The White House under siege: Five thoughts on the U.S. protests

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A United States president hiding in the White House bunker while the symbol of world power is surrounded by fires and protesters ; riots and looting in over 125 cities ; 66,000 soldiers of the National Guard deployed and fears that more violence is still to come. This is how history is written and we have been its witness during the last days.

Due to the unprecedented scale of the turmoil , however, no one knows for certain what will be the outcome this weekend, let alone in the next few days. This is not a re-edition of the 60s civil rights movement , nor the revival of anti-systemic protests such as Occupy Wall Street ; it is the result of the unique combination of a devastating pandemic and the worst economic downturn since 1929 .

In short, no country is capable of enduring the death of 110,000 people and the loss of 40 million jobs in three months. Much less under a divided and dysfunctional government , responsible for the aggravation of the coronavirus crisis , and headed by a man who is stoking the flames of resentment and polarization .

Here are some points to ponder regarding the current U.S. situation:

1.- Racism is deeply ingrained in society. 

The brutal assassination of George Floyd in Minneapolis was the spark that triggered protests , yet it is only another one in the endless list of police brutality against minorities and structural social disparities .

The last wave of demonstrations for this reason took place in 2017, following the acquittal of former St. Louis , Missouri , police officer Jason Stockley in the shooting of Anthony Lamar Smith , an African American man. Three years before, Ferguson , a suburb of St. Louis , was the scenario of an uprising that lasted several months due to the shooting of Michael Brown by police officer Darren Wilson .

This time, in spite of the video that caught the murder of Floyd , the autopsy report released by authorities, while agreeing that his death was a homicide , said the cause of death was “ cardiopulmonary arrest [ heart failure ] complicating law enforcement subdual , restraint , and neck compression .” The medical examiner made no mention of asphyxiation and added heart disease was a factor in Floyd’s death .

An independent autopsy commissioned for Floyd’s family found that he died of “ asphyxiation from sustained pressure ” when his neck and back were compressed by police officer Derek Chauvin nearly nine minutes during his arrest . The pressure cut off blood flow to his brain.

Chauvin

was arrested last week and the murder charge against him was elevated to second-degree on Wednesday. The three other officers involved in Floyd’s detention for allegedly passing a counterfeit USD $20 bill at a store were charged with aiding and abetting murder , revealed criminal complaints filed by the state of Minnesota .

Chauvin is the first white officer in Minnesota to be criminally prosecuted in the death of a black civilian

.

Protests erupted across the U.S. following the homicide of the 46-year-old man

. Nevertheless, Minneapolis police union president Bob Kroll tweeted that Floyd’s “ violent criminal history ” needs to be remembered.

Kroll stressed that some of the city’s issues exist because leaders have been “minimizing the size of our police force and diverting funds to community activists with an anti-police agenda .”

2.- Police reform is urgent. 

Since the 2001 terrorist attacks on the U.S., the federal government has promoted the virtual militarization of police through the Defense Logistics Agency’s 1033 Program , which allows the transfer of military equipment to local law enforcement agencies ; the Homeland Security Grant Program , for its part, gives police departments funding to buy military-grade weapons.

John W. Whitehead

, president of The Rutherford Institute , noted in this regard that there are now reportedly more bureaucrats armed with deadly weapons such as drones , assault rifles , shotguns , rubber , wooden and hollow-point bullets , armored vehicles , night-vision equipment , stun grenades , and sound cannons than the Marines .

Astoundingly, this high-tech arsenal can be found in units from the Social Security and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric administrations, as well as the Education and Health and Human Services departments, among other civilian agencies.

The recurrent use of deadly force by police is often the result of training in “ restraint techniques and anti-terror tactics ” from Israeli law-enforcement officers . At least 100 Minnesota policemen attended a 2012 conference hosted by the Israeli consulate in Chicago and the FBI , where they learned the methods used in “ crowd control ” by Israeli forces in the Palestinian occupied territories .

According to Amnesty International , hundreds of police from Florida , California , Arizona , New York , Pennsylvania , Georgia , Washington D.C. , and other entities had been flown to Israel for training. Thousands more have been trained by Israeli advisers who have traveled to the U.S. to host similar events to the one held in Chicago .

3.- Who is infiltrating the demonstrations? 

As the U.S. saying goes, “nothing is certain but death, taxes and police infiltration of protests.” Media outlets have reported the “magical” appearance of stacks of bricks near hotspots in Dallas, New York, Baltimore, Kansas City, and even Frisco, Texas.

As Zero Hedge asserted, “the fact that huge piles of pre-staged bricks are suddenly showing up at protest locations indicates a level of planning and coordination at a very high level. Obviously we are dealing with something that is far more complex than just a few thousand angry people.”

4.- Social inequality has increased during the pandemic.

As of 29 May, the total number of workers filling for jobless benefits rose to 40.8 million in the ten weeks since the pandemic led to the closure of the economic activity in mid-March, affirmed the Labor Department .

Estimates of the real jobless rate exceed the historic record of 24.9% set in 1933 during the Great Depression .

Recommended: Global economy faces worst recession since the Great Depression, warns IMF

The CARES Act , passed in late March including an extra USD $600 in weekly benefits for those who have lost their jobs during the health crisis , is set to expire at the end of July if Congress does not pass another stimulus bill to extend benefits.

In sharp contrast with this situation, the CARES Act also authorized the Treasury to spend USD $2 trillion for the bailout of banks and corporations , whose stocks have shot up by more than 35%. Meanwhile, U.S. billionaires have seen their net worth rise by USD $434 billion .

Not surprisingly, demonstrations are beef up by members of Generation Y , born between the 80s and 90s. As the sociologist Zygmunt Bauman described them, the “ precariat ” works in insecure and temporary jobs .

These young people have little loyalty to the companies that offer them nothing yet insecurity ; instead they have “a firm conviction that life is elsewhere and a resolution (or at least a desire) to live it elsewhere.”

5.- Biden and Trump are two sides of the same coin. 

For the second time in a row, the “ socialist ” Senator Bernie Sanders frustrated the dreams of real change from millions of young Americans , ending his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination to endorse former vice-president Joe Biden .

It is true that Sanders was the victim of a primary election system rigged by the “ opposition ” party’s establishment ( Hillary Clinton , Nancy Pelosi , and Barack Obama ) which preferred one of its members rather than a strong, reformist candidate. However, his decision has alienated the left of the Democratic Party , wasted the possibility of his running as independent , and is increasing the risk of electoral abstention .

Biden

’s lead over President Donald Trump has grown 11 points (52%-41%) among registered voters, a new poll released Wednesday by the Monmouth University showed. One in three voters said race relations will play a major role in their vote, although they have more confidence in Trump than Biden (33%-18%) to lead the recovery from the crisis.

The limitations of Obama’s former vice-president are clear enough to predict that he would be unable to heal the wounds left by the unrest. In addition to his frequent confusion and evident mental decline, Biden is dogged by accusations of sexual abuse similar to those that have been made against Trump .

Furthermore, Biden is one of the architects of the current law structures that enable police abuse and discrimination, summarized by the 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Law that he sponsored as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee .

Responding to criticism that the Clinton administration was soft on crime, Biden said: “Let me define the liberal wing of the Democratic Party . The liberal wing of the Democratic Party is now for 60 new death penalties. That is what is in this bill. The liberal wing has 70 enhanced penalties. The liberal wing is for 100,000 cops and 125,000 new state prison cells.”

His position remains the same, crude and cynical, 26 years later. In the midst of protests after the murder of Floyd , Biden commented before African American community leaders in Delaware that police should be trained to shoot individuals posing an alleged threat “in the leg instead of the heart.”

Editing by Sofía Danis

More by Gabriel Moyssen