Miami: NYC-Indymedia Video Activist held - Bail $10,000

Update: Justin is free, thinks now about legal steps (11/24)

Justin Lipson of Indymedia Video was in Miami to report for the IMC and INN Report, GFP's new cooperation partner. Lipson was arrested, while he was peacefully filming the protests. As many as 75 people were arrested, including at least five independent journalists incl. the producer of DemocracyNow. Others being shot with rubber bullets, pepper bullets, and getting doused with pepper spray.

All arrestments and the protest, now also reflected in an Editorial by Commondreams. The latest reports at FTAA IMC
(Contact to protest: Dade County Jail - 305-471-1900)

A Sad Day for Miami

by Barbara Villela

Last night was a jolt into a reality that I never thought could exist in this country. What I describe below is the experience of a middle-class woman, a wife and mother who is simply a citizen of the U.S. concerned about the state of her nation. I do not have a shaved-head, tattoos or multiple piercings, and have not been running around with a sling-shot (as has been rumored about the FTAA protesters). I have never destroyed someone else's personal or private property (nor do I ever intend to) but I do take my first amendment rights very seriously and that is why I am writing this.

Over 800 million people in the Western Hemisphere will be affected by the FTAA negotiations that are going on here in Miami and as I witnessed last night, there is a huge campaign of intimidation and coercion to keep people from expressing the powerful tool of many voices ”demonstrating in the streets as a form of protest".

As I approached the gathering last night in Bay Front Park (in downtown Miami) with the goal in mind of photographing these historic events, I felt the excitement and keen responsibility that I was exercising an important and basic right described in our constitution. A right that our government espouses is important for other nations to provide and protect and often refers to as one of our basic "Freedoms" when trying to persuade our citizenry to support interventions in other nations (most recently in the invasion of Iraq).

I was excited about going, but I also had a lot of fear and misgivings that I have never experienced before when going to this type of event. I am new to Miami having moved here just seven months ago from the San Francisco Bay Area, a place where there is no social stigma to the word "protester" and demonstrations are plentiful and quite normal.

My husband was out of town on business and I chose to go with a friend of mine who like me, is concerned about what is at stake in these talks, namely the jobs that mean economic viability for most Americans. Earlier in the week my daughter had come home from school with the news that the Mayor of Miami had decided to cancel her school's early dismissal because "the children may be hurt by the protesters." Each day there were reports in the newspapers about the Miami police engaging in special training for the protests and the great show of force that would be made during the events. I took-in these details and expected a very different scene from San Francisco, but nothing could have prepared me for what we encountered.

We decided to take the Metro into the downtown from our suburb in the South and were astounded to see that as we approached our destination there was not a soul traveling with us. Not one person. It was very odd to be going to such an event (where the expected attendance was projected between 10 to 25 thousand) and not see a single individual and my friend and I nervously joked about this as I photographed her in the empty Metro car. The two closest stations to the event were closed "for security purposes" and as we walked the desolate blocks to the amphitheater, our anxiety grew. We still had not seen any sign of protesters and passed a group of men idling outside of a bar, the only establishment open. We arrived at Bay Front Blvd. where a contingent of police in helmets and riot gear lined the street in each direction. It was quite an ominous sight.

The police were dressed all in black and were eerily highlighted by the streetlamps, each with legs spread apart in a militant stance. Again, not a soul was in sight except for the police who did not acknowledge us in any way, until three protesters appeared in front of us heading up the ramp to the amphitheater. Walking-up the ramp to the entrance we began to see more people. A couple of people, seeing my camera told me I would not be able to bring it in. One guy actually said, "If you value your camera you should leave now." I was puzzled by this but chose to see for myself what the security policy was, and found that the policy seemed to be pretty arbitrary, that some people were turned away with their cameras but we were let in.

Inside the amphitheater the atmosphere was tense. The police presence was less in numbers but they were still very much present. There was none of the light-hearted festival-like atmosphere of San Francisco, where people sometimes show-up in costume and with large theatrical puppets. People here were looking around nervously at each other and at the police.

I kept on trying to brush away the ridiculous feeling I had that we were all doing something wrong just by being there, and thought I recognized some of this same sentiment in other people's body language and eye contact. Then there was the question that hung-over the entire event like a giant question-mark, "Where was everybody?" As we mingled and talked to different people this was the question that was murmured over and over again. My friend and I, evaluating the entire scene estimated no more then two to three thousand people were there. We talked to individuals from different church groups and humanitarian organizations. Many of them were wondering where other groups were who may have taken alternative march routes to the event.

"I wonder if they have been arrested?" people asked. Even when the music started-up the somber tone did not lift and except for an eruption of a spontaneous rally from a group of twenty or so Haitian unionists, the tone remained through the night.

Another exception (that was also one of the largest presences at the event) was that of the U.S. Steelworkers. These large brawny men seemed to be everywhere in their red caps and blue tee shirts. They were also recognizable by their easy manner and their North-Eastern accents. They seemed unfazed by the strange ambience of the event and their conversations had the conviviality and spirit one might find in a warm pub in Pittsburgh or Syracuse.

At a certain point I had a realization about how adversely affected these men will be if the FTAA goes through in its current form. I hoped that the group I was looking at in front of me was not another endangered species, and that their livelihood and way of life would still be intact two years from now.

One of the speeches that really hit home with me was given by an Argentinean woman who spoke about the effects of trade liberalization policy on her country. She talked about how two years ago Argentina was held-up as the darling example of these policies, and now one out of every three Argentineans does not have enough to eat.

After a couple of hours the event seemed to be winding down and my friend and I decided to go home (as two women alone, we fretted about traversing back in the desolate Metro stations). We both made a parting assessment of the gathering and remarked about how we had attended many rock concerts with larger crowds. It was amazing that something so important as to effect more then 800 million lives would not draw a larger crowd.

Reflecting on this during our ride back we both wondered at how many more people would have come without the build-up of reports about the special police enforcement and training, not to mention the on-going negative campaigning and stigmatizing of the protests by Miami's city officials including the Mayor. I went home somewhat disappointed but determined to go out again today.

Today I planned to meet-up with an acquaintance of mine who is a photojournalist with one of the city's larger papers. I changed my mind however, when I received an email from him early this morning. He told me not to come without a helmet and a gas mask. For a couple of moments I pondered "would a bicycle helmet work" and where I would get a gas mask at six o'clock in the morning. And then I realized I would not be going as I thought of my daughter sleeping peacefully in her room, and the effect of my being arrested (or worse) would have on her. No, The Mayor of Miami, the Chief of Police, and other irresponsible, powerful individuals had ruined it for me and thousands of other individuals who simply wanted to bring attention to something that will ultimately affect all of our lives.

From the reports I have been getting all day, my journalist friend was not exaggerating. The descriptions of the police with tear gas, armored vehicles and even machine guns proliferate the media coverage. It is truly a sad day in our beautiful country.

Written November 20, 2003.
Barbara Villela is a free-lance photographer (and closet writer), who now resides in Miami, Florida. She can be contacted at barbara@amarelostudio.com

JUSTIN OF NYC IMC VIDEO held at $10,000 bail!!!!!

FTAA Indymedia -11.22.2003

Photo: One of many arrests at the protest in Miami

By Warcry

Stand by those who sacrificed their personal freedom and safety to document the repression in Miami!!

Indymedia Video activist from NYC held on $10,000 bail & charged with 3 major felonies!

SOLIDARITY NEEDED! CALL & DEMAND HIS RELEASE!!

Justin Lipson of Indymedia Video, NYC was pepper sprayed while shooting video and subsequently attacked when he refused police orders to stop shooting. They confiscated his camera. He probably tried to hold onto it as a true indymedia journalist would. He is being charge with felony counts of resisting arrest and assaulting a police officer. He is also being held in the Dade county jail.

Please call and demand his release. He is being charged a ridiculous 10,000 bail - and with the suspension of a speedy trial clause, can be held for weeks until he gets to see a judge.

What a load of shit. The police claim to have reacted pre-emptively to avoid the "violence" that occured in Seattle, but all they are really doing is terrorizing and brutally attacking people. Notice that the corporate press expresses no solidarity when indymedia journalists are attacked.

The fascist bitches want to crush dissent and we are not even allowed to document it, nor is it accurately reported. We must come up with a pre-emptive strategy to confront their capacity for violence and assert our selves somehow.

Justin was doing his part when he got attacked. Please stand with our brave and committed friend. Call the Dade County Jail and demand that his $10,000 bail be eliminated. They like to make examples out of us, so we must stand together... and learn to fight back.

I thank everyone who went down to Florida to stand up to 500 years of genocide and destruction... and now, this intensifying militarized repression.

Please take a moment to call the following numbers and let the f**ers know what you think.

Dade County Jail - 305-471-1900

NYT: FBI Watching War Protesters

CBS -November 22, 2003

(CBS) The FBI has collected extensive information on the tactics, training and organization of antiwar demonstrators and has advised local law enforcement officials to report any suspicious activity at protests to its counterterrorism squads, according to interviews and a confidential bureau memorandum cited by The New York Times in a story prepared for its Sunday editions.

The newspaper says the memorandum, which the bureau sent to local law enforcement agencies last month in advance of antiwar demonstrations in Washington and San Francisco, detailed how protesters have sometimes used "training camps" to rehearse for demonstrations, the Internet to raise money and gas masks to defend against tear gas. The memorandum analyzed lawful activities such as recruiting demonstrators, as well as illegal activities such as using fake documentation to get into a secured site.

FBI officials said in interviews with the Times that the intelligence-gathering effort was aimed at identifying anarchists and "extremist elements" plotting violence, not at monitoring the political speech of law-abiding protesters.

According to the newspaper, the initiative has won the support of some local police, who view it as a critical way to maintain order at large-scale demonstrations. Indeed, some law enforcement officials said they believed the FBI's approach had helped to ensure that nationwide antiwar demonstrations in recent months, drawing hundreds of thousands of protesters, remained largely free of violence and disruption.

But some civil rights advocates and legal scholars told the Times the monitoring program could signal a return to the abuses of the 1960s and 1970s, when J. Edgar Hoover was the FBI director and agents routinely spied on political protesters such as the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

"The FBI is dangerously targeting Americans who are engaged in nothing more than lawful protest and dissent," Anthony Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, is quoted by the Times as saying. "The line between terrorism and legitimate civil disobedience is blurred, and I have a serious concern about whether we're going back to the days of Hoover."

More pictures from the Police Brutality in Miami

Sources: FTAA IMC and tacitconsent

Photos of the various weapons that police used against protesters