Are they being at all non-peaceful? Has anyone been killed?
Aren’t they protesting about the arms supplied to Israel and being used against Gazans?
You don’t understand, they have signs. Signs. And they shout. Better buy some bear spray.
Oh my fucking god, are they impeding someone’s income? The monsters!
The worst things that happen are when students lock the door to a building, or when fascist counter protestors (often in police uniforms) show up and escalate shit.
“American universities turn into concentration camps” was not on my bingo card for 2024.
weren’t all schools like that from the beginning?
