Ayatollah Connects Ferguson to P5+1 Talks

Returning home from the holidays, reading the Gray Lady in an aisle seat on a full flight, I was pleased to see Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, weighing in on Ferguson (Thomas Erdbrink, "Iran’s Supreme Leader Backs Further Nuclear Talks"):

The ayatollah also made reference to the riots this week in Ferguson, Mo. The unrest in response to a grand jury’s decision not to indict Darren Wilson, a white police officer, in the shooting death of Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager, shows “the gap between the American people and their administration.”

There was a more expansive story in Business Insider (Hunter Walker, "Iran's Supreme Leader Says Ferguson Shows What's Wrong With America") which noted that Khamenei, in several Tweets on Ferguson, not only explained how the riots in St. Louis County and around the country prove that USG is battling its own people, who do not trust the government, but also how Israel, through a "Zionist network" that controls the "lifeline" of U.S. politicians by threat of blackmail, is preventing the federal government from publicly embracing a deal with Iran on its nuclear program as well as justice for Michael Brown.

The Khamenei Tweet on the Zionist connection to Ferguson is as follows:

#Zionist network blackmail US officials &if they act agnst their will, they're forced to resign,face defamation and death threats. #Ferguson

Here are the two Khamenei Tweets on Ferguson. The first, mentions low voter turnout during the recent midterm elections:

US isn't honest w its nation. The recent US election turnout was so low. At events in #Ferguson US is fighting w its ppl. #BlackLivesMatter

The next, reasserts the obvious, that the U.S. public does not trust its government:

We don't seek to gain the confidence of US; we don't need that. We don't trust you; your ppl do not trust you either. #Ferguson

All of this is fairly unremarkable and obvious. But it will set off some tongue-clucking among brainwashed Western liberals and conservatives.

Can anyone deny Zionists have a stranglehold, a veto on most aspects of U.S. foreign policy?

Khamenei's assertion that the "Zionist network" has a stake in maintaining the U.S. system of institutional racism and white privilege is more novel. Certainly Israel's deep bonds with the Southern Baptist Convention, ties that have been developed over the last 20-plus years, support such an assertion.

Immersing myself in the broadcast television coverage of Ferguson from Tuesday until this morning it is interesting to note the playbook that is followed whenever there is an outbreak of dissent, protest, riots, whatever.

The primary play in that book is to focus on the "violence" of the protests and loss of property. The source of the outrage is given short shrift. Only the News Hour -- from what I saw -- provided a cogent explanation of why the grand jury process, a process that should have resulted in an indictment of Darren Wilson, was totally skewed towards blaming the victim, the teenage Michael Brown.

The three-day's worth of coverage I saw was heavily weighted toward the suffering of Ferguson's small-business owners and employees not knowing if they were going to be able to pay their bills.

Obama is almost certain not to pursue any federal civil rights prosecution here. The least one would expect would be some sort of Department of Justice monitoring process for the local police of St. Louis County. But don't expect it. Holder is on his way out, and so too is Barack. There is no will to take on white privilege and institutional racism; just as there is no will to cut back the warfare state.

Which means it will be up to the young and and young at heart, those who want to see a more egalitarian society, to stay mobilized and maintain the struggle.

Ferguson vs. Hong Kong: U.S. More of a Police State Than China

We here in the Land of the Free fancy ourselves a "shining city upon the hill" (see Jesus' Sermon on the Mount; John Winthrop's "A Model of Christian Charity"; Ronald Reagan's 1984 Republican National Convention acceptance speech). We like to imagine ourselves living in the most open of open societies; our institutions lawful and corruption-free; our democracy vibrant and fair.

Then there is a moment like yesterday's announcement by Governor Jay Nixon, a Democrat, that Missouri is in a state of emergency pending a decision by a grand jury on whether to indict the police officer who gunned down an unarmed black teenager in broad daylight in August. Monica Davey reports in "State of Emergency Declared in Missouri for Grand Jury’s Decision on Ferguson" that

FERGUSON, Mo. — Gov. Jay Nixon declared a state of emergency on Monday, allowing him to activate the Missouri National Guard in preparation for a grand jury decision on whether to indict a white police officer for shooting to death an unarmed black teenager, Michael Brown, three months ago. 

The declaration was certain to add to mounting tension here as people awaited the grand jury’s decision, which officials have said is expected in mid- to late November. Many here have said they expect the grand jury to decide against indicting the Ferguson officer, Darren Wilson, and they anticipate a show of anger and protest afterward. Some protesters said that calling up the Guard before a grand jury decision was a premature, antagonistic move that presumed that demonstrations would be violent.

Mr. Nixon called up the Guard in August during demonstrations that sometimes grew violent. Although the Guard’s role was limited to protecting a police command post, its presence drew vehement criticism from demonstrators, who said it was further indication of a military-style approach by the law enforcement authorities.

Compare this with a story (Chris Buckley and Alan Wong, "Hong Kong Clears an Area of Pro-Democracy Protesters") about the orderly removal of a slice of the Umbrella Movement encampment in the Admiralty District where the main Hong Kong government buildings are located:

HONG KONG — The Hong Kong government moved to clear pro-democracy protesters from a small area in front of an office building on Tuesday morning in the first move against the demonstrators in weeks. The authorities met no resistance, with student protesters saying they would not oppose the court order. 

Dozens of bailiffs wearing black vests, backed by the police, supervised the removal of barricades in a small section of the main protest area around the Citic Tower after reading aloud a court injunction. They took hours to methodically clear metal barriers and the random items left from protesters who had been living there in tents for weeks, from books to undergarments. 

The operation’s timing was no surprise; it was announced ahead of time. Demonstrators had largely vacated the area, and the police, unlike in past operations against the movement, did not wear riot gear.

Imagine if Hong Kong's leader, CY Leung, had declared a state of emergency and requested troop support from mainland China when students failed in an attempt to occupy government buildings on September 28 which then ballooned into mass protests. The outrage in the West, both official and from the Fourth Estate, would have be volcanic; proof, we would have been lectured, that the People's Republic of China is a totalitarian state hungering to snap under its iron boot heel the supple neck of a democracy-loving, Western-oriented youth.

But when police in St. Louis County, Missouri responded with assault rifles, APCs, flash grenades, tear gas, and helicopters to protesters outraged by the murder of an unarmed teenager there is no parallel outcry.

Yes, the Gray Lady published some excellent stories on 1) the massive militarization of local police forces, and 2) the Jim Crowesque justice system that sees a traffic ticket turn into fines and jail time for mostly black men. Nowhere though was there a thoughtful think piece or unsigned editorial connecting the U.S. with the world.

In Hong Kong, there has been an active occupation of public spaces since September. Police have been reticent to engage the Umbrella Movement youth. In Ferguson, protests have continued since August, but the protesters have never been given any leeway; at one point, during the peak last summer, they were not allowed to stand still, nevermind erecting an encampment complete with barricades. Plus, protesters in Ferguson were faced with a mustering of the Missouri National Guard.

Now the Guard has been activated once again. At this point any kind of indictment of Darren Wilson would come as a shock. The prevailing wisdom is that there will be no indictment. In other words, it is permissible to blow away an unarmed youth. Clashes clearly are anticipated. The injustice is too glaring.

Protesters appear to be well organized. Over 50 groups on the ground. We could be looking at another Seattle WTO or anti-war mobilization in the run up to Bush's invasion of Iraq. The police and the Guard invariably overreact because at the core of their training is the idea to brook no challenge to their use of overwhelming force. (Here, from what I've seen, the Hong Kong police seem much better trained than your average U.S. peace officer.)

The question is what will the Michael Brown protest movement do when confronted with the overreaction. There is a golden opportunity to expand the movement and shut down, albeit for a moment, the police state.