Journalism student Andrew Meyer was hit with an electric pistol
because he asked embarrassing questions to senator John Kerry, the
former Democratic Party candidate to 2004 presidential election. Meyer
was provisionally arrested by some policemen who immobilised him with
a 'taser' electric pistol. He was stunned with electroshock. The video
is shocking:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=HgrFSHZfD1o


The 21 year old man was thrown on the floor in the back of the room
and a policeman cried him not to resist to police. When the young man
protested another policeman fired against him two darts of the
electric pistol that paralysed him. Meyer went to prison on Monday,
is charged with resisting to a policeman and interruption of a
meeting. He has since been released and awaits court.
This story should ignite new rows on the use of 'taser' that is
part of normal police equipment in many US states. This arm launches
two darts linked with two small electric threads to the pistol that
emits an high voltage and low amperage electric discharge.
This arm is normally not lethal but it killed hit people in over 150
cases as denounced by Amnesty International recently.

Censorship in America

The case of student Andrew Meyer brought back a very bad moment in my
life, because in the same room he was arrested at the University of
Florida, I was also arrested and spent a night in American jail (and
if not for a 7 thousand dollar bail posted by my father, I would have
spent the whole weekend there), in 1991, for having asked, during a
so-called "Town Hall Meeting" of students, why everybody speaking
there, before saying anything about the war, started with what I
considered a cynical "we support our troops, but..."

My question, which affected the hardcore political correctness of
Americans, arouse a booing from the crowds, against me, and it took
just a few seconds until 4 policemen twisted my arm, threw me on the
floor, tased me with 50 thousand volts, which led to my fainting. I
was later thrown into a room with a toilette bowl and some other 10
detained people of all backgrounds, waiting to be charged.

I had to stand up there for the whole day - I was arrested at 11 in
the morning -, only leaving directly to a cell, at some point at
night, considering it was dark through the small "windows" (I was
stripped of my stuff, including my watch, so I was lost in time).

In the morning, I was incredibly briefly asked by some higher officer
what I had to say about the incident, then he wrote things down, sent
me away and only that evening, after dinner, I heard from them again,
already being released, after a bail was decided by a judge that
afternoon and colleagues of mine got contacts for my family from the
university files and the money was sent through Western Union.

In the meantime, I was traumatized, because even while I was growing
up under a military dictatorship I did not feel so without freedom.

Gainesville, the city where sits the campus of University of Florida,
or Gatorland, as its known all over America, because of its baseball
team, is the only place where Ralph Nader, the eternal independent
presidential candidate, won. It is a town where there is the biggest
number of vegetarians per square mile, according to a study,
attracting hundreds of thousands of old hippies, anarchists and the
sort. It has a very free minded environment, but, still being in the
South, known for its backwardness and Christian fundamentalism, the
local police reacts accordingly.

I remember how we, as university students, were forced to take random
drug tests, either by urinating into a cup or, if decided by an
authority, even a blood test to check if – God forbid – we were not
experimenting with marihuana or magic mushrooms... We were forced to
sign documents agreeing with this invasion of privacy, to be able to
enroll at the university.

The places in Gainesville where people hang out at night, like
Hardback cafe, Coney Island, Sun Center and Mother Earth, were
constantly raided by the police, who would often force everybody to
lie down on the floor, face down, for hours, while they checked our
pockets for drugs (but not for weapons, if you were carrying one!)
Getting out of a gay bar, once, I was given a condom by a police
officer standing outside by the door… I could not understand why a
policeman had such a stupid task. And why straight bars did not have
their health care services as well.

A famous pizzeria, right across from the main entrance to the
University, called Leonardo's, because of DaVinci, had the Renaissance
man's famous Vitruvian Man, also known as Proportions of the Human
Figure drawing, as a brand symbol, splashed all over menus, walls,
windows and tables. One day, in 1992, I was having a slice there with
classmates when a huge amount of policemen entered the restaurant and
expelled everybody, keeping the staff inside. It took hours until we
found out what had happened: the owner had refused to comply with a
court order to cover the penis of the DaVinci figure! He was also
charged with exposing minors to sexual content. A few days later, and
until this day, Leonardo's Pizza carries an adulterated version of a
drawing too pornographic for the American sensitivities. They had to add a leaf in front of the undetailed original penis drawn by DaVinci...

Another thing I could not understand, is why my car insurance was tied
to my grades at the faculty - every six months I had to renew it and
paid according to a calculation based on how well or bad I had done in
that semester...

I also lived 3 years in New York under Rudolph Giuliani's Zero
Tolerance policy, but there the target were blacks and drug addicts,
so I was not affected.

The tasering of journalism student Andrew Meyer is part of a police
culture designed to let the students know they will receive a painful
shock if they break the unwritten rules of good Christian behavior,
while, on the other hand, if they are docile or supportive, like the
students who cheered when Meyer was dragged away, they will continue
to get the rest of their freedom.

Some readers wrote asking what Meyer asked that made the policemen act.
The questions were as follows: 1) Why did you concede the 2004
election in the face of demonstrable fraud, Sen. Kerry? 2) Why is
impeachment off the table, when Bush and Cheney have clearly committed
high crimes and misdemeanors? 3) Is your membership in Skull and Bones
the reason you didn't contest the election and haven't spoken out to
have Bush and Cheney impeached?

That's when the student was dragged away shouting, "Help! Help! What
did I do? What did I do?" Then he pleads with the officers: "Don't
taser me bro'" He offers to "walk out of here" if they'll only let him
go. Then we hear him scream with pain "Ow… ow… ow… ow!"

What does seem criminal, actually, is the collective indifference of
the detached members of the audience, who did nothing to protest
against the brutality. They would not dare… Fear is a powerful weapon.

Lots of reports in conservative American media tries to show Meyer as
a known trouble maker, even having a blog saying that people should
stand up for free speech and that they should push boundaries. He was
known as a prankster – for example, at the premiere of the new Harry
Potter movie, he walked around with a sign saying „Harry Dies in the
End". So this means it was okay for him to get tasered for asking a
question?

The fact that it may be a publicity stunt is irrelevant. Irrespective
of it is an act free speech or putting free speech to test with a
publicity stunt doesn't change the fact that he should not be
censored.

Plus, he should have been told why he was handcuffed, when he asked
the policemen. He was afterwards told that he was arrested for
starting a riot…

Those police officers had a signal by a man from a company that
organized the forum. Are officers his subordinate? I would understand
if they acted on their own initiative, but an order from a civilian?!

Meyer's conduct was shrill and undoubtedly annoying. But to punish
political protest with physical pain is the path to tyranny.