Mike Leggett on Sun, 23 Sep 2001 12:05:48 +0200 (CEST) |
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Re: <nettime> Richard Stallman: Thousands dead, millions deprived of civil liberties? |
on 19/9/01 1:51 AM, Steve Cisler at cisler@pobox.com wrote: > I would be interested to hear opinions from nettimers who are not > Americans about how they perceive our level of security was up until > September 11. When you were in the states did you feel things were > lax, oppressive, or about the same as your home country? >Is Stallman's plea the voice of someone out of touch with the rest of >the world or is he justified in his worries (or both)? I staged through seven cities in the USA two years ago and experienced airport security at a level similar to that in Australia - with the exception, (and I refute racial stereotyping), that the mostly black security staff were more courteous and less stoney-faced than those elsewhere. Airport security is not really at issue anyway - no one was instructed to look for knives. In Sydney before and during the Olympics we became familiar with the sight of para-military security at the airport and other centres. The military special forces rehearsed for the news cameras, as did the dancers. In Britain we became familiar with the para-militaries from the mid-70s onwards - France, Spain and Italy have always had them. Most other countries around the world keep the military very close to the police barracks, (the USA with its National Guard included). These are all measures of the gaps between the rulers and the ruled, however the system achieves that end. The 'freedom' cliché to which many Americans resort, is almost always met with hilarity by 'the rest of the world', who are usually better informed of the gaps that are maintained by the rulers of the 'greatest democracy in the world' between themselves, minorities in their population, and the subject nations whose prosperity is determined by them. Are Stallman's fears that if civil liberties in the USA are to be levelled closer with the rest of the world this will enable the current economic and ideological topography to continue to benefit the USA at the expense of other countries and most particularly, their cultures? I cannot believe that it is his wish that a minority of his fellow citizens continue to monopolise the liberty to exploit, and be defended by the gross interventions that the Armed Services continue to make in the name of 'stability'. My sympathies go to all those tens of thousands who have lost loved ones. Perhaps someone has the projections at hand which show how many Americans' lives will be saved as a result of this levelling process and will as collateral, for instance, reduce the effect of handguns on the hapless population of the USA? Mike Leggett # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: majordomo@bbs.thing.net and "info nettime-l" in the msg body # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime@bbs.thing.net