Purposes

[flexibeast]

This is a 'reference' post in which i'll post stuff to support the idea that the role of the police, the military and the law in Western 'democracies' is ultimately to support corporate/state interests, i.e. that their work in supporting the average person-in-the-street is ancillary to this. It's currently very rough! i decided to create it based on the following Twitter conversation of 2011.10.26 (AEST):

flexibeast: Reminder: Ultimately the job of the policy and military is to protect state/corporate interests, not the average person-in-the-street.

flexibeast: Yes, of course the police and military help the average person-in-the-street during accidents, disasters etc., but when the chips are down ....

flexibeast: & even if many police/military people didn't sign on to primarily protect state/corporate interests, they'll be asked to do so in a crisis.

masterslaves: Where did you come up with that statement?

flexibeast: Er. Through years of observations and concrete experience?

masterslaves: It seeps [sic] a rather sweeping statement lacking concrete evidence, but then I guess it is just your opinion, correct?

flexibeast: Sure, supposedly, in theory, their job is to "protect and serve" everyone, but history shows the reality is otherwise.

flexibeast: *laugh* "lacking concrete evidence"? a) This is Twitter. b) Look at the history of social justice movements, unions etc.

masterslaves: Twitter has little to do with how an opinion is being presented. And comparative history would probably end up making a point

masterslaves: for both sides of the story. Police is an institution of the democratic principle so of course they are not neutral

flexibeast: Yes, of course it's my opinion. But it's much better supported by events than the "police/military are neutral" theory.

flexibeast: i'm trying to summarise an evidence-based opinion in < 140 characters per tweet! There's not much room for citations.

flexibeast: If they're an institution of "the democratic principle", why do corporates get away with things the average person doesn't?

masterslaves: No people with money and connections have good lawyers which again comes down to a flawed judicial system.

flexibeast: Why are they brought into [sic] bust unions?

masterslaves: Every police force I know enforces the law. The judicial process is probably not perfect as such you will most

masterslaves: likely find the fault there. Ad [sic] as much as I despise what happened in those cities they were enforcing bylaws of those cities.

flexibeast: Why do they come in and drag off peaceful protestors as they just have in Melbourne, Sydney and other cities?

masterslaves: I do not agree with it, at all, but that is their job, period.

flexibeast: Why does the military overthrow "democratically elected" governments, such as Allende's in 1973?

flexibeast: The law is enforced selectively. People with money and power get away with things that unprivileged people don't.

flexibeast: So their job of enforcing democratic principles involves dragging away peaceful protestors?? How does that work?

masterslaves: I DO NOT like those types of enforcement, but instead of moaning about the police (not saying YOU do)

masterslaves: , go and pass a bill, defeat a bylaw etc. It is possible I did it, took 3 fucking years, but it happened.

flexibeast: The Allende government was overthrown by its /own/ military (albeit with US backing). So much for "protecting democracy".

masterslaves: They enforce the law, if the bylaw says you cannot gather there and you have been warned x times,

masterslaves: what do you think they are supposed to do?

flexibeast: The protestors in Melbourne and Sydney were taken by surprise. There are so many laws they can be selectively enforced.

flexibeast: So the question then becomes, assuming there is an applicable law - and there probably is - why this time and not others?

flexibeast: Why is it that when people gather to celebrate a sporting victory, the law isn't enforced, but during a protest, it is?

flexibeast: Of course it's possible. But not everyone has the resources to sustain such a campaign (which might not be successful).

masterslaves: All it takes is time and hard work. I had no resources. I just had resolve and passion.

flexibeast: And what sort of 'democracy' is it when nonviolent protests are cracked down upon?

flexibeast: Is "freedom of assembly", /particularly/ anti-government assembly, a fundamental part of 'democracy' or not?

masterslaves: NO idea how that is handled in US law. But in Canada you cannot assemble where a bylaw says you cannot assemble there.

flexibeast: i've been involved in activism for two decades now, i know what's involved.

flexibeast: i have resolve, i have passion - and i also have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and people to support and take care of.

flexibeast: But i'm still involved in all sorts of activism for social and political change, using a variety of methods.

flexibeast: And it's based on my decades of activism experience, and studying history, that i have the opinions i do.

flexibeast: Well, i'm not in the US myself; i'm in Melbourne, Australia.

flexibeast: Sure. But you still haven't answered why sometimes such bylaws get enforced, and other times don't.

masterslaves: Because that is not for me to answer. The decision is made by the Chief of Police I would guess? I am not a mind reader.

flexibeast: Plus, there are such things as unjust laws, that actively deny basic human rights on paper and in practice.

flexibeast: So it /just happens/ that bylaws get used against political protest but not against e.g. sports celebrations? Coincidence?

masterslaves: Your sports celebrations last longer than a week? Come on, be realistic when it comes to the application of the time period.

flexibeast: i feel we have to ask such questions, because if not, injustice in how the law gets applied just goes unchecked.

flexibeast: Heh, sometimes such celebrations do, yes. (Australians can be rather sports-obsessed.) But, [more]

flexibeast: i have /personally witnessed/ brief political protests get broken up by police in ways that non-political protests don't.

flexibeast: But the underlying issue is, laws aren't ends-in-themselves; they're intended to serve a purpose.

flexibeast: So we need to ask, What underlying purpose is served by enforcing laws at some times and not others?

flexibeast: Are people who make decisions re. enforcing the laws omniscient beings who are always right and don't have their own agendas?

flexibeast: There is /voluminous/ evidence out there demonstrating social differentials in access to, and persecution by, the law.

flexibeast: i should really get on with other work that i need to do .... thank you for engaging with me. :-)

masterslaves: anytime!

References

• "Access to legal aid depends a lot on where you live, report says: Civil legal assistance based more on geography than need"


• "Food chemical regulations rely heavily on industry self-policing and lack transparency"


• "Judge 'amazed' Williams was locked up with killer"


• "American mining giant Freeport-McMoRan is paying the same local police who have used violence against mine workers asking for better wages"


• "Complaint made about alleged Queensland fraudster last year"


• "Canadian police agencies suppressing data on race, says criminology study"


• "Greek Prime Minister orders violent strike breaking in steel workers' dispute"


• "Laura Trott street party approved using 1847 law"


• "No Criminal Case Is Likely in Loss at MF Global"


• "Cop reportedly witnessed brutal Jerusalem beating"


• "'Racism the problem' - 20 years after Rostock"


• "Police 'zealots' accused of targeting Africans, Muslims"


• "'Ex-Stasi agent' heads aluminium giant Rusal"


• "Frankfurt cops in focus after 'racist attack'"


• "Polish and German police against antifascists"


• "Nike accused of using military to intimidate workers"


• "Greek government uses emergency powers to force striking seamen back to work"


• "Greek police once again did nothing to prevent Golden Dawn nazi violence"

Thoughts / questions / notes

• "Crackdowns Show What the State is Made Of"


• 'Missing white girl syndrome': Compare resources devoted to finding 'pretty' cis white girls versus anyone else.


• Why have anti-choice protestors not been 'moved on' from their permanent protest outside the abortion clinic in East Melbourne?


• Why do people camping out for iDevices or concert tickets not get 'moved on'?


• [Twitter, 2011.10.27] Steffi5461: Remember when the tea party had rallies where they openly carried guns. Remember when they were tear gassed? Oh, me either. #occupyoakland

Comments

[winterkoninkje]

'Missing white girl syndrome': Compare resources devoted to finding 'pretty' cis white girls versus anyone else.

Oh jesus mutherfucking christ! Get this shit. So, I'm in a small college town in the US Midwest, and apparently women go missing pretty often around here (how fucked up is that?). When we moved out here a POC woman was missing; a small notice in the police blotter, nothing more. Last year, some rich white girl goes missing and everyone in the town is up in arms, putting up posters, organizing search parties, and crap like that. The girl is underage and was captured on security videos drinking at a local bar, clearly blitzed, she goes off with a cocaine dealer, stumbles back to her apartment with him, leaves again with a bunch of guys to some other house, and is last seen leaving that house a while later, none of the guys walks her home. Bar only gets in trouble because her rich white parents raised such a stink about her going missing that the police couldn't ignore it once it hit the papers. Months and months of this pretty little blonde-haired blue-eyed rich white girl posted up everywhere and always in the paper (the posters are still up, though the police have finally said they should be taken down). Somewhere along the way when dredging rivers and lakes they find a body. Oh, it's just some black girl that noone had even reported missing, last seen a year or two ago. Short blip in the police blotter. Front page that day, another search party being organized to find pretty rich whitegirl by combing through downtown again.

Yeah, whose interests do the police really serve, eh?

US based book links

[the_future_modernes]

books: Howard Zinn History of The United States Mainly because its a fucking complilation of police assholery in protests ranging from economic to social issues to everything else that annoyed the elite.

Beyond empires prisons and torture

ETA: 􏰀 LAW ENFORCEMENT VIOLENCE AGAINST NATIVE WOMEN, NATIVE TRANS PEOPLE, & TWO SPIRIT PEOPLE


Teh Color of Violence esp for the stuff on police violence and how it fucks over immigrant, lgbt, and other communities.

Our enemies in blue: police and power in america


police brutality: an anthology by Jill Nelson

[sunflowerp]

Huh... the person with whom you were conversing (twitversing?) sure is invested in the platonic ideal of Law.

I'm Chaotic Good, myself:-).

Sunflower