Wise words today from deconsumption. In light of last August's under-publicized scandal in which New York police arrested over 1800 people, most of whom had committed no crimes whatsoever, it is tempting to view law enforcement as evil incarnate. But this article points out that doing so would not only be counter-productive, but could even play directly into the interests of the totalitarianists.

It is really the police officers themselves who are caught in the vise. They certainly have no desire to be the strong arm of a police state. The underlying ideal of every officer I've ever known is to be the "good-guy", the hero, the protector of their community. But the profession is inherently military in it's nature, which means that it can easily and subtly shift from "protecting and serving" the community or neighborhood, to "protecting and serving" the dictates of government and corporate authority. And as the latter dictates frequently place the officers in direct opposition to "the people", a conflict of identity may appear. Most typically, this happens when "the public" comes together in public protest or demonstration of some kind.

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While the "rule of the people" may or may not be usurped by "authorities" on a merely ideological level -- through the passing or repeal of laws and such -- it can never effectively be realized (as in "made real") without the support, or at least the non-resistance, of this special class of law enforcement, military, and para-military departments and agencies who in reality are themselves representatives of the common citizenry. To re-phrase it from a different perspective: any authoritarian power fundamentally relies on and encourages the distinctly divisive qualities which are already inherent in society, and especially with regard to the accentuation of what we now label "liberal" and "conservative" characteristics.

Resistance, therefore, if we wish to pursue it, must begin by creating cohesion, and by fostering appreciation and understanding. And from a purely practical perspective, the place where this cohesion is most needed is with our police and military forces.

For myself then, it seems that the most helpful place for "revolution" to begin is by attempting to refine and re-define the ideology of people in enforcement positions of any sort so that they adhere to a more "popular" ideal. So far, the precedent set by the "liberal" media has been generally to repremand and discourage our police officers. And while I won't argue against the validity of this, we should perhaps realize that this has had a very discouraging effect on them, leading them to some degree to view themselves as being unsupported by the public (and conversely, further depending on their direct authorities for encouragement and support). So despite the fact that we as people have no access to the mainstream media to voice our opinions, we might perhaps want to begin to be more aware, in this forum of the internet, of the sincere debt and respect that we owe to the men and women who choose to work in these professions. We can let them know that we depend on them to keep our communities safe from harm, and that sometimes that harm comes on orders from people in positions of authority. Thus we need them to make responsible, and sometimes very difficult, choices -- and most especially whenever they are being told that the "enemy" is "us".

Solidarity with the police may not be a popular goal with many anarchists, but I think he's definitely onto something. I know from personal experience that police can be helpful in certain situations. Maybe if more of us made friends with police officers, they would be less likely to exhibit behavior such as occurred in New York.