Things that have happened in the past few days:
- We learned that insider trading is legal, if you have a seat in Congress.
- Police raided Occupy Wall Street, in a manner difficult to distinguish from the Baseej.
- In preparation for the raid, they banned media helicopters, kept journalists out (additional sources: a, b, c, d, e), and threatened people who even tried to take photos of cops or arrestees.
- New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg claims that the only protesters who were hurt had self-inflicted injuries, and the press were kept away for their protection. [8:45am in this]
- A judge issued a restraining order banning police from keeping protesters out of the park, which was served several hours ago but the police are now openly ignoring, apparently under the Mayor’s orders.
- Oakland Mayor Jean Quan admitted that there has been some degree of coordination between cities cracking down on the protests; it’s not clear how much.
Other than scale, what is the difference between this and the early days of Egypt’s revolution? What things are categorically different?
Update: at least two journalists were arrested last night.
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What’s different? Not much. I spent hours reading up on Zuccotti Park this morning. The eviction was in no way different to the oppressive crackdowns we read about in any tinpot dictatorship anywhere in the world. The very fact that journalists were arrested for simply trying to cover the eviction says a lot I think.
That’s depressing. I really want someone to come along and convince me I’m wrong to se e this in such stark terms.