I'm willing to bet that while most everyone else has been focused on the COVID virus, the Miami Police Department, along with the Miami-Dade Police Department and agents for any number of federal law enforcement agencies have been doing a lot more than just providing traffic control and/or arresting protesters for walking on Miami's streets.

As police departments around the country started to deal with the protests after the murder of George Floyd, there is absolutely no question that some departments started making efforts to infiltrate the various protest groups either by using young, undercover cops, or by turning some protesters into informants who in turn have not only become the eyes and ears of the police, but in some cases have gone beyond simple informing to walking around wired up to record conversations that they have with their fellow protesters.

In Miami, unlike many other cities across the country there has never existed much in the way of political culture capable of mounting sizable protestsin response to the issues that aroused folks in other cites because the oxygen and manpower needed for protest was for decades sucked up by the preoccupation with Cuba and Fidel Castro.

This preoccupation resulted in ignoring almost any issue or problem that wasn't tied to Cuba. What protests that did take place and get the public's attention during these years were driven by a hardcore little band of right-wing agitators financed by politicians and exile groups who saw value in kindling the flames of anti-communism, either for political pressure and personal economic benefit, or for votes for the local politicians who were always eager to proclaim their commitment to hating Fidel Castro.

While there have been sporadic protests over other issues, the last time any sustained protests took place in Miami was when the Occupy Movement set up a protest village on the west lawn of the county building for month or so in 2011, and that lasted for only a few weeks before they were evicted and the organizers over time drifted off.

While the Occupy Miami Facebook page shows that 25,000 plus people are linked to it, the last post was on the page was on May 1, 2019.

Racial and ethnic divisions and distrust always worked against the kind of political organizing that could have developed a core constituency of people embracing a center, or left of center political  philosophy in Miami, and now, when there appears to be a budding coalition of protesters and groups who have embraced and committed themselves to protesting over Black Lives Matter issues, there is a serious lack of political experience and institutional to rely on.

Marxist rhetoric spouted by a small handful of so-called leaders that seem to have taken control over parts of this latest movement are not going to take folks very far, and the rhetoric of dialectical materialism is certainly not going to be of use in the kind of pragmatic political efforts required to achieve the changes that many protesters declare that they want.

While the protest marches may have decreased in size, the cops have been busy as little beavers because contrary to all the pronouncements about respecting free speech, and the right of citizens to protest, the real focus of folks like Miami Police Chief Jorge Colina has, and will always be to undermine and neutralize ANY protest movement, unless it is a movement that is completely passive and supine.

While Colina was first caught flat-footed on the first day of protest - he was too busy spouting off about his alleged feelings about the murder of George Floyd on Fox TV to pay attention to what directions a real protest might take - he has regrouped and not only changed his tone about the rights of protesters over the last two months, but more importantly, he has employed the toys at his disposal to not only keep track of these protesters but also to spy on them.

Cops love I-Spy toys, and while there's never enough government money to deal with issues involving improving the quality of life for regular folks, there's always been plenty of money for the latest in spying hardware and software that every self-respecting police department will claim they need to protect public safety.

Unbeknownst to most folks, including me, when the first protests  took place on Miami's streets back at the end of May, the Miami Police Department revealed that they had already had in place 349 video cameras on rooftops and other strategic locations all over downtown Miami, and that they had also set up a state-of-the-art command center to monitor those cameras.

How much money do you think all that hardware and software cost?  More importantly, I don't recall any kind of serious discussion being held during any city commission meetings about this installation of all of these cameras around the city center or the issues of personal privacy involved in 24-7 surveillance.

Understand that if this hardware and technology was something that Colina was willing to reveal that his department was using on everyone, just what other technology and activities, including illegal activities, do you think the Miami Police Department is also using  that they don't want to admit to?

In 2012, I submitted a public record request for documents related to the use by the Miami Police Department of the "Stingray" phone tracking technology used to track people's cell phones. The department never responded or complied with that request, even though documents uncovered by other news organizations revealed that the Miami Police Department was indeed using this technology.

I also know from personal experience and the actions that the police department has taken in "investigating" me over the years that they  engaged in illegal activities that no one else in law enforcement has been willing to touch even though I obtained documents and witnesses to support my claims.

People in this country have a very short attention span, and therefore  many folks don't know or have forgotten that the history of government surveillance of private citizens has been long, intrusive and often illegal.

Twenty years ago, starting with the WTO protests in Seattle, and going forward to the major anti-globalization, anti-war protests, the national political conventions and even the FTAA protests in Miami that took place in the early 2000's, all of these protests and were monitored through the use of undercover police and informants, and some of those tactics resulted in lawsuits after it was discovered that cops in some cities had engaged in all kinds of illegal activities to keep track of the protesters, including in a handful of cases where it was discovered that undercover cops were  the agent provocateurs instigating violence.

Back then the technology was not as sophisticated as it is now, and a dollar to a donut says that protesters being arrested today are not only having ALL of the information on their cellphones downloaded by the cops while they're in custody, but that some are also having tracking software installed on those phones.

If you're a protester on the streets of this country today it's not unreasonable to be paranoid.

Protesters need to pay really close attention to what might just appear to be casual conversations that include any mention about engaging in violence, because it's not out of the question that some of those protesters might discover in the coming months that they were setup by folks who they thought they could trust and who thought were just engaged in idle talk, but who in reality were purposely engaging them in conversations about violence as a way to entrap them in a criminal conspiracy.

Cops have always been the agents and enforcers for the ruling political class, and many of these cops have never had any compunction about setting people up, and exploiting even the merest discussion of violence as a justification to arrest and prosecute people for political reasons.

Remember this, while the Miami-Dade State Attorney might be totally corrupt and unwilling to prosecute cops for shooting people, she'll  have no compunction about prosecuting some nitwit teenager who got sucked into a manufactured plot to do something stupid, and if she doesn't then the FBI and the US Attorney will be all too happy to do the deed and make it look like the plot was intended to destroy the city.

POWER!  

Getting it and keeping it is what politics and politicians are all about, and many today who read this might never have heard of the words of Mao Zedong, in no small part because he was a commie dictator who has been dead since long before some of these young people on the streets to day were born, but who as the leader of the communist revolution that overthrew the Nationalist Chinese government many years ago proclaimed, "Power grows out of the barrel of a gun."

No country, has ever willingly woken up one morning and concluded that the behavior of their government was so corrupt and unacceptable that they should all just resign and let someone else take over, and that that government agreed.

So Mao knew what he was talking about, even if he was a commie.

In Boston, when the protesters boarded that sailing ship filled with tea that had been imported by the East India Company, none of them  showed up shouting, "No Justice, No Peace!"

No, they shouted, "Fuck You!," threw the tea overboard, and then when the British came after them they picked up their guns and went to war!

Some on both the political right and the left would like to see another revolution, and there are those who are hoping that what is going on in cities like Portland and Seattle will lead to a spark that ignites that next revolution.

I seriously doubt that it will reach that point, although the anger in the streets is real and based on decades of horrific behavior by rogue police, corrupt politicians and a persistent level of racism and abuse of poor people that justifies multiple revolutions, but there's no question that the introduction of unwanted federal agents by the President has all the earmarks of an effort to exploit an already volatile situation for purely political purposes that could easily go badly with unintended consequences.

The times have changed, and while there are those eager for a political eruption that would cause people to rise up in significant numbers, don't think for one minute that even if they didn't, that if push ever came to shove in some cities including Miami, that  shooting protesters on the streets with real bullets is out of the question.

There is not that much of a leap between rubber bullets and real bullets in the minds of some folks, and if that's what it would take to protect and keep in power the likes of scumbags like Joe Carollo, Alex Diaz de la Portilla, Francis Suarez, and all the other crooks and scammers at Miami City Hall, you can bet that some moron would at some point start firing real bullets.

So, since you all in Miami don't have the manpower to start a revolution, or even to mount and sustain a really robust protest movement, here are some personal suggestions for those of you who are tired of marching in the streets with protest signs and slogans that seem to accomplish little, but still want to see political change.

First, always protect yourself! There's nothing wrong in being paranoid if in fact there are people who are out to get you.

Changing the world is hard, complicated, time consuming, and eventually even thankless!  You can make a difference, but you'll find out if you stay at it long enough that changes often only happen at the edges, and sometimes it's by stopping bad shit from happening instead of getting good shit to happen.

There are no magic bullets that will get you what you want, and sometime what you get, really isn't what you wanted.

Protests are good to gain attention, but bad when it comes to changing polices and practices. That requires rational and reasonable discussion, without slogans and protest signs.

ALWAYS, AND I MEAN ALWAYS sweat the small stuff!

Written words really matter, and there are a thousand ways that seasoned bureaucrats and conniving politicians have learned how to screw the public by the way that they've written an ordinance, or changed the placement of a comma.

There are no short cuts!

LEARN and remember the 10,000 hour rule. He/she who controls the paperwork in a bureaucratic world controls the game. To acquire the knowledge of how to control the paperwork is going to take time, effort and a commitment to learn and to accept that documents sometimes don't take you where you thought they would, or where you wanted them to take you.

You can be an asshole at times, but always try to be an asshole for the right reasons, not just because you really are an asshole!

AlLWAYS, AND I MEAN ALWAYS follow the money!

Lastly, and most importantly, be true to yourself and your principles! At the end of the day, it matters less what people say or think of you than what you think of yourself when you look in the mirror.

When it comes to the practical issues of dealing with politicians and the political process, a couple months ago I put together a list of questions and links to websites that can help focus your attention on what you need to ask yourself, and that can provide you with some answers and guidance.

HERE IS THAT LIST:

Do you know where you live?   By that I mean, do you know who your Mayor is?

Do you know who your City or County Commissioner is?

Do you know where your city or county hall is?

Have you ever been inside the building?

Have you ever attended a city or commission meeting?

Do you know when your municipal government has their budget hearings?

Do you have a clue  of how these politicians spend YOUR tax money?

Here's a hint, the BUDGET MEETINGS happen in the next couple months. Here's the link to the City of Miami's proposed 2020 budget.  Here is the link to the county's proposed 2020 budget. The City of Miami will be holding virtual hearing this week, but they've not bothered to put a notice on their website of the dates, times and how to log on. If you're interested, call, 305.416.1500.

The county will also be holding hearings. To find out about those call, 305.375.5143.

Do you know the name of your Chief of Police?

Do you know if your city or county has a public agency that oversees the behavior of the police?

Have you ever heard about the City of Miami Civilian Investigation Panel? Do you know that you can attent their meetings held at Miami City Hall. You can go to their webpage HERE.

Do you know that almost every police department in the country is linked on to a website/bulletin board called LEO AFFAIRS? It's accessible to the public and some of you might want to start paying attention to what the cops talk about on that site. For the City of Miami, the link is HERE.

The link for the Miami-Dade County police is, HERE.

The link for the Broward County Sheriff is HERE.

The Link for the Fort Lauderdale Police is HERE.

Do you know what rights you have to speak at a public meeting?

Have you ever heard of a legal term called "Content Neutral?" If you haven't go HERE and find out.

As distasteful as some of you might find this, have you ever attended a meeting where candidates for Mayor and/or city or county commissioners appeared?

Did you ever ask any of them a question?

If you're old enough, are you registered to vote? If you need to register the link to the Miami-Dade County Board of Elections is HERE.

Have you ever voted??

Have you ever bothered to look at the campaign reports to see who gives politicians money? The link for all the politicians who are running for President all the way down to Circuit Court Judge in Florida in 2020 is HERE.  

The link for all the county offices is HERE.

The link for the state-wide PAC and ECO, where the really BIG MONEY gets donasted is HERE. You got to work to figure out how the money flows, but tens of millions of dollars flow from major corporations and deep pocket donors to politicians and this is where you can track some of that flow.

The link for county PAC's and ECO's is HERE.

The link for the City of Miami PAC's and ECO's is HERE.

Have you ever volunteered to get people to the polls?

IN SHORT, HAVE YOU EVER DONE ANYTHING TO CHANGE THE WORLD EXCEPT BITCH?

The odds are always stacked against those seeking change, because the people who have power have never demonstrated a willingness to surrender that power without a struggle, but change can happen and it requires focus, persistence and a willingness to dig in and fight the long fight, because the future belong to all of you, and time is running out to slow do what could very well become a very dystopian world for you and your children.

Good luck!

Copyrighted:  2011,2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020

https://www.crespogramnews.com/june-27th----a-personal-message-to-young-protesters.html