We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Saturday, May 19, 2012

No Freedoms to Hate Us For Anymore

Click here to access article by Missy Beattie from CounterPunch.

Well put. She is referring to all the police state measures that have been implemented since 9/11 up until and including the draconian preparations to deal with protestors at the NATO summit meeting in Chicago on Sunday and Monday.

Here is the "Police Forces" section of Wikipedia she referred to in the article.
The summit has been designated a National Special Security Event (NSSE) by the Department of Homeland Security. Final authority over law enforcement thus belongs to the Secret Service. The NSSE steering committee, which also includes representatives from the Chicago Police Department and has 24 subcommittees, began meeting in October 2011.
Local security forces are being trained by an Illinois company, Controlled F.O.R.C.E., which specializes in subduing crowds. Police are being trained in "Mechanical Advantage Control Holds," as well as the use of tasers.
The city has signed a $193,461 contract with Super Seer for the procurement of new face shields that fit over gas masks; the shields are intended to protect police officers from liquids. The Chicago Police Department will also prepare its mounted unit with riot gear: armor for horses along with "crowd control training."
If what we now have in the US is freedom and democracy, I wonder what fascism looks like.