This morning when I woke up my Twitter feed was full of news of how the NYPD was clearing out the Occupy Wall Street camp. The fact that they found it necessary to do so in the middle of the night, while imposing a complete media blackout, tells you all you need to know about what was going on.

Doubtless there is a lot of anger that protests are being cleared like this. (Other cities have done the same, sometimes less secretively with more violence.) On the other hand, it is a clear sign that the authorities are on the run, and making mistakes. I’m old enough to remember the Kent State shootings, and what they did to American public opinion.

Also, yesterday I was making some edits to my interview with Ahmed Khaled Towfik, the author of Utopia. One of the things he told me about was the brutal murder, by Egyptian police, of a young man called Khaled Saeed, and how this was one of the main sparks that led to the Egyptian revolution.

No one wants people to have to die for protesting authority, but equally it is true that few things get the media and public opinion on your side more effectively than some good old-fashioned police brutality. That we are starting to see it happen means that we are winning.

At one point during the morning Amanda tweeted some lyrics from a song I remember well. It is old, but it is just as appropriate today as it was when I was a kid. Here’s the whole thing.

Keep calm, protest on, and sing!