I don't mean to choose a scapegoat, but as a long-term resident of Olympia it appears that the main people who do this sort of thing are spoiled little boys (and I DO mean to be gender specific) playing at revolution.

I'm sorry if I sound snarky, but there are those of us who actually live here and are working hard to engage in a discussion with the larger community and make them realize that, in the end, we are all hoping to make Olympia a better place to live.  Then some idiot decides he's going to prove how cool he really is and loses us whatever good will we may have.

The city council is considering the noise ordinance on Tuesday, and I wouldn't be surprised if they used this as an excuse to disregard our concerns.

Thanks boys, you really did us a great service! 

Here's a great example. (1) Peaceful protesters defending the peace and integrity of their demonstration. (2) Cop provocateurs caught posing as black block.

Wilson, are you deliberately trying to misrepresent reality, or are you actually that unaware of what goes on in this community?

Yes, if the sum total of activism in this town consisted only of "a bunch of kids in their early twenties," there might be less for the defenders-of-the-status-quo to concern themselves with. But, of course, that is not the case. Here in Olympia, there is an amazing amount of peace and justice work done by a vast array of student and community groups, often working in coaltion. Not only are the students themselves a diverse population, but community activists come from all walks of life and age groups.

For instance, because of their broad appeal and effectiveness (across borders, ages, and cultures), I would say that Craig and Cindy Corrie are far more threatening to the status quo than the black bloc could ever dream of being. The government absolutely has an incentive to come here to disrupt and discredit the good work being done -- Olympia is very influential, nationally and internationally.

I hate to even begin listing the many successful projects, as there is no way to list them all. Nor do I want to go off on a tangent defining "success." But a few obvious ones would include:

• involvement in organizing 50,000+ people to come to Seattle in 1999 to shut down the WTO
• involvement in organinzing the shut-down of I-5 in the 80's in response to US sponsorship of terrorism in Central America, including the illegal mining of Niquaragua's harbor
• Santo Tomas Sister City project
• Palestinian solidarity work, including the Rafah sister city project (despite the council's refusal to endorse)
• Camp Quixote and all the other great work on behalf of low income and homeless people
• And despite the dismissiveness found here on Olyblog, PMR has been very influential. Groups from all over the country have contacted PMR asking members to come to towns to speak so that their strategies and tactics might be emulated.

For a town its size, there is much going on here that the powers-that-be do not want to see emulated.

 That's funny.  A bit of a stretch on some cliches but I got a smile!

 Anytime there is a march in a capitol city that justifies rolling out the news cameras, especially given the reputation Olympia is developing.

The best remedy for behaviors and attitudes which run counter to the goals and ideologies of peace and justice groups, is to remain very focused and consistent and persistent in articulating, modeling, and cultivating those goals and ideals -- thus weakening the persuasive power of arguments which run counter to them -- whether they come from infiltrators or not.

Inspiring and helps me get back on track. 

ie ~ Law Enforcement. They scream police brutality?  If you look at the photos from yesterday's article, you can see the people recognizing the moment when it's necessary to intervene in the picture of the kid getting ready to throw the rock. Why didn't they do anything? Follow the guy until *someone else* took charge at least? How is that being part of the violence?

You were there. Did you see anyone try? Seriously? Where were the those willing to do the right thing by pulling off the protesters who were trying to prevent police from making arrests?  It wouldn't be a personal safety issue for me at that point. I'd react out of sheer adreneline because I believe in following the law and doing the right thing.

It goes beyond common human flaw. I believe if you didn't do anything to stop it, be it just following the rock throwers until you could point them out to a police officer and be willing to identify them and their crime or pulling off somebody trying to prevent an arrest, you really didn't see anything wrong with it happening.

At this point, all activists in Olympia are tainted by the actions of the "black bloc". To have any political influence on any issue at all, local activists will need to publicly and loudly denounce the "black bloc"-types. Even better, they should turn them in to the police, as they should have done during the protest.

Consider this: because of the rock throwing, the sanctuary city proposal is already dead -- and no councilmember will pay any political price for killing it. The only agenda advanced here is the juvenile agenda of people who like to throw rocks.

Matthew