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

Sunday, September 22, 2013

The New Privateers: Civil Forfeiture, Police Piracy, and the Third-Worldization of America

Click here to access article by Jim Kavanagh from his blog The Polemicist.

When I first learned of this practice in the 1980s as a part of the "War on Drugs", I was absolutely astonished at how the ruling class could get away with this--it was so blatantly unconstitutional!
Amendment V

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
[my emphasis]
Yet, only a relative handful of people objected to this practice. Apparently the minds of most people were so anesthetized by the hysterical propaganda promoting the "War on Drugs" that they couldn't think straight. Also, as the blogger explains, the One Percent's media only publicized the seizure of major drug operators.  

All the while operatives of the One Percent were importing drugs into the US and making sure it was distributed in Black ghettos across the country (see this, this, this, and this). This was their response to the Black Power Movement, especially the Black Panther part of it.