The week of November 17-21, the city of Miami held meetings on the Free Trade Area of the Americas, with ministers from 32 countries in attendance. Miami is one of several cities under consideration to serve as the FTAA's base of operations. In response, a broad range of groups and individuals attended events throughout the week to voice their opposition to the policies outlined in the FTAA. These events ranged from the large AFL-CIO sponsored demonstration on November 20th, to the numerous forums and workshops that were held throughout the week. The people in attendance included organized labor, environmentalists, youth and students, and the current anti-globalization movement, as well as forces from some of the Democratic Party presidential candidates. Busloads of activists arrived in Miami from cities all over the country. I came down on a bus from New York organized by United For Peace and Justice.
Protesters arriving in Miami were immediately confronted with a police-state atmosphere. The dozens of black police helicopters circled in the sky, reminiscent of a dystopian future in a science fiction movie. They were so low that their blare often drowned out other sounds on the ground, and they shone spotlights on the ground and in the windows of nearly every building in downtown Miami. Thousands of police lined the streets, dressed in full riot gear with gas masks, shields, and state of the art weapons. Armored cars rolled through the streets one after another. All of this was funded with an 8.6 million-dollar line item that was part of George W. Bush's 87 billion-dollar package for the occupation of Iraq. In addition, it allowed the Miami Police to conduct a vicious propaganda campaign against the protestors, among not only the several police forces from across Florida that joined the Miami PD, but also the local business community and even local hospital workers. With the help of the media, police portrayed the protesters in advance as "outsiders coming in to terrorize and vandalize our city." The acting police Chief John Timoney was actually on loan from the private security and investigation firm Beau Dietl & Associates. In 2000 while he was the Police Chief of Philadelphia, he presided over the Republican National Convention protests, when the Philadelphia PD violated hundreds of protestors' civil rights. There, he perfected the art of pre-emptive arrests, which were also a dominant feature of police activity throughout the week in Miami.
The main day of protest was Thursday, November 20th, when the AFL-CIO had organized a permitted march. As they arrived in downtown Miami, attendees had to walk for blocks to circumnavigate the phalanxes of police filling the side streets and arrive at the protest. This included several buses full of retirees, who were forced to walk many blocks to the march after police barred their entry to the permitted rally in the amphitheater. Police intimidation continued throughout the day. Police physically assaulted several retirees, including a man thrown to the ground at gunpoint, and a woman forcibly removed from a public toilet. Although it was not allowed near the actual meetings, the march was a strong show of opposition to the policies of the FTAA, and went by completely peacefully. However, shortly after the march ended and protesters returned to Biscayne Boulevard, police attacked a group of peaceful protesters without any provocation. They advanced on the crowd, pushing it back with nightsticks, shields, pepper spray, teargas canisters, rubber bullets, concussion grenades, and pepper balls, as bicycle cops blocked off all other paths from exit. I was among the group of protesters chased all the way out of downtown Miami and into the residential neighborhood of Overtown. There were at least 150 arrests Thursday. There were 50 more arrests Friday, as police continued to harass suspected protesters, and abducted multiple people walking on the streets, including many reporters and legal observers. In many instances, young people were targeted because of the way they looked and dressed. There were also reports of protesters being abused in jails. Women and LGBTQ protesters were particularly singled out for harassment and abuse. Churches who provided space to protesters for meetings to discuss the FTAA legislation were also harassed and intimidated by the police.
In the aftermath of the violent police assaults on protesters, several groups have condemned the actions taken by the Miami Police Department. International President of the United Steelworkers of America Leo W. Gerard put out a statement almost immediately after the protests condemning the police violence and attack on first amendment rights. The AFL-CIO also condemned the Miami PD's behavior. In his public statement AFL-CIO President John Sweeney stated "This abuse at the hands of Miami police is an insult to the American labor movement, and to all Americans who believe in the basic rights guaranteed by our Constitution. It disgraces our country's proud tradition of respect for civil liberties and peaceful political protest. Not since the days of the civil rights movement have I witnessed such outrageous and inexcusable behavior by the police who are sworn to protect us." Both groups have called for Timoney to be fired and all charges against peaceful protesters to be dropped immediately, as well as an independent inquiry. Sweeney also stressed the need to determine how the Miami received funds appropriated for the FTAA ministerial to carry out repressive tactics. Miami Activist Defense is collecting evidence from witnesses, ranging from eyewitness testimonies to media footage. They are working on a case with the National Lawyer's Guild, and the two groups recently filed a lawsuit to suspend several ordinances that the City of Miami implemented in order to restrict the rights of protesters to assemble. Amnesty International has also called for an independent inquiry into the police abuses, and the ACLU has condemned the ordinance for it’s suspension of 4th Amendment rights.
The Miami Police Department continues to lie about the events. Among these lies are the assertion that the violence started with the protesters, and that the police moved in to protect themselves and the peaceful protesters. In actuality, the police phalanx attacked the peaceful crowd without provocation, shortly after 4 pm. Video footage from multiple sources shows numerous instances of police beating unarmed protesters in the head with their nightsticks. Contrary to Timoney's fallacious assertion that "there were no head wounds as a result of police sticks across people's heads, footage shows numerous protesters bleeding from head gashes resulting from nightsticks as well as rubber bullets. In addition, police are shown firing indiscriminately at the crowd, aiming well above the waist. They are shown shooting protesters in the head, then targeting other protesters that came to the aid of the injured. Certainly the most ridiculous claim was that the plumes of tear gas which shrouded Biscayne Boulevard came not from the police, but from the protesters. Despite the massive amounts of footage depicting the police firing off tear gas canisters, Timoney insists that protesters brought tear gas with them to the protest and used it on the police. Timoney attempted to turn blame back at the AFL-CIO, in his article entitled "The AFL-CIO should look inward and question the wisdom of inviting avowed troublemakers to participate in a rally…" This is clearly a feeble attempt to divide the movement between the older union members and the generally younger anti-globalization movement. However, it has been completely unsuccessful, and solidarity between organized labor and the youth movement remains stronger than it’s ever been in the last several decades. Meanwhile, Timoney is enjoying his renewed celebrity status, owing greatly to the media. The conduct of the Miami PD is being touted as the “Miami Model,� and is being marketed to other cities, including Boston in preparation for the 2004 Democratic Convention.
The media has been largely to blame for the Miami Police Department’s impunity. Imitating the US military’s attempt to control news by embedding reporters in Iraq, the Miami police embedded reporters in its ranks. In addition to seeing only what the police allowed them to, the embedded reporters have been serving as a mouthpiece for the Miami PD's fictitious accounts of how Thursday's events unfolded. Reporters who tried to maintain objectivity in their reporting by filming independently in the crowd were often targets of police violence. Meanwhile, no coverage has been given to the message of the protests. Instead, the focus has been on the alleged acts of violence against the police that the Miami PD cited as their reason for attacking the crowd. In almost every instance mainstream media failed to mention that the police attacked a peaceful crowd. They also made no mention of the police department’s practice of indiscriminately targeting protesters, repeating the police department’s claim that they only targeted violent lawbreakers, as if it were a mantra. Little mention was made of the police raids on the Wellness Center and Convergence Center, including an incident when police sprayed pepper spray at a medic through the door of the Wellness Center.
Miami Mayor Manny Diaz called the Miami Police Department's behavior "a model for homeland defense." Timoney is once again a media celebrity, and Jeb Bush is celebrating what he considers to be a great victory. However, the use of military force against dissent in order to protect the interests of an un-elected elite can only be considered a loss for democracy. The world is becoming increasingly aware of this, and global opposition continues to grow. Faced with strong popular opposition to the policies of globalization and neo-liberalism, Latin American countries have been forced to reevaluate one-sided trade agreements such as the FTAA. Especially significant in this struggle have been the recently elected progressive governments in Venezuela and Brazil, two of the largest economies in Latin America. Because of the internal pressure that Latin American countries now face, talks in Miami ended with a watered-down version of the agreement, in which many of the more controversial provisions have been removed.
Brandon Slattery is a working artist from Brooklyn, NY and a member of the National Council of the YCL.
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