Footage from the G-20 in Pittsburgh

This video is one of many videos coming out about the G-20 protests in Pittsburgh currently underway. It is, by far one of the more powerful clips of footage I have seen as of yet. You should watch the entirety of it, but if you skip ahead to the time stamp 3:33 what you will see are protesters marching down the street, peacefully, and the police reaction to it. It is chilling in all respects. It is yet another example of how the police, protecting capitalist interests and the status quo escalate the situation into one where violence occurs, and inevitably the unarmed protesters are blamed in the eyes of the media, and society.

If you are wondering where you've heard that song before, it's from a movie, The Last of The Mohicans. I don't know if the movie maker knows the significance of the song, and how it relates to the clips being shown here. I can only imagine he or she does, otherwise it would not have been used. It is the pivotal moment where after one Native American tribe sold their souls and turned on there fellow Native Americans for money and power - the Mohicans decide to stand, fight, or die instead of caving into the greed and fear of their own demise.

They chose death over oppression.

While this certainly is not as dramatic as the cinematic event, it is no less potent in it's ideas. There is a reason that when the "Left" marches they are met with hostility, criminal punishment, and "less lethal" weapons. (Yes, that is what the police in the video call them, and it is accurate as the weapons are not non-lethal).

It is not because they fear violence from the left, although there are some factions that are into destruction of property. It is because they fear our lack of fear. We march, regardless of our circumstances to stand up and fight for what we truly believe in. We do so without arming ourselves with AR-15s and assorted assault weapons. We do so without riot gear and protections. We do so knowing we can be hurt, detained, or killed should the situation escalate.

Our seeming inability to cave into the pressures of society that dictates we hand over our minds and souls for the sake of a greasy buck and marginal protections terrifies those who already have. We do not fear what life would be like without capitalism, we do not fear what our lives would be like without the daily constraints of modern soci-economic policies. We do not fear real work, that is to say collaborative work that requires skilled labor, time, and sweat equity.

There are too many who do fear life like that. They have become complacent, soft, and fearful of having to actually work, contribute, and participate in their own lives and the lives of others. They fear having to make decisions for themselves. They fear, in a word, actual....freedom and all of the responsibilities that comes with it.

And so we are a threat. Far more threatening than the right wing wind bags with their gun toting rallies and cries of revolution. Because they know that when we have the chance, we will follow through, and not be placated by the promise of creature comforts.

And that, my fellow readers is truly a threat to the powers that be.