[Ads-l] Kettling

Dan Goncharoff thegonch at GMAIL.COM
Sat Jun 6 21:44:33 UTC 2020


i first heard the word while living in Frankfurt, although it was being
used to talk about what the British police were doing. I think it did come
from the German, referring to the corralling of protestors, "die kesselung".

On Sat, Jun 6, 2020, 5:16 PM Mark Mandel <markamandel at gmail.com> wrote:

> Thanks, Lawrence and Nancy.
>
> Mark
>
> On Sat, Jun 6, 2020, 4:33 PM Nancy Friedman <wordworking at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > "Kettling" made its first US appearance during the 2011 Occupy protests.
> It
> > had already been used for at least a decade in the UK, and may be a
> > translation from German.
> >
> >
> >
> https://nancyfriedman.typepad.com/away_with_words/2011/10/word-of-the-week-kettling.html
> >
> > On Sat, Jun 6, 2020, 1:18 PM Mark Mandel <markamandel at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > > https://www.gq.com/story/what-is-kettling
> > >
> > > What Is Kettling?
> > > This controversial police tactic is appearing in cities across the
> United
> > > States.
> > > BY COLIN GROUNDWATER
> > > June 5, 2020
> > >
> > > On Tuesday evening, as a large group of peaceful protesters marched
> over
> > > the Manhattan Bridge, members of the New York Police Department parked
> on
> > > opposite ends of the span, trapping 5,000 people over the water for
> > nearly
> > > an hour. The night before, in Dallas, police officers corralled
> > protesters
> > > on the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge before arresting 674 of them (they
> were
> > > released later that night, with ‘at-large charges’ for ‘blocking
> > > traffic’). That same night in Washington, D.C., police officers drove
> > > protesters into a crowded intersection of Swann and 15th NW with
> teargas.
> > > All over the country this week, police officers have surrounded
> > > protesters—and then refused to let them leave.
> > >
> > > This tactic is called kettling, a word you might have seen popping up
> in
> > > social media posts from and about the protests. The term evokes a
> boiling
> > > tea kettle, but it actually comes from a German military term referring
> > to
> > > an army that’s completely surrounded by a much larger force. “Kettling
> > is a
> > > law enforcement tactic specifically applied when the police have chosen
> > to
> > > criminalize existence in public spaces,” says Blake Strode, Executive
> > > Director of ArchCity Defenders, a legal advocacy group that has handled
> > > kettling cases in St. Louis. “So separate and apart from who is caught
> in
> > > them and how people are impacted, which is all true and well-stated, it
> > is
> > > also fundamentally about police dictating whom is allowed to be where
> and
> > > when.”
> > >
> > > Ostensibly a form of riot control, kettling occurs when police officers
> > > block off streets and push people into confined areas, like a city
> block
> > or
> > > a bridge. While protest and riot management traditionally focuses on
> > > dispersing crowds, kettling is all about containment. When you’re
> > kettled,
> > > you have no access to bathrooms, very little space, and no place to go.
> > > Critically, no one gets to leave until the police say so. “Basically,
> > it’s
> > > a pressure cooker without a valve,” said civil rights attorney Javad
> > > Khazaeli, ArchCity Defenders’ co-counsel on kettling cases.
> > >
> > > MAM
> > >
> > > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> > >
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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