An RT crew was recently arrested by US police while filming protests near the Fort Benning military base in the US state of Georgia.
Correspondent Kaelyn Forde’s and her cameraman Jon Conway were detained while covering a rally protesting the School of the Americas. They were arrested after the demonstration was over and everybody, including correspondents, was leaving the area. The arrests were rough and included the use of hard plastic hand cuffs, the same type commonly used by US soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, injuring Kaelyn Forde’s wrists. At the time of their arrests the correspondents were not told what crime they were being charged with.
They were held as protestors even though they presented valid press credentials to the court. Currently out on bail after 32 hours in custody, Forde and Conway were eventually charged with partaking in an illegal protest and disobeying the orders of law enforcement officers.
The School of the Americas, now known as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, is a US tax payer funded military operation that trains military soldiers from Latin American nations. Many of its graduates have gone on to insight coups and human rights violations in their home nations. Previous graduates include Pinochet of Chile, D'Aubuisson of El Salvador, Banzer in Bolivia, Galtieri's in Argentina and Rios Montt of Guatemala. Some have even found School of the Americas ties to the more recent coup in Honduras.
Davis Swanson, author of the newly released book, "War is a Lie" said this case is a disturbing trend in America, and the constitutional rights of both the press and the activists were violated by the police.
He explained the rights of a free press and free assembly seem to be thrown out when it comes to coverage of the US government, military, congressional campaigns and political parties.
“There is the freedom of assembly as well as the freedom of the press in our First Amendment, and it is being attacked,” Swanson said. “This is something that has been growing in recent years.”
There is a growing police presence at peaceful rallies and events, explained Swanson. Police are increasing their efforts and hostility at non-violent rallies. The event was a Christian protest, made up of activists that included priests, nuns, elderly individuals and minors.
“It is a growing problem that ought to concern all of us,” he said.
Swanson argued there was no justification for the police to violate the people’s first amendment rights. Increasing arrests, hostility and preemptive targeting of activists is unjust.
“There seems to be a crack down on people protesting even as the protests diminish in size,” he added.
The US military targets the media. The uses intimidation and releases tailored stories to the media, and most US media simply bend to the power and intimidation of the government, Swanson argued.
“We have a campaign of intimidation that is very very successful,” he said. “There are two disgraceful things that happened here. One,an arrest of journalists and activists, and two, most US media outlets not there, not risking arrests, complying withthe desires of those in power or successfully intimidated.”
Medea Benjamin, the co-founder of Code Pink, an activist organization, is no stranger to protests and rallies. She said “it’s insane” that the police arrested journalists who were simply covering the protest.
“I think it’s quite strange,” she said. “[It] doesn’t really go with the pattern of previous years.”
“Under President Obama we thought there would be more room for exercising our First Amendment rights, and yet we see under this President, things like the FBI raids of activists in Chicago and Minneapolis,” she explained. “That didn’t even happen to us under the Bush years. It’s quite strange.”
There is an “extremely distrusting” pattern of cracking down on activism and the exercising of constitutional rights.
Benjamin argued people need to be outspoken and protest the arrests of activists and members of the media to send a message that the First Amendment is being violated. This incident, she hopes, will highlight the new pattern of aggression toward activists and highlight the existence of the School of the Americas.
Correspondent Kaelyn Forde’s and her cameraman Jon Conway were detained while covering a rally protesting the School of the Americas. They were arrested after the demonstration was over and everybody, including correspondents, was leaving the area. The arrests were rough and included the use of hard plastic hand cuffs, the same type commonly used by US soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, injuring Kaelyn Forde’s wrists. At the time of their arrests the correspondents were not told what crime they were being charged with.
They were held as protestors even though they presented valid press credentials to the court. Currently out on bail after 32 hours in custody, Forde and Conway were eventually charged with partaking in an illegal protest and disobeying the orders of law enforcement officers.
The School of the Americas, now known as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, is a US tax payer funded military operation that trains military soldiers from Latin American nations. Many of its graduates have gone on to insight coups and human rights violations in their home nations. Previous graduates include Pinochet of Chile, D'Aubuisson of El Salvador, Banzer in Bolivia, Galtieri's in Argentina and Rios Montt of Guatemala. Some have even found School of the Americas ties to the more recent coup in Honduras.
Davis Swanson, author of the newly released book, "War is a Lie" said this case is a disturbing trend in America, and the constitutional rights of both the press and the activists were violated by the police.
He explained the rights of a free press and free assembly seem to be thrown out when it comes to coverage of the US government, military, congressional campaigns and political parties.
“There is the freedom of assembly as well as the freedom of the press in our First Amendment, and it is being attacked,” Swanson said. “This is something that has been growing in recent years.”
There is a growing police presence at peaceful rallies and events, explained Swanson. Police are increasing their efforts and hostility at non-violent rallies. The event was a Christian protest, made up of activists that included priests, nuns, elderly individuals and minors.
“It is a growing problem that ought to concern all of us,” he said.
Swanson argued there was no justification for the police to violate the people’s first amendment rights. Increasing arrests, hostility and preemptive targeting of activists is unjust.
“There seems to be a crack down on people protesting even as the protests diminish in size,” he added.
The US military targets the media. The uses intimidation and releases tailored stories to the media, and most US media simply bend to the power and intimidation of the government, Swanson argued.
“We have a campaign of intimidation that is very very successful,” he said. “There are two disgraceful things that happened here. One,an arrest of journalists and activists, and two, most US media outlets not there, not risking arrests, complying withthe desires of those in power or successfully intimidated.”
Medea Benjamin, the co-founder of Code Pink, an activist organization, is no stranger to protests and rallies. She said “it’s insane” that the police arrested journalists who were simply covering the protest.
“I think it’s quite strange,” she said. “[It] doesn’t really go with the pattern of previous years.”
“Under President Obama we thought there would be more room for exercising our First Amendment rights, and yet we see under this President, things like the FBI raids of activists in Chicago and Minneapolis,” she explained. “That didn’t even happen to us under the Bush years. It’s quite strange.”
There is an “extremely distrusting” pattern of cracking down on activism and the exercising of constitutional rights.
Benjamin argued people need to be outspoken and protest the arrests of activists and members of the media to send a message that the First Amendment is being violated. This incident, she hopes, will highlight the new pattern of aggression toward activists and highlight the existence of the School of the Americas.
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