Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Fighting the National Security State
At first glance, the dearth of web discussion on fighting the national security state in the US would seem to indicate that nothing is going on. That somehow, despite economic ruin and social collapse caused by the largest fraud in the history of the country, citizens young and old have nothing to say.
This, of course, is preposterous. Having been deprived of a decent life by the bipartisan collusion with America's aristocracy, Americans are outraged and terrified. They just don't have a clue what to do.
Those few who do, like the young veterans and peace activists rounded up by the FBI in preemptive arrests preceding the 2008 National Democratic and Republican Conventions, now know that freedom of expression no longer exists in the United States. Most of those arrested for planning to protest U.S. imperialism were identified by intercepted e-mail, phone wiretaps, and undercover agents whose job it is to criminalize dissent.
In this situation, effective pro-democracy organizing has to take seriously the threat from national security agencies. Showing their hand online is the quickest way to land in a prison cell.
It would be a mistake, of course, to refrain from organizing against the criminal depravity of our federal government. We simply need to be more circumspect in how we go about it.
This, of course, is preposterous. Having been deprived of a decent life by the bipartisan collusion with America's aristocracy, Americans are outraged and terrified. They just don't have a clue what to do.
Those few who do, like the young veterans and peace activists rounded up by the FBI in preemptive arrests preceding the 2008 National Democratic and Republican Conventions, now know that freedom of expression no longer exists in the United States. Most of those arrested for planning to protest U.S. imperialism were identified by intercepted e-mail, phone wiretaps, and undercover agents whose job it is to criminalize dissent.
In this situation, effective pro-democracy organizing has to take seriously the threat from national security agencies. Showing their hand online is the quickest way to land in a prison cell.
It would be a mistake, of course, to refrain from organizing against the criminal depravity of our federal government. We simply need to be more circumspect in how we go about it.
