tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4615293649632425584.post5213440321102560039..comments2023-05-16T13:14:22.667+02:00Comments on Blue, Gray and Green: December 17th, 6:50 PM CETJessie Robbinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05207165407371121262noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4615293649632425584.post-17685388066861260532009-12-18T15:09:55.028+01:002009-12-18T15:09:55.028+01:00Ian, you're right. The conference officials (a...Ian, you're right. The conference officials (apparently the security force itself, the Chief of which was given final say on who could and could not enter the center) could have handled the protestors. Ideally, they would have allowed for expression of ideas, and removed those individuals that were truly out of line and interfering with proceedings. But it's much easier for them to simply deny access entirely, for a couple of reasons. <br /><br />First, they can avoid the "martyr" effect of having protestors arrested and dragged out of the center, garnering media attention and further proving their cause, by not allowing observers in in the first place. I believe that's the major reason behind the shut-out - it makes the process look "cleaner," even though the reality is that voices are being shut out.<br /><br />Secondly, it actually was a security concern. Certain factions were intending on rallying a group to jump the fence, enter the center, and truly cause some havoc. Apparently emails were intercepted... who really knows. In that case, giving access to people planning this would be very dangerous. After all, heads of state including President Obama were set to arrive in less that 48 hours. In that case, based on the touch-and-go nature of registration, I think we could have seen this coming. (They were not threatened with exclusion, to my knowledge.)Jessie Robbinshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05207165407371121262noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4615293649632425584.post-56990342535206317162009-12-17T23:46:09.145+01:002009-12-17T23:46:09.145+01:00is it the protestors fault for getting the NGOs ki...is it the protestors fault for getting the NGOs kicked out? who actually made that decision? the protestors? or conference officials? were the protestors warned that if they did the action on weds the NGOs would get kicked out? isn't that a form of silencing voices too, you know, threatening them with further exclusion?<br /><br />obviously i don't know all the parameters and regulations in place, but it seems like the conference officials still ultimately had the power and made the decision as to which voices would be heard, not the protestors.Ian Villedahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02532499630472253624noreply@blogger.com