Extra

Any doubts that the Berkeley City Council represents the interests of the neoliberal police state (as opposed to the public interest) were smashed during the June 20 council meeting. There have been hints since December that our new “progressive” Mayor and some City Council members were really “fauxgressives.” Of that we can now be assured. A key threshold was crossed – we now know the Council supports the militarized police state. We now know that representative democracy is dead in Berkeley since the Council discounted the public who showed up to demand that the drift toward police militarization and mass surveillance be ended.  

Over 400 people showed up to plea that the Berkeley City Council vote against Urban Shield, against participation in UASI (Urban Areas Security Initiative), against participation in NCRIC (Northern California Regional Intelligence Center), and against the purchase of an armored police van. Once again the Berkeley City Council ignored public input and voted in favor of police militarization and surveillance. The predetermined outcome could be anticipated by the speed that most Council members moved through the gathered crowd rather than stopping to shake hands and greet the public. 

The meeting began with a police presentation that lasted nearly twice the time allocated, and where we learned that Urban Shield was essential in training our police in tourniquet application (something I learned as a boy scout). At that point, Mayor Jesse Arreguin tried to pull a fast one by changing the agreed upon agenda and demanding that the rebuttal argument, a Davila-Harrison power point and Stop Urban Shield presentation, be broken apart. The meeting immediately broke down with Stop Urban Shield leaders refusing to acquiesce to the mayor’s demands. The Council called a recess and the meeting was then taken over by Stop Urban Shield. They used “mic check” to demonstrate solidarity of the public in the face of the mayor’s bullying tactics. Rather than calling in the police, who were waiting anxiously in the hall, a compromise was made to put the combined Davila-Harrison and Stop Urban Shield presentations at the end of the public comment period (with the mayor saving a bit of face). 

The public comments were overwhelming against the agreements. They lasted 3-4 hours even though they were limited to one minute per person (speakers could pool up to 4 minutes). One highlight was former Mayor Gus Newport telling Mayor Arreguin that Bernie Sanders wanted to know why Gus had asked Bernie to support Arreguin. Bernie is apparently pissed that Arreguin favors police militarization. I don’t think Jesse will ever get that endorsement again. Passionate pleas were then made regarding the racist Urban Shield training, the militarization of police and its impact on people of color, and the mass collection of data under the NCRIC agreement. Only two people spoke in favor of Urban Shield. 

The Davila-Harrison and Stop Urban Shield presentations were then made, but paled in comparison to the public comments. Any hope that public input would be considered was immediately dashed by Council comments which included a few non-sequiturs and false narratives that turned the public comments on their heads. It quickly became apparent that the “fix was in” and public comments would be ignored. The vote on the armored van ended in a 7-2 vote in favor of militarization (Harrison and Davila on the losing end) and that set the tone for the rest of the meeting. 

The NCRIC and UASI votes were then split up. There was a brief glimmer of hope that NCRIC would fail when the Mayor stated he was against it, and when Bartlett also voted no. Hahn had already voted solidarity with police surveillance (voting with Droste, Wengraf, and Maio who were sure votes for militarization), and the deciding vote fell to Worthington. In keeping with his recent pattern of channeling Tom Bates, Worthington voted yes on NCRIC. Harrison attempted some compromises on the UASI agreement, but in the end the UASI was also ratified. That left only participation Urban Shield training. 

The Urban Shield vote seemed in doubt, with some hope that crumbs would be scattered to the public. The council debate ended with Hahn giving a long winded speech that initially sounded like she would vote “No” on Urban Shield, including strategic pauses for applause, raising the last hopes of the remaining 200+ people. But late in this speech she changed her tune and said she would vote in favor of participation this year – a classic Sophie Hahn bait and switch speech as I’ve observed several times over the years. The room filled with boos. 

Jesse, seeing that time was running out, quickly called a vote and the room erupted in pandemonium. Stop Urban Shield took the stage with their banner during the vote and police moved in making arrests and ironically demonstrating what the Police Chief Greenwood means when he talks about community policing. The Council (except Davila) quickly fled the room protected by the cops who continued to intimidate and threaten the crowd. The public eventually moved out into the street chanting slogans and demanding that police release those arrested.  

Outside, a shoving match ensued with police striking some protesters with their batons. The cops made a quick getaway with the two “terrorists” (aka protestors) who dared to hold up a protest banner, and then regrouped as riot police in an attempt to clear the street. Funny thing was, the public was not afraid and held their ground. The police retreated then made several more attempts to intimidate the crowd – all of which failed. Speeches were made and slogans were sung. In the end the police realized they were vastly outnumbered by the crowd and that any attempt at mass arrests following this vote would not look good. So the police tucked tail and left. The crowd vowed to continue to push for an end police militarization and surveillance, and to end Urban Shield. 

We now know where our Council stands on police militarization. They have showed proper subservience to a militarized police state. Their attempts to wear down the public with late night delays and multiple postponed votes did not work. With each meeting, public outcry against Urban Shield, against the UASI/NCRIC agreements, and against the armored van grew stronger. This outcry against militarized policing and information sharing with the Trump regime has become a litmus test for the Council – and they failed the test. 

We now know that when push comes to shove, the Council will side with the police state over the public. It appears that the Council has chosen to side with the Police Officers Association out of fear of their political power. The Council is now allied with Trump’s militarized oppression of minorities and immigrants. And the Council will continue the path of police militarization designed to suppress public protest against the Trump regime. Mayor Arreguin, Sophie Hahn, Bob Bartlett, and Kriss Worthington have now demonstrated that they are fauxgressives, not progressives. They have now teamed up with the corporate-developer votes of Maio, Wengraf and Droste. 

It appears we only have two progressive voices remaining on the Council – Davila and Harrison – less than we thought we had a year ago. As The Who sung: “Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.” At least we now know that we can’t count on our city representatives to side with the public. Instead, the Council will side with the police when they suppress the coming protests against the Republican’s austerity, anti-environment and war programs. Our Council has chosen the same side as Trump, Bush, Clinton and Obama in creating and enhancing a militarized surveillance police state. It is now time for us to decide what we are going to do about representatives who fail to represent.