How know winning -- two

How do you know you are #winning?

It was Sunday and 700 people, more or less, had taken to a park in Albany to #occupyalbany. The governor got huffy; it is his city after all, and he ordered -- arrest them. But in our relatively strange arrangements the governor does not command the local police. The Albany police ignored the governor. So the governor said to the mayor -- have them arrested. The mayor said arrest them. The police replied

"We were ready to make arrests if needed, but these people complied with our orders," a State Police official said. However, he added that State Police supported the defiant posture of Albany police leaders to hold off making arrests for the low-level offense of trespassing, in part because of concern it could incite a riot or draw thousands of protesters in a backlash that could endanger police and the public.

"We don't have those resources, and these people were not causing trouble," the official said. "The bottom line is the police know policing, not the governor and not the mayor." (Lyons 10/24/2011)

"The bottom line is the police know policing, not the governor and not the mayor."

You know you are #winning when the police state becomes the state and the police. You know you are #winning when the police claim greater expertise than the state and acknowledge your right to protest peacefully -- whatever the governor may say.

And that hit the #OWS stream.

pollabear 10/24/2011 8:37 p.m New York cops defy order to arrest hundreds of Occupy Albany protesters | http://t.co/JNszHcAT #ows #WINNING

Notice the last hashtag -- #WINNING.

They saw in this 'revolt' of the police a sign that they were winning. Peaceful protest could proceed -- at least in Albany.

And the sign was repeated -- "New York cops defy order" appeared in 443 Twitter messages. And "Albany police" was included in 95 Twitter messages. 538 is not many Twitter messages out of the stream of 70,000 on the 24th. But assume the 538 had, on average, the same number of followers as those who tweeted that 9,000 servicemen were going to surround the New York City park and defy the police. [I am not up to doing the search for followers of 538.] That was just over 600 per person. When the number of persons is 538 at 600 followers per that is a spread to 318,000 persons.

Conclusion

It was only a little sign. Albany is not the world. But it was understood as a sign, and 318,000 people received the 'good news.' We're #winning.

But in other locations you are reminded that Albany is not the world.

heynicejacket RT @AnonymousWikiAnonymous The world needs to know that Oakland PD is teargassing the elderly, the disabled, children, and the press. #PoliceState #OccupyOakland #OWS

This is the second in a series (Boynton, 10/23/2011). The series will continue as long as I notice new ways to 'know you are winning.'

Afterword

"The world needs to know that Oakland PD is teargassing" . . . And they did. It is hard to keep a 'secret' in the new media world. Sarah Kessler wrote in Mashable (Kessler, 10/26/2011). Oakland Mayor Takes Heat on Facebook After Police Fire Tear Gas at OWS Protestors. The count was "That post now has about 3,500 comments. Among the most recent 500 at the time of this writing, not a single one is positive."

This is a tiny bit of what the world had to say to the mayor.

Rebecca Hohm You ordered your cops to attack unarmed citizens. I hope the vagina you fell out of is dead because she would be ASHAMED to see your tyrannical CUNT-LIKE decisions!

Tracey Chen Shame on you, Jean. I'm embarrassed for the folks of Oakland who voted for you; they must be sick to their stomachs seeing the kind of bitch you are. Apologize publicly, make amends to all the protestors your goon squad injured, and go heal your soul somewhere far away from people for a long time.

Walker Burns Shameful actions taken by the Mayor.

Paul Ward I don't understand why you would do that to those people. texas is watching.

Juan Mayorga The World is Watching!!

Kari Andrade SHAME. Did you know one of your police officers threw a light grenade at a US VETERAN? And as good Americans were trying to help him , THEY GOT SHOT AT? Good...this is how you repay the men and women in service. Sleep well. This could have been your son.

Cathie Sagen-Anderson Scott Walker, the governor of Wisconsin, has his riot police ready to be unleashed on the protesters in Madison. The violence in Oakland will promote more of the same all across the nation....just what Fox news has been waiting for. It would have been better to have the police engage with the protesters over coffee and doughnuts. Friendly and civil conversation instead of tear gas and rubber bullits

They were not particularly polite

References

Boynton, G. R. (October 23, 2011) How do you know you are winning?

Kessler, Sara, (October 26, 2011) Oakland Mayor Takes Heat on Facebook After Police Fire Tear Gas at OWS Protestors http://mashable.com/2011/10/26/oakland-mayor-ows-facebook/

Lyons, Brendan (October 24, 2011) Under pressure to make arrests, police and troopers push back, timesunion.com