November 29, 2003
Silence is repression - ignorance is bliss
My emotional responses to the current US regime run from laughter to rage. The shut up disent, coerce through economics, and suppress through force approaches are the standard tool box of the times. The US corporate media generally complies by looking the other way and by spinning away what they have to report. In the Uncommon Thought piece Bush "I love Democracy" I talked about the president's recent trip to the UK where he asks the protests be banned and canceled his speech to Parliament. These are only the tip of the iceberg.
In Iraq, Al-Arabiya has been shut down, pro-Hussein demonstrations are outlawed, and protesters have been fired on randomly killing many. But, some might say, "Iraq is in a state of chaos and extreme actions are needed." Well, that is Iraq at this point and time, but I don't think that these are good demonstrations of what "democracy" looks like. And, the silencing continues well outside Iraq. For example, Save the Children/UK came under intense pressure to maintain silence on US activities in Iraq, or risk the organization losing US overnment funds.
What is the point of these various strategies to silence "unpleasant" voices? Is it simply all PR? In other words, the less news that gets out that contradicts one's version of the story, the more people are going to believe the story one has to tell? Is it as simple as repression and control? We can shut you up and we will? Or is it an active avoidance on the part of the Bush regime to not acknowledge or be exposed to anything that conflicts with their world view? Perhaps it is all of these, and perhaps it is more.
Let's look at the US, "land of the free, home of the brave;" the land of the most "advanced" democracy in the world (or so we are told). A telling example of how people engaging in peaceful demonstration are now to be dealt with is the recent events in Miami. Now all of you know that the FTAA Ministerial met in Miami and that there were protests going on. But my guess is that most folks don't realize there were protests, or else they think it was another "unruly" mob requiring police repression. That's the official story.
The real story? Well we know that $8.5 million was tacked onto the $87 billion in addional funds for Iraq simply for "security" for the Ministerial meeting in Miami. We know that despite previous agreements that Miami police broke their promises to let 25 busloads of senior citizens into the area. As Naomi Klein notes in The War on Dissent
"Our goal was to drown you out," one Miami-Dade police officer explained to me, and that's exactly what they did. Small, peaceful demonstrations were attacked with extreme force; organizations were infiltrated by undercover officers who then used stun guns on activists; busses filled with union members were prevented from joining permitted marches; dozens of young faces were smashed into concrete and beaten bloody with batons; human rights activists had guns pointed at their heads at military-style checkpoints."
But perhaps the most frightening analysis of the events in Miami are in a piece by Jeremy Scahill (ZNet 11/25/03) The Miami Model. In the article, Scahill points to various aspects of the police control of protesters. They include: embedding "reports" with the police; embedding undercover police among the protesters; the use of paramilitary and military tactics against protesters; firing indiscriminately into crowds. Most frightening though is that some cities sent law enforcement observers to see how Miami handled the protests - they are now calling it the "Miami Model." Scahill notes "Miami Mayor Manny Diaz called the police actions last week a model for homeland security. FTAA officials called it extraordinary."
It seems the message is clear, and that the end of control is not in sight. While concerns have risen over the U.S.A. P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act, and Ashcroft went on tour to hype its wonders, the concerns seem to have had little effect as a Patriot Act Expansion Moves Through Congress. The word is carefully leaked from the top that the F.B.I. Scrutinizes Antiwar Rallies. A protester at Fort Bennings "Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation" (previously known ad the "School of the Americas," is
Hogtied and Abused.
But it's not just wanting to silence dissent of US actions in Iraq that is at stake here. John Ashcroft has declared war on GreenPeace to stop it from bring interational corporate abuse cases to be tried under US law. People are scooped up as "terrorists" and "collaborators" with much public attention. Take for example the Muslim Chaplain stationed at Guantanomo Bay who was arrested for passing secret communications to the prisoners. Well, apparently not as the NY Times notes (11/26/03) Chaplain Held in Espionage Case Is Freed.
Well, he was freed one might say. He was, the the message is clear. If you are "suspected" you are guilty. Disruption to your life, imprisonment, deportation and torture are the clear possibilities of even a hint of what might seem to be "impropriety." Web sites are monitored and tracked. Heck, this website is monitored. Whenever I post something, the "appropriate" government agencies show up looking at the site. (It is too consistent to be coincidence). I think it is an intentional message - "We are watching."
I watched the "Velvet Revolution" in the former Soviet state of Georgia this last week. The people coming out en masse to oust their President. Not one shot fired, no tear gas, no billy clubs. Marchers even invaded the Georgian Parliament - no one hurt. I watched this and I watched a Democracy Now! broadcast of the protests in Miami. The differences couldn't have been more stark. I thought with some horror that if people in the US did what the people of Georgia did there would be blood and death. I had no doubt that troops or "police" would fire live rounds into a crowd. I had no doubt that in "the land of the free" many would end up dead. I thought these things, and I thought of how many times I have heard ordinary people talk about "freeing Iraq" and fighting for "democracy." I thought these things and I wondered "Just what does democracy mean to the citizens of the United States?" The answer that emerged was not comforting.
Other Resources
Iraqi bound and gagged for protest
Raid On Arab TV Network Hardly A Democratic Move
Iraqi leaders ban Arab TV network
How British Charity was Silenced on Iraq
America's Enemy Within