At UC Davis, calm brutality

James Fallows makes a valid point:

I can't see any legitimate basis for police action like what is shown here. Watch that first minute and think how we'd react if we saw it coming from some riot-control unit in China, or in Syria. The calm of the officer who walks up and in a leisurely way pepper-sprays unarmed and passive people right in the face? We'd think: this is what happens when authority is unaccountable and has lost any sense of human connection to a subject population. That's what I think here.

It's unthinkable that the brutality seen in the (now well circulated) raw footage is in any way a reasonable reaction. No doubt, there are legitimate concerns about the balance between people's right to protest, and the right of certain institutions to control the land they own; likewise, there's a tradeoff between allowing people to protest, and allowing others to go about their business without hindrance or delay, as Fallows mentions.

At any rate, however, nothing could call for the use of a submission-tool commonly associated with self-defense. From what did the police need to defend themselves? A group of peaceful protesters, however annoying, do not beg for this kind of action. It's shocking, especially the calmness with which the police officer used the pepper spray. It's always saddening to see unprofessionalism like this – but rarely does the public have the displeasure to witness it as the work of police.

An assistant professor at UC Davis calls for the resignation of Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi, in an open letter:

One of the most inspiring things (inspiring for those of us who care about students who assert their rights to free speech and peaceful assembly) about the demonstration in Berkeley on November 9 is that UC Berkeley faculty stood together with students, their arms linked together. Associate Professor of English Celeste Langan was grabbed by her hair, thrown on the ground, and arrested. Associate Professor Geoffrey O’Brien was injured by baton blows. Professor Robert Hass, former Poet Laureate of the United States, National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize winner, was also struck with a baton. These faculty stood together with students in solidarity, and they too were beaten and arrested by the police. In writing this letter, I stand together with those faculty and with the students they supported.

I am writing to tell you in no uncertain terms that there must be space for protest on our campus. There must be space for political dissent on our campus. There must be space for civil disobedience on our campus. There must be space for students to assert their right to decide on the form of their protest, their dissent, and their civil disobedience—including the simple act of setting up tents in solidarity with other students who have done so. There must be space for protest and dissent, especially, when the object of protest and dissent is police brutality itself. You may not order police to forcefully disperse student protesters peacefully protesting police brutality. You may not do so. It is not an option available to you as the Chancellor of a UC campus. That is why I am calling for your immediate resignation.

I can't imagine that the writer is alone.

(Video: "During peacefully Occupy Movement, police came in to tear down tents and proceeded to arrest students who stood in their way. Once students peacefully demanded the release of the arrested, a police officer [Police Lt. John Pike] unnecessarily pepper sprays the students to open a path for the rest of the officers.")