For anyone who hasn’t been paying attention to the latest news about Jean Charles de Menezes’ public execution, read this.
In short, it’s now unequivocally certain that he was wearing a denim jacket and that he used a travelcard rather than jumping the barrier. And it’s highly probable that the police didn’t identify themselves to him…
Unlike some commentators, I don’t see any reason to feel sad for the officers who shot Mr de Menezes. Yes, probably they believed that what they were doing was in the best interests of Society – but it patently wasn’t, and each new piece of evidence makes clear that this should have been obvious at the time.
Actions count, as well as – if not more than – intentions. I suspect the terrorists also believed that what they were doing was in the best interests of Society, and I’m not inclined to offer them any sympathy either.
… speaking of which, is anyone raising money for the de Menezes family? It was reported that Jean Charles was sending money home for his father’s cancer treatment; if true they’re presumably a bit fucked now that the police have shot him.
I’m probably being naive, but why is the sourcing of all these corrections unattributed? There are some quotes from an eyewitness, but the Times article doesn’t seem to indicate where the corrected info about de Menezes’ clothing and behaviour has come from. Staff? CCTV?
… speaking of which, shouldn’t you be calling for the war-criminal Livingstone to face justice? International-law style and all…
In what sense is Livingstone a ‘war criminal’? Do I detect atrocious moral equivilance here?
In the ‘drink your own poison’ sense.
The police officers who murdered de Menezes, if they are found guilty, will be taking the fall for what I argue<a/> is not an accident, but a symptom of the systemic racism of Anglo-American society. De Menezes was murdered because he was a racialized minority, and alongside the so-called "war on terror" the Bush-Blair-Martin regime is engaging in a war of terror – against refugees, immigrants, non-status residents and minoritized and racialized people. The international left should be demanding more than holding the individuals responsible for de Menezes’ murder; we should be agitating for the regularization of all non-status people, fighting racist foreign and domestic policy, decolonizing the Americas, and supporting anti-imperialist resistance in the global south and in our communities. It’s all part of the same pile of shit, that lead to the obscene murder of a brown electrician running to catch the train.
Brown? Hardly…
a.c. – just for the record, I don’t think so.
No make that “I so don’t think so". De Menezes wasn’t murdered, he was manslaughtered (to abuse the English language momentarily), and unless you can argue that he got shot because he’d overcharged on a recent fitting I don’t see how you can possibly call it murder.
That doesn’t mean they shouldn’t throw the book, and quite possibly disciplinary action, at the police officers who killed him.
hellblazer: no, he was murdered. The officer/death squad operative intended to kill, and on the basis of the information now available we can be sure he was not acting in lawful self defence or defence of another.
The officer/death squad operative intended to kill, and on the basis of the information now available we can be sure he was not acting in lawful self defence or defence of another.
But there seems `reasonable doubt’ as to whether or not he believed he was acting in defence of others, and `reasonable doubt’ is presumably all that’s needed.
For the record, I think the squad involved and their chain of command need to face serious questioning and disciplinary action. I just don’t think a murder charge would be proprtionate. IMHO